1. P1, P2 & P3
Unit 8
Alex Speer

2. Web Servers
A web server is a computer that delivers a web page to the user. They all have an IP address, and usually have a domain name in addition.
An example of this is if the user were to go to the address: “ The internet browser would request to the web server (which in this case would be “google.com”, and then subsequently would retrieve the page “play”.
There are many freeware software packages available on the internet to allow anybody to turn their own personal computer into a web server.

3. Internet Browsers
A web browser is a piece of software that allows the user to navigate the World Wide Web (WWW).
They use (Secure) Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which allows the web server and the internet browser to communicate together.
When the user types in an Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the browser contacts the web server, and collects the page itself alongside aby images etc, and then displays them for the user.
Usually the pages are written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which allows the browser to read the webpage and show it to the user.

4. Web Authoring Tools
Web authoring tools are used for designing websites.
They are generally based on HTML, and in addition make use of Java in order to improve the look and feel of the webpage.
Without web authoring tools, developers would have to write the page directly in HTML, which is possible however it would take a lot longer to do so.

5. TCP/IP Addresses
Usually, an IP (Internet Protocol) address is a 32-bit number (in binary), which uniquely identify a host device. A host device can be a printer, computer, mobile phone etc.
As it would be difficult to comprehend the 32-bit binary string, it is then split into four 3 digit ‘sections’.
It is usually laid out in this format:
The two main types of IP Version 4 & 6 (IPv4 / IPv6)
IPv4 uses a 32 binary string to create a single unique address, whereas IPv6 uses a 128 binary string to do the same thing.
The majority of computers currently use IPv4, but more and more are moving away form that, to IPv6.

6. Ports & Protocols.
There are two types of protocols; TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol). The main difference is TCP connects directly to the recipient of the data until all the data has been transferred, then it disconnects.
Whereas UDP doesn’t, as it packages and then sends the data into the network so it can try and find it’s way to the receiving device. Most of the time it successfully makes it way there, but on occasions it can get lost or corrupted.
A port is always associated with an IP address, and is a number that ranges from 0 to (although on TCP the port 0 is reserved and cannot be used by the user).
Port 80 and 443 (more so 443) are almost always used for the internet. HTTPS always defaults to port 443.

7. Download Speeds
The download speed is the rate of which data is being downloaded from the internet onto the local device.
Speeds can vary depending on how the location of the user, and the cables that deliver the internet to them (either fibre optic or copper cables).
In the past, people used to connect to the internet via a telephone line using dial up. This was a slow and noisy process, which is rarely ever used anymore.
The average speed in the UK is 13MB/s, but on average the speed in the cities are around three times as fast as the speed in rural areas.

8. Domain Names
A domain name is a string version of a DNS server. When the user goes to command prompt, and types in the domain name (e.g. Google.com, ‘Google’ is the domain name), and the command prompt would display the DNS for the website.
In this case, Google is ‘ ’, which would take the user to Google.com if it were to be inserted into a web browser.

9. Global Marketplace & 24/7 Trading
With a global marketplace, trading can occur all over the world, between a couple of people or millions of people, no matter where each person is physically located.
If there were not to be a product available in a certain country, then a person could go online and order it from another country.
With the global marketplace, comes 24/7 trading. As different parts of the world operate in different time zones, the global marketplace allows people to trade at times where brick and mortar shops would usually be closed.

10. Delivery Issues
A drawback of e-commerce is that issues can occur with the delivery of products. It all depends on the individual carriers, as some carriers give a one hour delivery slot and lets the customer track where the driver is, whereas other companies only give a 12 hour delivery slot, which can be inconvenient with the customer.
Another issue with delivering goods is that goods can go missing or become damaged in transit. This can have a substantial cost for both the business themselves (as they have to replace the item lost), and in some cases, for the delivery company as they have to compensate the business if it’s proven they lost or damaged the package.

11. International Legislation
Sometimes international laws and customs can become problematic when shipping goods between countries. Some things that are legal in the country of origin, may not be legal in the destination country.
Another issue is custom import charges. Goods that are over a certain size and value are subjected to taxation from HMRC. This can pose an issue to some customers, who may not be aware of the charges until the package arrives in the UK, and they may not be wishing to pay it.
Alternatively, some businesses may pay the customs import charges, but it would cost the business some of it’s profit as well, as the charges are not cheap.