Basic text editors
Text editors are used to edit HTML tags. For example, ‘<B>Products</B>’ will make the
enclosed text display bold within the web browser. Such tools are often available at low
cost or free – including the Notepad editor included with Windows. They are very flexi-
ble, and all web site developers will need to use them at some stage in developing
content since more automated tools may not provide this flexibility and may not sup-
port the latest standard commands. Entire sites can be built using these tools, but it is
more efficient to use the more advanced tools described below, and use the editors for
‘tweaking’ content.Specialised HTML and graphics editors
Specialised HTML and graphics editing tools provide facilities for adding HTML tags
automatically. For example, adding the Bold text tag <B> </B> to the HTML document
will happen when the user clicks the bold tag. Some of these editors are WYSIWYG.
Examples of standard tools include Microsoft FrontPage Express (www.microsoft.com)
and the more sophisticated and widely used tool Dreamweaver (www.macromedia.com).
More advanced tools include content management systemswhich are today essential for
any site which is frequently updated to support marketing. This topic is discussed fur-
ther in Chapter 9. They provide advanced content editing facilities, but also provide
tools to help manage and test the site, including graphic layouts of the structure of the
site – making it easy to find, modify and re-publish the page. Style templates can be
applied to produce a consistent ‘look and feel’ across the site. Tools are also available to
create and manage menu options.
Examples of graphics tools include:
Adobe Photoshop (extensively used by graphic designers, http://www.adobe.com);
Macromedia Flash and Director-Shockwave (used for graphical animations,
http://www.macromedia.com).Promotion of a site is a significant topic that will be part of the strategy of developing a web
site. It will follow the initial development of a site and is described in detail in Chapter 8.Delivering service quality in e-commerce can be assessed through reviewing existing mar-
keting frameworks for determining levels of service quality. Those most frequently used
are based on the concept of a ‘service-quality gap’ that exists between the customer’s
expected level of service (from previous experience and word-of-mouth communication)
and their perception of the actual level of service delivery. We can apply the elements of
service quality on which Parasuraman et al. (1985) suggest that consumers judge compa-
nies. Note that there has been heated dispute about the validity of this SERVQUAL
instrument framework in determining service quality, see for example Cronin and TaylorService quality
Promote site
Service quality
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