Respond to Forums
sinister670
respondtoforums.zipAnalysisDesignRespondtoForum.docx
Respond to forum, minimum 150 words.
Hello everybody, here we are in week 7 and a holiday to boot, oh boy. I was hoping to get this posted on Monday but the week has gotten away from me. This week we learned about the evolution of web pages and database design. We learned that relational databases can be designed from a domain class model by breaking down what we know and translation it into database-ese (tm pending). From the noun break down of a case study we developed a list of classes; these classes can be utilized as Database tables as well. We just need to add a primary key to each table as well as a foreign key to represent one-to-many associations, we create new tables to represent many to many associations, establish hierarchies, define the schema and chose the appropriate data types for the database and then incorporate integrity and security controls.
We incorporate integrity by the normalization process. Normalization is a technique that we use to further establish the integrity of our database (Satzinger). The normalization process takes the tables through First normal form (1NF), Second normal form (2NF), and Third normal form (3NF). 1NF and ensures all the columns line up correctly with no repeating groups, 2NF ensures each non-key attribute is functionally dependent on the entire primary key and 3NF ensures non-key attributes depend only on the primary key. This process is very important as the Database needs to be as streamlined as possible in order to run efficiently and normalization gets rid of the redundant objects. It’s not as easy as it sounds and I am glad we are looking at it from a simplified view. I have sat in on some database planning committees and let’s just say the Database Administrators and architects earn every penny they get.
Satzinger, J. W. (2012). System Analysis and Design in a Changing World, 6th Edition. Retrieved from VitalSource Bookshelf.
-Walt
Respond to forum, minimum 150 words.
Greetings Class,
This week we will be discussing the steps required for developing a database. Before we start creating a database, there are several steps we need to take which will help us determine the database’s purpose.
The first step do developing the database is to define the purpose of the database. You need to gather all the requirements and define the purpose of the database, this is where you draft out sample forms, reports…etc.
The next step will be to father the data and organize tables and specify the primary keys. This is the data that will go in the database.
The third step would be to create relationships between the tables. Most databases have relationships, this is one of the most crucial steps when designing a relationship database. There are several types of relationships: one-to-many, many-to-many and one-to-one. If tables are not going to have relationships, then perhaps using a spreadsheet would be more appropriate.
The fourth step would be refining and normalizing the design. This is where you are more tables, more columns, simplify a large table into two small tables. The normalization would be either a 1NF, 2NF, 3NF or any of the higher normal forms that would be 4NF or 5NF. This is where we also check the integrity of the databases and do indexing. This is a very important step as you put the data through some integrity rules tests.
If all the steps are followed, the database that you design will function appropriately and its data integrity will be consistence and reliable.
I hope everyone is all done with their Christmas shopping. I wish you the best of luck.
WebDevelopmentRespondtoForum.docx
Respond to Forum 150 words minimum
Everyone wants to be number one, right? So why wouldn’t you want to be the number one result on Google. As a small business owner, you have to get your name out there for customers so that they know to come to you. You also have to beat out other competitors. Let’s say you are looking for a plumber in your area. You’re going to Google “plumber in (your area)”. It is going to be important to make it to the top of search engine list, because as we learned from the video, users do not tend to scroll through many results, if they make it past the first few. Search Engine Optimization is all about making sure you have keywords, but not too many keywords so that the ever-changing search engines will not penalize you for trying to spam them. Getting the right balance is important. Making sure your meta tag for the description is right is important because you want it to be accurate with enough to be flagged, but not to wordy. This way when your page is being scanned by the web crawlers it will pick out the keywords and remember them, so at a later time when those keywords are used in a search, the engine will recall the terms and bring your page to the top of the list. All of this is important so that the small business owner or the webpage can get the most hits on their page to get as many customers and beat out their competitors.
-Sarah
Respond to Forum 150 words minimum
Search engine optimization is critical to the success of not only the website but also the success of the company it represents. This is due to the simple fact that when you search for something on the internet like books on web design (which I did and got about 309,000,000 results). Who in their right mind would look at that many results. For one I should have revised my search scenario to location (I would want to support local businesses) and any other keywords to narrow down my search. This is the end user looking for a business who specializes in web design. Flip to the business who specializes in web design, how are they ranked when searched? How can they get noticed? This is one area that can make or break the website and quite possibly the business itself.
Search engines like Google, their program or algorithm crawls the web and looks at each and every web page basically taking a snapshot of it and storing it so when someone searches for a particular product or service the search engine will display the results. Success for a business web page is if they are on page 1 of the results given. According to the video most people do not look past the first page and tend to go to the #1 result. So how can a business work to get their web site to appear on the first page of the results?
According to the video and other sources I have been reading it comes down to a few basics to master when designing a web page and utilizing search engine optimization. First is words matter, meaning if you deal in web design in Duluth, MN then that should not only be in your meta tags in your HTML but the more times you mention your services not only on one page but on several this will help. Next I found was titles matter. As I mentioned earlier when searching for web design companies one of the top results was “One Design Company – Chicago Web Design”. This result had web design and company in the title. Secondly keywords in the description web design improves their ranking. When you go to their website there are multiple pages associated with the company which go into more detail and have additional keywords associated with what the company offers. Another approach I read was having a blog. Even adding an entry once, a month with what your company does kicks up the keyword ranking. Next is having reputable links to your website adds to the positive ranking numbers. Finally, is having a good reputation with a fresh, accessible, uncluttered, ease of transitioning to other pages, and updated frequently helps build points in the algorithm which brings your website higher in ranking.
I remember quite a few years ago flooding meta keywords helped however, after watching a video about Google and their algorithm this tends to penalize the site for what they consider spamming. But being descriptive in your keywords and limiting them to about 8 helps in the rankings. Like the website I mentioned the Chicago Web Design, if they put “web design, web publishing, Chicago, etc.” they stated that it would help by putting Chicago after web design without a coma leads to better results.
I did like the YouTube video and helped explain a few things about it. However, I felt was little to short and found a few others that helped by going into more detail. I do feel that search engine optimization is important especially if you want to company to succeed. If you deal with online retail only, then having a well-designed website utilizing the tools that search engine optimization encourages you company has a better chance to be noticed and discovered. Not sure exactly of the story of Amazon but I am sure they did not hit #1 result overnight it took time and eventually through mediums of social media, ads and word of mouth look where they are today.
