DATABASE SYSTEMS AND THE WEB - Database Design and Development: An Essential Guide for IT Professionals - page 601

Simple interface. HTML pages do not present complexity or difficulty for either
users and developers. Most pages provide a simple interface to the database.
Accessibility. With browsers being platform-independent, data from the database
may be provided in the form of a dynamic web page for access to anyone using any
type of client system.
Standardization. A database application providing information through web pages
adheres to HTML standards. Therefore, a user needs very little training for switch-
ing among different database applications.
Single interface. The browser becomes the single interface mechanism for the user
to access data stored in a database or information stored in static web pages.
Network transparency. In the Web environment, the network is basically transpar-
ent to the user, simplifying database access.
Easily upgradeable. By separating out logic and database services from the client
machines, upgrading and administration of multiple platforms in an organization
become easier.
Innovative services. Organizations are able to provide services and information in
innovative ways to reach potential customers.
Disadvantages Web-database integration is not without a few disadvantages.
Although strong reasons drive the effort to make the database available over the
Web, a few disadvantages give rise to some concerns.
Here is a list of some difficulties that need to be overcome.
Security. Security concerns top the list. Most of the users of a company's website
are anonymous, and therefore proper user authentication and secure data trans-
mission require special attention.
Reliability. The Internet, compared to an enterprise's own network, is slow and
unreliable. You cannot be sure whether or not the requested information is deliv-
ered. Organizations continue to depend on their intranets for critical data.
HTML easy, but limited. Although easy and simple, HTML is limited when it comes
to supporting any large and intricate database application.
HTTP limitation. The stateless nature of the protocol requires elaborate methods
to provide the continuous sessions needed in a database application.
Performance. Poor performance and slow responses could become real problems
because many of the scripts used in the Web environment are written in interpreted,
not compiled, languages.
Inadequate tools. The tools for developing database applications to run in the Web
environment are immature and lack many significant functionalities.