Web Development
Issues in Web Development
Building a website to be functional is only one aspect of web
development. Great care and consideration needs to go into
examining the security, copyright, privacy, ethical, legal
and cultural issues. These factors can largely impact the
suitability of the material we use and how we present it.
Even while developing this digital portfolio I encountered some
of these issues and had to make adjustments to some of my
material before finishing.
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Copyright/Intellectual Property:
"The moment an idea or creative concept is documented, on paper or electronically, it is automatically protected by copyright"- In order to comply with copyright and privacy laws, I had to ensure that all of the images that I had used on my sites were owned by myself. If they weren't, I either had to ensure that I had the appropriate permission to use them, or replace them with material I did have permission to use.
- Copyright IP Australia. 2015. Copyright IP Australia. [ONLINE]
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Security/Privacy:
"Requires an APP entity to take active measures to ensure the security of personal information it holds, and to actively consider whether it is permitted to retain personal information."- When writing the content, for security purposes I had to ensure that I didn't include an information about myself or others that was too personal.
- Chapter 11: APP 11 — Security of personal information - OAIC. 2015. Office of the Australian Information Commissioner. [ONLINE]
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Societal/Cultural:
"Understanding others makes possible a better knowledge of oneself: any form of identity is complex, for individuals are defined in relation to other people - both individually and collectively - and the various groups to which they owe allegiance, in a constantly shifting pattern."- Understanding and valuing the importance of different social and cultural groups can be used as a key counter to racism, discrimination and defamation. When creating content for this website, I had to be respectful and careful about the material I would be publishing to the public. For example, I had to ensure I did not make any false statements about others, or posts images which may to offensive to the potential audience.
- The importance of culture, language and identity - Understanding racism. 2015. NSW Government, Education and Communities. [ONLINE]
Website Hosting
| Go Daddy | Bluehost | Crazy Domains | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly Cost | $7.99 | $5.99 | $3.49 |
| Storage Space | 100GB | 100GB | 150GB |
| Websites | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Reliability | 99.9% Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% Uptime Guarantee | 99.9% Uptime Guarantee |
| Software Offered | Drupal, Megneto, phpbb, PHP 5, Perl, Python, CGI, ASP | CGI-BIN, CGI Library, PHP 5, Perl 5, Python, ASP | PHP, Perl, Sendmail, Ruby, Ajax, ASP |
Summary and Recommendations
If you are thinking of building a website or having one built, and you are looking to host and manage it yourself, this brief summary will discuss and compare a few of the known web hosting providers.
The table above summarises the some of the basic information about the cheapest web hosting options provided by Go Daddy, Bluehost, and Crazy Domains. For the most part, the data collected demonstrates that the features available on the cheapest hosting plans are quite similar, with minor differences in software and code support. However, Crazy Domains, who also offer the cheapest option, offer the highest storage capacity, 50GB higher than the others.
Although these service providers are all offering shared hosting packages, it doesn't mean they are all identical. They are differentiated by their RAM, CPU power, databases and other speciality features. However, in the case of these low range plans, if you are only looking for a way to get your simple information based website onto the internet, any of these would probably do the job, and you might as well go with one of the cheaper options.
These low range hosting options are very affordable, however they can also become problematic when problems arise and your site's performance and reliability is not given priority. Therefore, if you were are a business or other party, looking for higher quality hosting, it may be best to seek out advice about what your site requires and to consider premium options. For example, dedicated servers eliminate many of the issue associated with the shared servers (lower range options), but they are also more expensive, so you may also want to conclude whether it is necessary to upgrade or not.
