An accessible website is one whose content can be properly used by as many users as possible. The most important thing about a Web site accessible is to understand that people access the Web in very different ways.

Therefore, an accessible website should present the information so that users can access it regardless of the hardware and software they are using, and regardless of what physical and sensory capacities used to interact with the computer.

Different ways to navigate
Know that not everyone uses to surf the Internet the same types of devices or the same way. Below are some examples of different types of users:
A user who uses a graphical browser with all connectors or ‘plug-in installed. The browser is controlled mainly by the mouse and also occasionally with the keyboard (shortcuts and access to forms). This is the most common situation, but not the only possible.
A blind user may use a screen reader program to access content that shows the Explorer browser. Listen to the text content of Web pages by using the sound card for speech synthesis or Braille is read by a special device.
A visually impaired user will use a screen magnifier to enlarge the image and activate the larger size of fonts available in your browser. If you can, turn off the colors defined on pages for display with maximum contrast between text and background.
A user can have mobility impairments that prevent him from handling the mouse. However, handle all computer programs, including web browser, purely from the keyboard and using accessibility aids Windows 98 system.
Other users with slow Internet connections, or using older browsers or who do not have the latest Flash and other connectors. This applies to some users accessing from other less developed countries or by using access stations in public places.
There are users who access the web using laptops ‘palm-top’ and mobile phones very reduced graphic displays.

Correct transformation
The first principle of accessible design is therefore to create pages that are processed correctly and whose content is well reproducible under different circumstances. You have to create pages that are accessible despite the mild cognitive impairment, physical or sensory users. We must also consider possible restrictions due to access site and technological barriers.

In this sense the text is always accessible. But it is not create text-only pages without graphics and an attractive visual layout. HTML techniques are available to associate alternative text with each textual element of the page.

Besides the graphics and multimedia used correctly help to improve web site accessibility by helping to achieve another important principle of accessible design: understanding the content and easy navigation through the site.

Content understandable and navigable
This includes not only the use of a clear and simple language, but also providing understandable mechanisms to navigate within each page and between pages of the website. By providing tools and information navigation guidance in the pages will maximize accessibility and usability of the website.

But as noted, not all users can use visual cues such as image maps, background colors, or images adjacent frames that guide sighted users. Some users also lose the contextual information when they can only view a portion of the page. This occurs when accessing the page word by word with speech synthesizers, Braille or WAP phones or access by parties with small displays or screen magnifiers.

What is a Framework?

A framework in the context of programming is a set of functions or generic code that performs common tasks and common in all types of applications (object creation, database access, clean strings, etc). This provides a solid foundation on which to develop specific applications and obviate the most trivial and generic components of development.

In general, frameworks are built based on object-oriented languages. This allows for better modularization of components and optimal code reuse. Moreover, in most cases, a framework will implement one or more software design patterns that ensure the scalability of the product. A design pattern is a set of proven methodologies to solve common problems in application design. A convention, if you will, that facilitates the understanding of application architecture.

Long ago there are “frameworks” that facilitate the development of applications in various environments and programming languages. In the world of Java Struts there, a very stable and powerful, and initiative. NET Microsoft is a kind of super-framework based on Java. In general, however, the complexity of these environments has relegated the use of frameworks for the development of large and expensive applications.
The frameworks and the Web

In the world of “web applications” minor, inhabited by graphic designers, programmers, self-educated, low budgets and tight schedules, it is traditional language use “scripting” or interpreted as Perl, ASP or PHP designed to compromise the power of language lower level for ease of use and flexibility. This enables rapid application development, but also tends to produce code maintenance difficult and inefficient.

The use of frameworks in the construction of small applications has historically been low until recently when, in the midst of “web 2.0 revolution,” a company of 5 persons released BaseCamp, a project management service web based and built on Rails, a web development framework for the little-known but incredibly versatile language “Ruby”.

Rails (also known as Ruby on Rails) to create web applications with amazing ease. This is because the framework already comes with libraries and functions that abstract most of the complexity of working with databases, defining classes and instantiate objects. Part of this is because Ruby is a native object-oriented (as opposed to PHP or VBScript) and designed to write the minimum lines of code possible. But the magic of Ruby on Rails Rails is the framework, and its clever use of design patterns known.

In the field of web development, design patterns used are those that focus on separating the presentation (html pages, css) or backend logic. This is because a typical development team consists of programmers and designers on one side by the other. Tasks effectively separating each by a standard architecture comprised of all-a-design pattern greatly facilitates the work of the team.
From these patterns, the most popular MVC (Model View Controller), well known in the world of Java and implemented by Ruby on Rails.

As its name implies, MVC is to separate the best possible model layers (objects that interact with the database and made heavy processes or business logic), the Vista (the final presentation of the data processed customer, usually in HTML format) and Controller (the layer that is responsible for receiving user input, delegating work to appropriate models and invoke the views that apply).

Frameworks, then implementations are usually known design patterns, embellished with features that assist the developer. With the advent of Ruby on Rails, many developer communities, especially the PHP-excited and have dozens of frameworks are appearing for that language. The most recent such as Solar or Cerebral Cortex, take advantage of the advanced classes and object model of PHP5, the latest version.
Do I need a Framework?

But a framework, can sometimes be more than what is needed for certain projects. Being generic platforms designed for almost any type of development, for a small project or urgent the amount of options and difficulty of installing a framework can be overwhelming (most frameworks I’ve seen require updates for PHP PEAR, which is not always possible on shared servers). Either way, a frameworks is the way a developer decides to solve his projects, a work environment. Framework is essentially a rigorous application of basic principles that make the difference between a well built and bad economics, modularization, separation of duties. Even if you decide not to take up existing framework, applying these principles to your work sooner or later end up creating your own.

The mainframe or host systems are machines whose main task is to store, process and transfer of large volumes of information, allowing access by multiple users share the same system in an efficient manner. Concept: It is a platform for general purpose computation in continuous evolution, which includes in its definition of architecture essential functionality required for their target applications. The mainframes run under operating systems such as IBM z / OS, OS/390, Unix / Linux, MVS, VM, and VSE with features such as strength and robustness, maximum connectivity, utilization of available bandwidth and high capacity for carrying out consultations , transactions and data storage.

Access

The mainframe access software or teleprocessing terminal, operates at high speed on its lack of graphical elements. It is a text mode interface, making it ideal for connections with low bandwidth. Used 3270 terminal called using a persistent connection based on states as opposed to web-based system with a GUI connection without state with its main problem: switching from a web host model is the safe maintenance of the various states, the integrity of data during a workout. Other terminals are the CICS or Java interfaces that give added functionality to access to information offered by the mainframe.

Advantages of mainframes

Availability and maintainability, resources are not longer available for the carrying out maintenance tasks. Implementation capacity scalability Data security: the host environment is specifically designed to protect information from unauthorized access. Coupled with its low power are the support costs, to be centrally managed: all users access a single system via a terminal sharing their resources.

Problems regarding the user’s perspective

His poor reporting capabilities. Host data processing systems without the actual presentation, which makes them cold and emotionless. Lack of intuitive and friendly for casual users This makes them complex to use. It is a system for expert users that after overcoming the learning period to get to work fast. Its interactivity is limited: it is a powerful system designed to achieve goals quickly and efficiently. It is not a tool of communication, but works through command line through terminals 3270 (dumb terminals based on black screens and access text mode). Inflexibility, which depends on the technical department in charge of administration and are often subject to limitations imposed by the manufacturer (IBM, Digital …). Access is from controlled environments such as libraries, laboratories, banks. But the popularization of computers and need to present data to users becoming less experienced, has to offer as a service anytime anywhere access to that information. The need for remote access to a multitude of systems, including mainframes to create a Web site. Through a browser you can access a host system, information systems, databases, content repositories without changing tool, and navigate through the action. Example: Hiring travel through AMADEUS system as SABER or those accessed through travel websites or airlines. Real-time access to information and tools previously only available to retailers through specific terminals. Thanks to web technology access is made to the same terminal systems with ubiquitous: the browser.

The evolution of the browser

With the advent of PCs to businesses and homes, and internet connection, our lifestyle changes. The PC is intuitive, communication-oriented and with some ability to express emotions through the interface due to its ability to display graphics and multimedia files. The PC is willing to reach people and enter their homes and their interaction “point and click” makes it easy and friendly to use. Their problems: its fragility and storage system, and data transfer process and its problems for him based on multi-user work environments browsers (Mosaic, Netscape, Explorer, Opera) were designed as software tools with graphical support in order to scroll through the nodes of information through hypertext. Over time, the fact is diluted navigate. The browser becomes a working tool that allows us access to other systems, and will replace tools that were designed for specific tasks such as mail clients, usenet. The browser is becoming something like an operating system. Evolved from a device for access to documents and graphics at a desk from which the user seamless access to a multitude of applications. The browser and its ability to integrate different applications, enables companies to provide both content and customized tools, including mainframe services, directly impacting on the efficiency of the organization. Communication mainframe / user is done via the browser by interposing a web server that converts information into formats viewable through a graphical user interface: XML, HTML …

The big difference: the connection

The main problem of the “web paradigm” is his feature stateless model is based on a Request / Response: Unlike the host model, each connection is unique and requires devise the recognition of different user requests through techniques such as cookies or sessions which can include not pose few safety problems. The unique feature means that if we access our email accounts using your login and password, do a click is not recognized by the web server as coming from the same user, but interprets it as a new request. This would identify solicitaáramos whenever a new page. To solve this problem, cookies, sessions or pass parameters to the web server sends a data series that allow you to identify and track our activity on the site. Nevertheless, the browser evolved from an entertainment and communication tool but a pseudo-operating system, working environment, we provide from a custom desktop access to all our applications and other companies.

Alexa is composed of two parts: The Alexa Toolbar: browsers installed on users’ monitors your browsing sending the information to their servers. After processing, the information is to be apportioned among the users through the same bar, similar to recommending sites you are visiting and allowing searches and access to other services.

The services offered are:
Sites related to the site being visited
Information website traffic ranking, etndencias.
Ratings and comments from other users
Removing Popups
Cross-search sites like Google, Amazon products …
Submitting websites to friends
Wayback machine: web access to pure archeology, search among more than 500 terabytes of information and URLs stored 3.5 billion since 1996.

The other “leg” of your site’s Alexa, final repository of all information that gathers Alexa traffic from its users.

Alexa.com. Home site with directory of categories and google.

The site bases its search and directory structure, and this is supported by the services and information from two reference sites: Google and the Open Directory Project, the latter based on the Open Source philosophy and maintained by volunteers.
Alexa What makes it special?

Your system based on Google search and enriched with data available from Alexa datamining, which in turn uses the relational capabilities of Amazon: websites, visitor statistics, evaluation of users.
Information on websites: owners, date of creation through access to records of the InterNIC, Whois.net, Apnic.net, Ripe.net
Archaeological site and previous designs based on their cache where you have stored web sites since 1996.
Your reastreo system over the network, which identifies patterns of behavior and user navigation interest grouping similar sites. Allows discovery of new sites.
Comparative traffic to other sites (Its most fun)
Weekly analysis of trends in visits and page views. Alexa is a useful tool for obtaining information from the web viewed from multiple perspectives. Its ease of use and amenities, that Alexa is becoming an exciting “game” competition.
Playing with Alexa statistics

Weekly, publishes Alexa Movers and Shakers sites that gain or lose significant numbers of visitors. The idea is to allow users to be as informed as possible about the websites they visit, and through the creation of “clusters” related sites and know your score in traffic and popularity. The statistics are updated every 3 months and are based on unique visitors and page views for each user and the graphics dynamically displays how much a site is number 1, that if we are among the first 100,000 of a category. Once we have a site, compare with another: the number one in our category, similar sites and give us information about how we are perceived on the internet and how we relate to other sites our users.
Trend Analysis

The trend graph shows a website daily traffic by time and its position relative to other sites. In the bar shows the average for 3 months, so we have a distinction between “pitch sites and faithful traffic sites, generally more valuable to users and forecasts of traffic growth or decline. Alexa tracks only top-level domains, ignores the subdomains, except in some cases, communities and identified as such, as Geocities in which also monitors the addresses from www.geocities.com domain name. And the drawbacks?
The Alexa toolbar only works on Windows with Explorer and Netscape browsers, leaving out the AOL browser users, many U.S.
Nor can install on Mac or Linux systems, so users of these systems are not “scored” on their traffic. For this problem, Alexa has created the snapshot.
Through a direct link in the navigation bar, at least we will have quick access to information for the website you are visiting.
No traces domains under https: / /
Statistics can be misleading in the case of sites like Amazon, Wayback Machine and Alexa himself, since redirected much of its traffic to these sites.
And what sells?

All this information, suitably treated, is a valuable treasure and a source of endless research. Alexa, markets various payment services such as XML Feed (web site information to present on our site), certificates of popularity for greater credibility with our users, rankings and market research sites, and of course, being from Amazon … books. Like everything good is finished, announced that version 7.0 “still free” so it is sensed that soon will become a paid service. Until then, we must seize.

Metaphors

The use of metaphors appropriate interface design, facilitates and accelerates learning performance of a product.

Similarities with other mechanisms and processes known to the user to apply what they already know the elements and relationships within a domain may not be familiar as a web application or multimedia.
The most traditional desktop with icons representing folders and documents.

Metaphors help users quickly understand how to move an interactive product.
Characteristics of a good metaphor

If the goal of a product is being used efficiently, some of the characteristics to be considered are:
Must be consistently applied on a consistent and solid throughout the system.
Self-explanatory: It should give the user know the possible actions at every moment.
Parties must make visible and invisible to the user processes, including the conceptual model of the system of alternative actions and results of operations.
Should clearly inform the user about the current state of the system and the consequences of their actions.
Do not overwhelm the user with superfluous or unnecessary information.
Types of metaphors
Organizational metaphors

They are based on the existing structure of a group, system or organization.

For example, a site of a supermarket can be grouped by departments or sections such as supermarkets “physical”. Bakers, butchers, hygiene, cleanliness … in this way, the user applies his knowledge of real life to the website and can start to move.

It is important that you find meaningful and useful to the metaphor: if a shopping site, it is desirable to organize, reflecting the Company’s corporate structure, which is something the user does not understand and also will be useless in task of buying.
Functional Metaphors

They rely on tasks or functions the user can perform in their daily lives.

Example: Adobe Photoshop or MS Word and in general all the programs running under windows systems have the functions Copy, Cut and Paste, which allow the user to understand how you can reuse many of their work in the same or different applications.
Visual metaphors

They are based on graphic elements familiar to most people.

For example, a music site where users can listen to songs, they can provide three icons “Play” “Pause” and “Stop”, which is familiar in all CD players, DVD, etc …
Using metaphors is not designed with “style”

It is necessary to help users understand what the system offers a mixture or avoiding the use of inappropriate metaphors.

Many designers confuse the fact of applying metaphors in his work with a modern design or groundbreaking.

It’s best when dispensed metaphors can mislead the user unless this “estrangement” is one of the objectives of the system as virtual environments, gaming and / or learning in the exploration of great prominence.

Your budget will only be limited since worked hard to get there and how they will be entering an area that seem strange and complex, will have no choice but to trust what they recommend advertising agencies. That is not bad at all, provided you have the good fortune to run into serious, luckily there are.

From there your vocabulary will increase significantly (that good these advertisers who care about our culture!) And meet CPMs, Cicks Through, Page Views, Requests, Hits and end-all, a familiar one: dollars.

Advertise on the Internet can become a source of anxiety-read: state of mind which is reached when one gets into a swamp of quicksand, in a very dark night and full of mosquitoes typical when you have to pay people with whom he never had treatment for something that will-for now-very difficult to control. Those were the days when we paid the announcement to a magazine and we could see at any kiosk, printed before our eyes!

“Believe and pay? Just like that? Yes At first they will have many more choices but that does not stop you-can-at least know how much it cost each visit he received. The agencies will provide a way to check the progress of your campaign directly online and you may be having an idea of the effectiveness of their banners and sites are being shown.

But man is suspicious. Why is that? … Have you ever been cheated? Noooo, what will! Well, well, note the following technique and can really get the juice to every penny spent on advertising.

The first thing to do is request a list (also known as pattern information) of the places and days where your banners will be displayed.

There are two ways to make this control: through a special script, in “manual”.

Consider two cases.

The house in order

His first act will set up a small table (in Excel will do) with the following information:

Source Code: Ex 001

Banner Name: Ex btu.gif

Target Site: (yours, but a special page within your site)

Site Exposure: Ex www.imagine.com.co

Start Date: 1/9/99

End Date: 1/10/99

Each record in this database will identify a banner on a particular site, even if the same name banner. Look carefully at this point because if you do not, nothing I say here will be valid.

Relate, study and learn and re-connect

When you must give your agency the banner (or the site directly), rather than tell the URL of your site (eg www.tiendasurbanas.com) Tell a page within your site that will act as a gateway (Doorway) for this unique set banner / site of exposure. On that page enter all visits coming from this pair. (Ex: www.tiendasurbanas.com/campana_a/
001.html).

In this simple way, you can know (through analysis of log files) how many visitors entered through this door. Being a member (the name of it) with a banner / site exposure, you can also test the effectiveness of this combination. The fact allocate a directory for these gates, also let you know the overall performance of your advertising.

But this door, we called 001.html, should immediately redirect visitors to your web site that sought to promote. It is not good that nobody attends to visitors so with a simple instruction, it will be immediately taken to their destination.

This instruction is a META tag, known as “refresh”, which is placed after the tag “HEAD” and takes this form:

<META Http-equiv=”refresh” CONTENT=”0; url=http://www.tiendasurbanas.com/”>

In this case, “0″ means that no visitor will wait for her and that will be conducted in a transparent way (unknowingly) to the main page, in this case, urban stores.

A more sophisticated approach will require the services of a cgi script (program running on the server). In this case one would need to create a single gateway and provide a URL for each pair banner / site, containing the code and the call to the program. When this happens, the script will get the source code and stored in a database along with other valuable information such as type of browser used by the visitor, your operating system, country of origin, date and time of visit, duration the same, and so on.

A higher level of sophistication would be that this script could place a cookie on our visitor’s PC, with for example, the code mentioned and visitor numbers. This information would be helpful to know how many sailors returning to the site, and in case of making a purchase, associating it with other data that is frequently requested.

The possibility of obtaining these relationships add tremendous value to every penny spent on advertising. Not only because it would make corrections during the campaign and dismiss sites that generate little traffic or effectiveness but also, through the use of cookies, an advertiser might know which site you reported more buyers and where he earned his most loyal customers.

Gold dust for subsequent campaigns.

Now take a deep breath …

This story was not designed to give you a free session of relaxation therapy but I have the impression that after applying these techniques you breathe more easily and at the same time, have learned more about the complex ways that businesses take Internet.

This is what I think is the best system that exists in Internet advertising: Adwords. And of course, had to be Google.

These ads will appear when Google users enter in the search box words that match the keywords that advertisers have been carefully selected as triggers for the appearance of your ad. That is, the ads will only show the public that are presumably interested. Adwords has a pricing system cost per click (CPC), ie if you decide to use it, you only pay when users click your ad no matter how many times it is displayed. Also you decide how much to pay per click and also sets the maximum that you want to spend each day.

We’re talking about an advertising system where the strategy is self-administered more than money.

But why Adwords is better than any other amount?

In addition to display ads only to users potentially interested, Adwords has many advantages:

* Advertising, to be text only, not that capable of being filtered by the automatic locks people.

* The number of letters in the advertisements is limited and the resulting text is about a person reads along while doing “scan” on the page (1 or 2 seconds).

* The cost to open an account is only 5 euros and the minimum cost per click is 5 cents.

* There is no minimum that we have to spend a month or anything like that so it is suitable for any business whatever its size.

* The ads they receive a click through rate higher CTR (CTR is the number of users who click on the advertisement in relation to the number of times that shown) are rewarded in the sense that they improve their position, hence the importance of good design and choosing proper ad keywords.

* Shocking fast deployment and response to change.

However, undoubtedly the most exciting advantage of Adwords is the scrutiny of the audience that our ad is displayed through flexibility we have to select keywords that trigger the printing.

Choosing the right keywords that trigger the appearance of our report is a crucial decision that will determine the success or failure of our campaign, so this selection should not be done anyway.

The real issue lies in identifying words, people who would be interested in your product or service, use Google.

But besides the keywords that we select must meet these three requirements:

* That the cost per click (CPC) is low.

* It brings a high rate of CTR (Click Trough).

* That the estimated number of visits that we get the program itself is acceptable.

The second requirement is usually the most forgotten by advertisers. The CTR depends not only on key words without also depends on the design of the copy of our announcement and holding the position but some keywords are essential. Why is it so important a high CTR? In Adwords ads are sorted not only given the CPC (what you’re willing to pay per click every advertiser) but follows a dynamic ranking system based on CTR and CPC ads so that yield more (they take more clicks) were rewarded with a lower CPC or whatever it is improving its position in the ranking. Adwords CTR measured at various positions, normalized to fit each position and then multiplied by the CPC to determine the efficiency of a notice in comparison with other ads running (taking into account the position in which he was the announcement when was clicked).

This gives advertisers an opportunity to compete small to large with pockets full of money, through better design of notice and / or better selection and organization of keywords as your competitors.

Also, once they decide the words and / or groups of words, it is important to study the most appropriate match type. (matching keywords). We can establish three types of correlation between our words and to write the users:

* Broad Match

Example: cars

With this agreement, the ad would appear for searches like “used cars”, “taxation of cars”, “automobile sales”, “automobile insurance”, etc.. We see that it is very difficult to use a single word, and so wide, as a keyword. It is easier to position expressions with two or three words. We also noted that there is a substantial degree of uncertainty about what actually is being sought. Is anyone looking for a dealership to buy a car? Are you a student seeking information to do work on cars? Or maybe, is someone who intends to change insurance companies. In short, the possibilities are almost limitless.

* Exact Match

If we choose our ad will show exact match only on those searches just our word or entering keywords. Is to put our words in brackets.

Example: [automobile pricing]

The ad will appear when placed on the search bar exactly “taxation of cars.

* Phrase

In the latter type of agreement, our ad copy will appear in those searches that include our keywords in the same order but also include other additional words.

Example: “taxation of cars”

The ad will appear on searches such as “taxation of cars in Valencia.”

Also do not forget we have the possibility to include negative keywords, ie impose that our ads do not appear in searches that include our keywords but also including some of our negative keywords (words that do not interest us). Recall that these negative keywords are written in the same keywords box but with a “-” before.

If we choose well our keywords and establish the most appropriate match our audience is very focused and our rate of CTR will be rewarded.

Once we have clearly defined our keywords, do not think they have to be definitive. The first few weeks we will diligently monitor the campaign by studying the reports they offered the Adwords system. If you have to tweak something is tweaked, it’s free!

Remember that advertising with Adwords is an endless series of tests. Always follow tracking your ads. Never stop testing different keywords and ads to improve your conversion rate and lower your cost of acquiring a customer.

Advertising with Adwords works. Master the art of advertising on Google and you can take advantage to their competitors.

Do not give up. Many people do not take advantage of the program because they give up too soon. If a campaign is not considered an overwhelming success in a day or two, many people say does not work and leaves. Adwords takes time. Give the least a month. Study your stats and not be afraid to try different things. Being persistent is crucial. Of course, those who leave make this easier for the rest of us.

What kind of content I want to manage?. “Office documents, web pages, websites, e-commerce sites, reports, graphics, audio, video?. 

What do I do with the content? To publish in corporate portals, on my intranet? Is the content will vary with frequency? Are bills, for example, they will not ever change?. <Do I need to control what the public or just manage your publication?. Who creates the content? “Anyone can provide?.

Regarding the CMS solutions provider, which began work in Document Management need not have powerful features for Web content, and companies specializing in web content may have no possibility of managing large volumes of different types of documents.

Despite this, all providers use the same concepts to describe their functionality, but it is not an authoring tool that provides templates to enter the content to use a general purpose tool (like Microsoft Word) to communicate with the server content.

Once cleared these doubts we will mention those general and specific aspects that we believe are essential to properly position a Content Management.

Architecture:
Client / Server, Web Client, both.
Repository structure, possibility of multiple repositories and replication.
DB Connection.
Compliance industry standards: XML, development, communication and metadata.
SDK for application development.
Platforms: Windows NT, 2000, XP, Sun, IBM AIX, HP-UX, Linux.
Internationalization: Language, support help, manuals, training and more.

System administration:
Administration unique opportunity to delegate.
Roles: multiple individuals, groups, etc..
Management Reports: personalization, retrieval and analysis.

Document Management:
Composition of documents. Metadata associated with documents.
Image management. Mass loading processes. Editing web content. External ones.
Check-in / check-out. Review of documents.
Page-level authorizations, document object.

Web design and authoring:
Possibilities of web design and management of the structure of websites and their pages.
Integration with external tools of authorship.
Content syndication.

Support of workflow and BPM:
Creating workflow for inexperienced users. Assign tasks to roles, groups.
Ease of design changes.
Monitoring processes.
Ability to prioritize. Parallel tasks.
E-mail notifications in the inbox of the CMS, and so on.
Integration with third parties.

Integration with other enterprise applications:
In back office ERP applications.
In front office with Call Center, CRM, Portals.
Integration with Web authoring applications, XML authoring, with applications Image Management, Document Management.
Ability to export and import of content and metadata.

Searches and collaboration:
Search Types. Integration with third-party search engines.
Searches on third-party repositories. Multilanguage searches.
Categorization and taxonomies.
Collaboration tools: shared spaces, discussion lists, real-time collaboration.
Assignments: working groups, project groups.

Publication and distribution of content:
Separate content from presentation.
Easy Web Site Publishing. Rendering.
Customization capabilities. Subscribe to content. Organize profiles or rules.

Safety:
Encryption, digital signatures and certificates. SSL.
Authorization levels: users, groups, roles, objectives, projects.
Security implementation: passwords, unique user passsword, generate lists of users, LDAP.

These paragraphs should be developed by combining the one hand the characteristics and needs of the organization that wants to implement a content management system, and on the other hand the possibilities offered suppliers.

Whether our database has only 20 entries, or some few thousands, it is important to make sure our database is properly designed to have efficiency and usability over time.

In this article, we mention some basic principles of database design and handled some rules to follow when creating databases. Depending on the requirements of the database, the design can be somewhat complex, but with a few simple rules we have in the head will be much easier to create a perfect database for our next project.

MySQL build large applications is easy with tools such as Apache, Perl, PHP, and Python. Ensure that are fast, however, requires more than insight. MySQL has a well deserved reputation as a database server very quickly which is also very easy to configure and use, besides that in recent years its popularity has grown significantly due to that used on countless Web sites that require make use of a database. However, few users know anything more than creating a database and write some searches against it.

After reading this article must be able to understand some techniques that will help you design MySQL databases to build better applications. Suppose you have a basic knowledge of SQL language, and MySQL, but we will not assume that they have much experience with either one.
Storing the information necessary

It seems common sense, but many people often take the approach of “kitchen sink” for the design of databases. We often think of anything we wanted that were stored in a database and design the database to store data. We must be realistic about our needs and decide what information is really necessary. Often we can generate some data on the fly without having to store them on a table in a database. In these cases also makes sense to do this from the viewpoint of application development.

For example, a product table for an online catalog may contain names, descriptions, sizes, weights and prices of various products. Besides the price, you may want to keep taxes and shipping costs associated with each product. But really there is no need to do this. First, both taxes and shipping costs can be calculated on the fly (either by our application, or MySQL). Second, if we change taxes or shipping costs, would have to write the necessary searches to update taxes and shipping costs in every product registration.

Sometimes we have to add fields to tables in a database once they have been created is too difficult, so we are impelled to define as many columns as possible. Well, this is simply a misconception, because in MySQL can use the ALTER TABLE command to change the definition of a table at any time to suit our changing needs.

For example, if at some point we realize that we need to add a column to our table popular products (we may want our customers to qualify the products in our catalog), we could do the following:

ALTER TABLE products ADD popularity INTEGER;

Ask only what is necessary and be explicit

Just to say “store only what is necessary”, this may seem a little more common sense, however, this is usually not considered very often. Why?. Because when an application is in development requirements often change, so that many of the searches end up looking like this:

SELECT * FROM algunaTabla;

Get all the columns in a table is simply the best thing we can do when we’re not sure what areas need. However, as the tables grow and change, this can become a performance issue. In the long run is much better late extra time after our initial development and decide exactly what we need in our searches. In particular, it is much better to specify the columns explicitly:

SELECT name, price, description FROM products;

This relates to a point that has more to do with keeping the code with performance. Most programming languages (Perl, Python, PHP, Java, etc) allow us access to the results of a query by the field names and their numerical position. For the above example, we can access the field 0, or field name and get the same results.

In the long run is better to use the column names to their numeric positions. Why? Because the relative positions of columns in a table or a query result can vary. For example, a table may vary as a result of an ALTER TABLE, or change in a query as a result of someone rewriting the search and forget to update the application logic properly.

Of course, we still need to be careful when changing the names of the columns! But if you use names instead of numerical positions, we can use the search capability and replacement of our publisher to find the code we have to change if you change the name of a column.
Normalizing table structure

If you’ve never heard of the “normalization of data,” we should not fear. While standardization may seem a complex topic, we can benefit greatly by understanding the most basic concepts of standardization.

This seems reasonable. However the problem is that the number of tracks that have a CD is quite variable. This means that this method would have to have a really big spreadsheet to hold all the data, which in the worst cases could be up to 20 tracks. This definitely is not good.

One goal of a standardized table structure is to minimize the number of “empty cells”. In the case of the CD table before us, would have a lot of CDs these cells if we allowed 20 runs or more. In the event that the lists of fields can expand, “right” as in this example of the CDs, gives us a clue that we need to divide the data into two or more tables that we can then get together to obtain the data we need.

Many people new to the systems of relational databases do not really know what “relational” in RDBMS (Relational Database Management System). In simple terms, similar groups of information are stored in different tables that can then be “coupled” (related) based on data they have in common. Unfortunately this sounds quite academic and vague, however, in our CD database we can illustrate a specific situation in which we will see how to normalize the data.

The realization that each list of CDs is a fixed set of attributes (title, artist, year, genre) and a variable set of attributes (the number of tracks) gives us an idea of how to divide the data into multiple tables then we relate to each other. We can create a table containing a list of all albums and their attributes fixed and the other containing a list of all the tracks of these albums. Thus, instead of thinking horizontally (as with the spreadsheet), and vertically think we left a table structure like the one shown below.

CREATE TABLE album (
id_album INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
title VARCHAR (80) NOT NULL);

CREATE TABLE track (
id_album INTEGER NOT NULL,
number INTEGER NOT NULL,
title VARCHAR (80) NOT NULL);

The album identifier (id_album) is what links the various tracks of a given album. The field in the table id_album track id_album coincides with the field in the album chart, so that for a list of all tracks on a given album, we could perform a query like this:

Pista.numero SELECT, FROM pista.nombre album, track
WHERE album.titulo = “The title of the album”
AND album.id_album = pista.id_album

This structure is both flexible and efficient. The flexibility lies in the fact that we can add data to the system later without having to rewrite what we already have. For example, if we add the information of the artists on each album, all you have to do is create a table that is related to artist’s album chart in the same way that the track table. Therefore, we need not modify the structure of our existing tables, just add what you need.

Efficiency refers to the fact that we have no duplication of data, and we have no large amounts of “empty cells”. In this way MySQL does not have to store more data than necessary, or spend resources to check the empty areas in our charts.

The main objective of database design is to generate tables that model the records, which will keep our information. It is important that this information is stored without redundancy so that you can have a fast and efficient retrieval of data. Through standardization try to avoid certain shortcomings that will lead to poor design and leading to a less efficient processing of data.

We could say that these are the main objectives of standardization:

* Controlling the redundancy of information.
* To avoid data loss.
* Ability to represent all information.
* Maintain data consistency.

If you’re new to the environment of relational databases might think that with the normalization of our data have a strange appearance, however, it allows MySQL to be very efficient when storing and retrieving data from tables, plus which gives us the flexibility to grow and scale our applications without the need to restructure a database each time.
Select the appropriate data type

Having identified all the tables and columns that the database needs, we must determine the data type of each field. There are three main categories that can be applied to virtually any database application:

* Text
* Numbers
* Date and Time

Each of these has its own variations, so choosing the correct data type not only influences the type of information that can be stored in each field, but affects the overall performance of the database.

Here are some tips that will help us choose a data type suitable for our tables:

* Identify whether a column must be of type text, numeric, or date.

This is often a step too simple. Numerical values eminently zip codes or dollar amounts should be treated as text fields if we decide to include your punctuation, but will get better results if you store them as numbers and solve the issue of format otherwise.
* Choose the most appropriate subtype for each column.

The fixed-length fields (such as CHAR) are generally faster than variable length (such as VARCHAR), but take up more disk space.

The size of each field should be restricted to a minimum in terms of what might be the largest entry. For example, if the value in an integer column is less than a thousand, it is best to set this column as a three-digit SMALLINT unsigned (allowing exactly 999 different values).
* Set the maximum length for text and numeric columns, and other attributes.

Perhaps we have different preferences, but the most important factor is always set to maximum information in each field instead of always using generic types TEXT and INT (and inefficient).

Use appropriate indicators

The indices are a special system that use databases to improve their overall performance. When defining indexes on the columns of a table, tells MySQL to pay special attention to those columns.

MySQL allows you to define up to 32 indexes per table and each index can incorporate up to 16 columns. Although a multiple-column index can be useful not obvious at first glance, the fact is that it is very useful in making frequent searches on the same set of columns.

Since the indexes make queries run faster, we can be encouraged to index all the columns of our tables. However, what we need to know is that using a price index. Each time you do an INSERT, UPDATE, REPLACE, or DELETE on a table, MySQL has to update any index on the table to reflect changes in the data.

So, how we decided to use indexes or not?. The answer is “it depends”. So simple, it depends what kind of queries run and how often we do, but it really depends on many other things.

The reason for having an index on a column is to allow MySQL to run the search as quickly as possible (and avoid full table scan). We think that an index contains an entry for each unique value in the column. In the index, MySQL must have any value doubled. These duplicate values decreases the efficiency and usefulness of the index.

So before you index a column, we must consider what percentage of table entries are duplicates. If the percentage is too high, probably will not see any improvement with the use of an index.

Another thing to consider is how often the rates will be used. MySQL can use an index for a particular column if this column appears in the WHERE clause in a query. If you rarely use a column in a WHERE clause certainly does not have much sense to index that column. Thus, more efficient probably suffer the complete scan of the table the rare occasions that this column is used in a query, the index to be updated every time data changes in the table.

When in doubt, we have no alternative but to try. We can always run some tests on the data from our tables with and without indexes to see how we get the results faster. The only thing to consider is that the tests are as realistic as possible.
Use REPLACE queries

There are times when you want to insert a record unless it is already in the table. If the record already exists, what we would do is an update of the data. Instead of writing code that complies with this logic, and having to run several queries, it is best to use MySQL REPLACE statement.
Using temporary tables

When working with very large tables, it often happens that occasionally need to run some queries on a small subset of a large amount of data. Rather than run these queries on the entire table and make MySQL more and find the few records we need, can be much faster to select those records into a temporary table and then run our consultations on this table.

Create a temporary table is as simple as adding the word TEMPORARY in CREATE TABLE typical sentence:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tabla_temp
(
Datatype field1,
field2 datatype,
…
);

A temporary table exist as long as the connection to MySQL. When the connection is broken automatically removes MySQL table and free the space it used. We can of course delete this table while connected to MySQL. If a table named tabla_temp already exists in your database when creating a temporary table with the same name, the temporary table is not hidden from the temporary table.

MySQL also allows you to specify a temporary table is created in memory if the table is declared of type HEAP:

CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tabla_temp
(
Datatype field1,
field2 datatype,
…
) TYPE = HEAP;

Because HEAP type tables are stored in memory, consultations on these tables are implemented much faster than on disk temporary tables. However HEAP tables are slightly different from a normal table and have some limitations.

As with previous suggestions, the only thing left is to test whether temporary tables with our queries run faster than using the table that contains a large amount of data. If the data are well indexed temporary tables can not be of much use to us.
Use a recent version of MySQL

The recommendation is simple and concrete, provided it is in our hands, we must use the latest version of MySQL that is available. In addition to the new versions often include many improvements are becoming more stable and faster. Thus, while we take advantage of new features in MySQL, we will see significant increases in the efficiency of our database server.
Concluding remarks

The last step of designing the database is to take certain naming conventions. While MySQL is very flexible about how to assign names to the databases, tables and columns, here are some rules you should observe:

* Use alphanumeric characters.
* Limit the names to fewer than 64 characters (it is a restriction of MySQL).
* Use the underscore (_) to separate words.
* Use lowercase words (this is more a personal preference than a rule).
* The table names should be pluralized, and the names of the columns in the singular (it is a personal preference).
* Use the letters ID in the primary key columns and foreign.
* In a table, placing the primary key followed by the foreign keys.
* The field names should be descriptive of its contents.
* The field names must be unique across tables, except for the keys.

The above points are many personal preferences rather than rules that we should meet, and consequently many of them can be overlooked, however, the most important is that the nomenclature used in our databases is consistent and consistently in order to minimize the chance of mistakes when creating a database application.

Negotiation is one of these processes. Roger Fisher and William Ury of the Harvard Negotiation Project negotiation defined as follows:

It’s a round-trip communication designed to reach agreement when you and those on the other side have some interests in common and others opposed. It is a simple way to get what you want (of others).

There are three criteria for judging a negotiation: it must produce an agreement, must be efficient and should improve relations between the parties or at least not deteriorated.

Negotiation is usually voluntary and the aim of it is coming to a resolution of conflict. Unless you live isolated from the world’s most social and business interactions involve negotiating processes, hence the importance of being able to negotiate effectively.

Types of negotiation

The negotiation can be of two types:
Competitive: based on taking positions
Cooperative: Interest-based

Some view negotiation as a competition, a contest with a fixed prize and a single winner. In competitive negotiation one party makes an initial move and the other party replies with a counteroffer. After twists and turns will reach a point of agreement. It’s like sharing a cake of 10 pieces: 5 for each, three for one and seven for the other … and so on.

This approach can give results for the winner, but there is a clear “loser” this will not want to return to the winner. Competitive negotiations often end up in agreements that leave both sides dissatisfied.

In competitive negotiation negotiators may be hard or soft. The tough negotiators with the problem are hard and tough on the people, are aggressive, they are only interested in profit at the expense of others, are extremist, uncompromising, intimidating, manipulative and authoritarian.

The soft negotiator with the problem is mild and gentle with people, friendly and submissive, their only purpose is to reach an agreement, he is even willing to sacrifice their own interests, it yields to the first negative signal, yields to the pressure, make concessions and be intimidated.

For example, negotiating a budget for the development of a web application. The developer will insist on the reasons for the amount of hours budgeted, the client will insist on reducing the number of hours or the final price. If the developer is carried by the “winning” the customer will think that this is a vendor too expensive and threaten to suspend the order and find another provider. If the client is the “earns” the provider might decide that should be pursued to that client or simply use inexperienced staff and cheap, sacrificing quality of work.

Depending on the capacity of push and pull of each, and demonstrations of power either, it can reach an agreement but the agreement probably will not be fair, it will be difficult to accomplish and will not last. The parties may even reach agreements that are facing their own interests.

While this way of negotiating is fairly common, does not achieve optimal agreements because the parties are adversaries and do not work cooperatively. Commonly, the competitive negotiator (hard or soft) will remain stuck in their position, and even being aware that a particular agreement is against their interests will not be easy to abandon this position because doing so would risk its credibility or prestige.

A better approach is to base the negotiation on real interests, not positions. The position is what the parties want, the real interest is why they want it.

If we augment the previous example, the ISP may be interested in achieving a permanent business relationship and would have no problem in accepting a lower margin per project in exchange for some certainty about future projects. The client may be genuinely interested in lower project costs structurally safeguarding quality, and would love to work with a supplier that guarantees quality at affordable prices, so would not object to formally commit to long horizons further term.

The interest-based negotiation of the idea that it can serve the interests of both parties so that all people benefit. Here is the magic it comes to finding outlets that allow mutual gain: a win-win result. This result can only occur when the parties work together and stop being an adversary.

Consider the example of the nuclear missile crisis in Cuba in 1962. Kennedy managed to take the Russians had sent missiles to Cuba, which was not known until recently was that the Russians managed to take off the Americans had installed nuclear missiles in Turkey. Thus we see as both sides got their main shared goal (to avoid a nuclear race in the world) and also other objectives such as eliminating the missiles themselves in areas close to each country. The Americans also got that Russians did not disclose the withdrawal of missiles in Turkey which Kennedy did not seem to make any concessions.

Skills needed for negotiation differ by type. In the positional bargaining is to assess who, when and how to make an offer, whether to make concessions and when to do them, etc. The focus is on power (yours and your opponent), the objective is to have more power than the opponent, and to diminish the power of it. The key to power lies in having alternatives (Plan B), if you have alternatives to a negotiated agreement, you can ask anything, if you get what you ask, well, and if not obtained, then no problem, is passed to the alternative.

A customer with several suppliers with whom you are satisfied or time to do your project may require more than a desperate customer, with little time and without reliable suppliers. A vendor that you can put on customers working conditions that a supplier with fewer customers you may not even happen (not to accept the customer! For example).

In interest-based bargaining process is different. It begins by defining their own interests, trying to understand the extent that these interests are compatible with those of the other party. After working on areas of support to develop options for mutual gain. Through creative activities (including: brainstorming, generating ideal solutions, ranking of priorities) can be impossible to reach solutions in the context of a competitive negotiation.

It is worth noting that this type of negotiation can only take place where living areas of compatibility, if not, no choice but to carry out a competitive strategy based on positions.

The elements of a negotiation

1. Preparation
2. Discussion
3. Proposition
4. Seek mutual benefits

Preparation

It is important to identify our goals and try to know the objectives of the other party, deepening the own goals to reach the real objectives. To negotiate with clarity and produce results that truly serve us we need to define a hierarchy of importance to the objectives and understand what goals are negotiable and which not.

For a consulting firm will likely limit set by the deadlock of the costs of a project, the consulting firm not be counted less than they cost employees involved in a project. If cover fixed costs is the objective, reasonable profits for the work to realize is the objective variable, this may be scope for negotiation.

Now it may happen that the consultant is more interested in doing the project and get the client, which cover the costs. Here’s how priority setting helps to avoid mistakes.

By knowing the goals of the other hand we can adjust our proposals for what the other party and thus enhance the chances of achieving a mutually beneficial agreement. As important as meeting the objectives of the other part is to know their motivations, the motivations often come from fear or distrust, or even wanting to please a boss … if we know the reasons we will have more power of persuasion and influence.

When we have a global vision, we can speculate about possible scenarios that might be analyzing the impact and the advantages and disadvantages of each option (time, cost, quality, risks, opportunities, levels of urgency, etc).

Henry Kissinger in his memoirs that a reporter asked if he knew they were going to ask Russians in a diplomatic summit. Kissinger replied: “Of course we know they will ask, would be a disaster if we did not know in advance.”

Discussion

Once ready to negotiate, it should socialize a little, and comment, without getting too intimate topics to help everyone feel more comfortable.
During the discussion is essential to discuss the problem and not about people who are negotiating. The tone should be friendly and relaxed, do not demand anything of the other party. You have to talk about what one does, thinks or wants, not about what the other party must do or think. Effective phrases are “We would,” “need”, “For us it is important,” “suggest,” when we speak of the other party may use for example “Would you be willing to?” “How would you see..?”

The threats, blackmail or phrases such as “If you do this” or “must” can create all sorts of negative reactions of defense or attack, obstructing cooperation.

It is vital to avoid emotional reactions (eg anger or rage), react emotionally when we lose the ability to find new solutions. Not much to do about it, during those moments we are slaves to our hormones, it is best to endure the time, apologize, go to the bathroom, drink a glass of water and regain composure. When the other party who reacts emotionally, the way forward is to show empathy, patience and once passed the time, to extend the discussion to a less emotional channel.

Proposition

Once confidence accomplished, the parties explain, in a non-intimidating, the issues they want to tackle and what they intend to get as a result. It is at this point where preparation work is beginning to deliver results, if we know what to look for the other party involved, we can make our proposals by connecting them to their goals and thus increase the acceptability of them.

It is important not to provoke a state of disagreement explicit. Suppose the client begins with an initial position by saying: “The proposal seems very good, but the hourly rate is too high.” If contradict the client about his perceptions about the price per hour (eg saying “We are not expensive”) is only intensified his desire to prove he is right. Bear in mind that perceptions are always true to who does, may conform more or less objective reality, but you can not contradict: If someone feels heat in the winter we can say that 3 degrees below zero, but we can not discuss about the sensation of heat.

In such situations should recognize what the other person expresses saying for example “I understand your opinion, just that we have commented on other clients to see our proposal for the first time.” Thus not creating a situation of belligerency, recognizes and accepts the opinion of the other party. How do I change my mind is the client? Explaining the reason for the high price and the benefits of service offered: “It is true that there are agencies that charge 30% less than us, but we have 10 years experience in this field and we guarantee our results. Even those customers who initially criticized our prices, they end up realizing that the investment is justified, given the quality of our services and solutions we propose. ”

Seek mutual benefits

Recall that the key is to be creative and invent new options that benefit all parties.
Consider for example a meeting on the development of an intranet in an enterprise: the communications department, responsible for development of the intranet, you want to do all the work internally and hiring temporary workers. The IT department knows it would be more efficient to hire a specialized consultant. The problem is that the communication department has had a very bad experience with a consultant three years ago. The objective of the department of communication may be “to maintain control so that does not happen what happened to us 3 years ago, the motivation is the belief that” things will work out if the internal controls. ” The IT department is aware of this motivation, and understand that things will not necessarily good for being able to control them internally, this is only a perception of the department of communication. The IT department does not have enough know-how to develop intranets and sees a high risk for the project.

The IT department may propose to hire external parties (outsourcing) managed jointly with a specialist consultant. In this way the communications department would oversee the process, because staff would be working internally and get the IT department get the required external know-how, reduce risk and lower development costs. All would gain.

Using objective criteria

There are certain issues that are not susceptible of a win-win approach. To resolve these issues and reduce time spent on discussions should use objective criteria. Imagine a conflict between a customer and a supplier on the HTML delivered. The commission was strict HTML 4.01 and turned provider code validadotes not valid in the W3C. The customer insists that the supplier redo the work, the vendor claims that the W3C validation was not a requirement.
The client does not accept the delivered code and the provider wants to be paid for work done.

There is an objective way to settle whether or not something is HTML 4.01 strict, and is the DTD HTML 4.01 strict, according to this DTD something is or is not HTML 4.01 strict. From this situation the provider can make new proposals to remake the code or provide some other compensation, if not complied with the request.

Suppose that in a similar context, the customer complains that the pages do not look good in certain browsers, the developer can fully comply with the request: if the customer ordered strict HTML 4.01, there are many chances of this happening for reasons beyond the supplier (browsers that do not meet standards). If compatibility with certain browsers was not a requirement, the supplier has a substantial objective basis for negotiating the resolution of compatibility problems as extra charge.

Plan B

Having a plan B or BATNA (in English: Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement) is essential to negotiate. The plan B is something that can be obtained without the need to negotiate. Suppose a company A worker with a salary of € per month X receives one or offer to work at Company B for X +2 € per month. The employee can sit down and negotiate a raise with A Company and not settle for less than X +2 € per month since it increases the minimum that would leave the company B. The worker might ask X +5 € and see if the employer agrees or proposes an alternative.

The better the plan B, the better the results can be obtained from the negotiation, Plan B raises the bar by increasing the quality of the “worst” outcome. This has, of course, for both parties, the employer’s plan B might be the existence of another employee who wants to advertise and which currently charges € X-5.

When Plan B is better than that obtainable in a negotiation, there is no point sitting down to negotiate.
Just as previously we saw the importance of knowing the objectives and motivations of the other party, knowing the plan B of the other party also increases the chances of reaching an agreement beneficial.

A complicated situation that often occurs in our guild, is how to negotiate when the other party is more powerful than us (institutional, financial or political). Whatever the imbalance of forces, we must not succumb to pressure and says as Douglas Adams said in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: ‘Never panic’.
The coherent argument based on maintaining a cooperative attitude and good preparation can offset the imbalance of forces.