webstore : Java Glossary

JavaScript

If you are setting up a webstore, my first tip is to avoid using JavaScript. JavaScript guarantees one or more browsers will fail. The slithering menus people like to create with JavaScript look sexy, but are difficult to use. In practice, it also means your web pages will bloat to ten times bigger than they would be otherwise, meaning they will take ten times as long to load. . JavaScript makes screenscraping all but impossible.

Referrals

You want to make it as easy as possible for people to send you business by linking to your site.

• Keep your URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) stable. If others have to keep adjusting their URLs to just to keep pointing to the same products, they will eventually decide it is not worth the bother.
• Keep your URLs short. They should contain very little more than the part number.They should not require you to include proprietary information you have to research.
• Make your pages welcome screenscraping. The basic information should be available on a reserved part of the page in unvarying, computer-friendly format. This area should be roped of with unique strings before and after to make it easy to find. You need information on part number, product description, price, and whether the product is unlisted, out of stock or carried. This is not free form text, but structured information, perhaps a CSV (Comma-Separated Value) line.
• Assign each product only one part number (unlike Amazon that can assign a dozen).
• If you have an API (Application Programming Interface) to efficiently deliver this information without reading web pages, allow the affiliate to submit a list of part numbers, and get back a list of descriptions just that have changed since a given date. There is no need to send him the kitchen sink, just what fields he needs. There is no need to make him ask one item at a time every 6 seconds for hours and hours.

Money

• Unless you are a large company, it would be quite expensive to set up accounts with every credit card and wire transfer company. You need to make an arrangement with a broker who has so that you can accept all plausible forms of payment.
• Handling money in ways that defeats criminals is quite tricky. You should be letting some third party handle it for you.