Instructions: Discuss the following below.

Case Study: Choose Your CGI

Darius is the project manager of a Web development team for a mid-size corporation. Theteam needs to choose a CGI technology for the company's new primary Web site. Dariusmust write the recommendation that upper management will review in deciding whetherto approve funds.

In creating a short summary of the project, Darius asked his team members to help answer the following questions:

• Do any developers in the company know common CGI technologies?

• What operating systems are currently in use in the company? (by percentage, such as 50 percent Windows, 30 percent Linux, 20 percent Solaris)

• What operating systems are ideal for this project?

• What Web servers are ideal for this project?

Darius learned that the company's computer environment was almost completelyWindows-based. Also, several members of the Web development team knew how to useVBScript and had experience using Active Server Pages (ASP). Although ASP is an olderMicrosoft technology (.NET is newer and more versatile), the Web development teamrecommended ASP as the best choice.

As Darius' team made their choice, they considered the importance of using client-sidetechnologies such as JavaScript. However, they also considered that some browsers donot support JavaScript, and that some users may deactivate JavaScript in theirbrowsers, which could cause Web pages to render differently and disappoint some sitevisitors. After some deliberation, Darius and his team decided to use server-sidetechnology (specifically ASP) for all applications.

As a class, consider this scenario and discuss the following points:

• Would Darius' team have chosen the same CGI technology if the computer environment had been mostly Linux? What might they have chosen instead?

• If Darius' team had chosen a client-side technology, what steps could they have taken to improve accessibility?