Common uses for web applications 

Web applications have many uses for both site visitors and developers, 

including the following: 

I

Let visitors find information quickly and easily on a content rich 

website. 

This kind of web application gives visitors the ability to search, 

organize, and navigate content as they see fit. Examples include 

company intranets, Microsoft MSDN (

www.msdn.microsoft.com

), 

and Amazon.com (

www.amazon.com

).

I

Collect, save, and analyze data provided by site visitors. 

In the past, data entered in HTML forms was sent as e mail messages 

to employees or CGI applications for processing. A web application can 

save form data directly into a database and also extract the data and 

create web based reports for analysis. Examples include online banking 

pages, store check out pages, surveys, and user feedback forms.

I

Update websites that have constantly changing content.

A web application frees the web designer from continually updating the 

site's HTML. Content providers such as news editors provide the web 

application with content, and the web application updates the site 

automatically. Examples include the Economist (

www.economist.com

) 

and CNN (

www.cnn.com

).

Web application example

Janet is a professional web designer and longtime Dreamweaver user 

responsible for maintaining the intranet and Internet sites of a medium 

sized company of 1000 employees. One day, Chris from Human Resources 

comes to her with a problem. HR administers an employee fitness program 

that gives employees points for every mile walked, biked, or run. Each 

employee must report his or her monthly mile totals in an e mail to Chris. 

At the end of the month, Chris gathers all the e mail messages and awards 

employees small cash prizes according to their point totals. 

Chris's problem is that the fitness program has grown too successful. So 

many employees now participate that Chris is inundated with e mails at 

the end of each month. Chris asks Janet if a web based solution exists. 

218 Understanding Web Applications