DOCSLIB.ORG

Website Owner's Manual

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Website Owner's Manual website owner’s manual website owner’s manual Paul Boag MANNING I iii I For online information and ordering of this and other Manning books, please visit www.manning.com. The publisher offers discounts on this book when ordered in quantity. For more information, please contact Special Sales Department Manning Publications Co. Sound View Court 3B fax: (609) 877-8256 Greenwich, CT 06830 Email: [email protected] ©2010 by Manning Publications Co. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the publisher. Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in the book, and Manning Publications was aware of a trade- mark claim, the designations have been printed in initial caps or all caps. Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, it is Manning’s policy to have the books we publish printed on acid-free paper, and we exert our best efforts to that end. Recognizing also our responsi- bility to conserve the resources of our planet, Manning books are printed on paper that is at least 15 percent recycled and processed without the use of elemental chlorine. Manning Publications Co. Development Editor: Sebastian Stirling Sound View Court 3B Copyeditor: Tiffany Taylor Greenwich, CT 06830 Designer: Leslie Haimes Illustrator: Eamon Dougherty ISBN: 978-1-933988-45-0 © 2010 Printed in the United States of America 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 – MAL – 14 13 12 11 10 09 To my father, who inspired me to write a book; and to my son, who may one day write one of his own. CONTENTS foreword . .xv preface. .xvii about this book. xix author online. .xxii about the author . xxiii 1 The secret to a successful website. 1 Discover your missing manual .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 3 Battling.information.overload. 3 Seeing.the.bigger.picture. 3 Having.a.“need.to.know”.mentality. 4 Principle 1. Balance conflicting priorities . 4 Making.your.site.easy.to.use. 4 Providing.access.for.all. 5 Producing.aesthetic.appeal . 5 Facilitating.development. 6 Creating.killer.content.. 6 Focusing.on.objectives . 6 Principle 2. Define your role. 8 Having.a.vision. 9 Establish your vision..9 Know your roadmap..9 Being.an.advocate. 10 Evangelizing.your.site. 10 Managing.your.content. 11 Populating initial content..11 Keeping content fresh..11. Ensuring a consistent message and tone..12 Coordinating.your.projects. 12 Resolving.disagreements. 12 Principle 3. Plan for the future. 13 Evaluating.your.objectives. 14 Refining.your.website. 14 Promoting.your.site. 15 I vii I 2 Stress-free planning. 17 Keep your planning lightweight. 19 Don’t plan in a bubble. 20 Understanding.the.context.of.your.web.project. 20 Gaining.context.through.consultation. 21 Measure success. 24 Avoiding.unrealistic.goals. 24 Avoiding.the.blame.game . 25 Know your site. 26 Qualitative.feedback. 27 Quantitative.analysis. 28 Traffic analysis. 29 Automated performance checkers..30 Online visibility trackers. 31 Check out the competition. 32 Reviewing.your.competition. 32 Testing.your.competition. 33 Picture your users . 34 Prioritizing.your.users. 34 Creating.personas. 35 Sample persona.36 3 The perfect team. 40 Choose when to outsource . 42 Clearly define your project . 43 Write an effective brief . 45 Providing.context.. 45 Clearly.stating.your.requirements.. 46 Defining.your.deliverables.. 49 Learning.about.the.supplier.. 51 Avoid disasters . 53 Never.request.speculative.design.. 53 Avoid.writing.a.wish.list.. 54 Select the perfect team . 56 Narrowing.the.field. 56 Reading.between.the.lines. 57 Making.the.final.selection.. 58 Assessing the proposals 58 Interviewing the short list .59 Talking to references..60 I viii I 4 Differences over design. 63 Too many cooks: subjective design . 65 Focusing.on.your.target.audience. 65 Testing.your.design. 66 What is design testing?..67 How to run design testing..68 Avoiding.design.by.committee .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 68 Maintaining.a.broad.overview. 70 The fight for home-page real estate. 72 Understanding.the.changing.role.of.the.home.page. 73 Rushing.into.home-page.design . 73 Demonstrating.the.importance.of.simplicity. 74 Corporate branding. 75 Creating.a.personality.for.your.brand. 76 Going.from.print.to.the.web. 77 Logo design..77 Corporate fonts.77 Color..79 The challenges of layout. 80 Grappling.with.resolution. 81 Understanding.the.fold. 82 Constraining.page.width. 84 5 Creating killer content. 88 Learn the importance of context . 90 Don’t.make.users.read.online . 90 Providing.context.through.links . 90 Reducing.the.desire.to.leave . 92 Reduce or remove. 92 Learning.where.to.prune. 93 Understanding.how.to.prune . 93 Where planning pays off 94 Cold, hard facts 95 From macro to micro 95 User-centric structure . 96 Structuring.through.card.sorting. 97 Going.with.the.flow . 98 Common.mistakes.in.structuring.sites. 98 Confusing naming 99 Overwhelming options 100 Scannable and approachable . 102 Making.your.content.engaging . 102 Making.it.clear . 102 Making.it.scannable . 103 Be up front 103 Break down the blocks 104 I ix I 6 User-centric design. 106 The profit and loss of usability. 108 Understanding.perceived.losses.from.user.testing. 108 Understanding.the.real.profit.of.user.testing. 108 Quick detection of problems 109 Increased user satisfaction 109 Reduced support costs 109 Increased efficiency 109 Bargain-basement usability . 110 Testing.a.little.but.often. 110 Why “often” matters 119 When to test .111 Watching.out.for.decreasing.returns. 112 Recruiting.loosely. 113 Run an effective test session. 114 Being.prepared. 114 Understanding.the.role.of.facilitator . 115 Who should facilitate user testing? 115 The facilitator’s responsibilities 116 Working.from.a.script. 116 Fix the problems. 119 Filtering.out.background.noise. 119 Prioritizing.and.reporting. 121 7 Ensuring access for all. 126 Identify the cowboys. 126 Learning.from.history. 126 Understanding.the.consequences.of.poor.code. 127 Coding for multiple browsers 128 Bloated code 128 Hard-to-maintain code 128 A culture of redesign 129 Learning.a.better.way.to.build.websites. 129 A matter of style. 130 Improving.printing. 130 Capturing.the.emerging.market. 133 Responding.quickly.to.change. 134 Never turn away users (or Google). 135 Handling.the.expense.of.accessibility . 135 Achieving.increased.traffic.with.minimal.effort. 136 Exceed your legal obligations. 137 Create an accessibility policy. 140 Establishing.your.long-term.accessibility.goal. 141 Having.a.roadmap.for.overcoming.common.problems . 141 I x I Poorly described images 142 Badly labeled links 142 No alternatives to media 143 Reliance on JavaScript 143 Hard-to-read text 144 Testing.accessibility. 144 Maintaining.accessibility. 145 Dealing.with.complaints. 146 8 Taking control . 149 The pros and cons of a CMS . 151 The.benefits.of.a.CMS. 151 The.drawbacks.of.a.CMS. 152 The.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Click Trajectories: End-To-End Analysis of the Spam Value Chain
    Click Trajectories: End-to-End Analysis of the Spam Value Chain ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ z y Kirill Levchenko Andreas Pitsillidis Neha Chachra Brandon Enright Mark´ Felegyh´ azi´ Chris Grier ∗ ∗ † ∗ ∗ Tristan Halvorson Chris Kanich Christian Kreibich He Liu Damon McCoy † † ∗ ∗ Nicholas Weaver Vern Paxson Geoffrey M. Voelker Stefan Savage ∗ y Department of Computer Science and Engineering Computer Science Division University of California, San Diego University of California, Berkeley z International Computer Science Institute Laboratory of Cryptography and System Security (CrySyS) Berkeley, CA Budapest University of Technology and Economics Abstract—Spam-based advertising is a business. While it it is these very relationships that capture the structural has engendered both widespread antipathy and a multi-billion dependencies—and hence the potential weaknesses—within dollar anti-spam industry, it continues to exist because it fuels a the spam ecosystem’s business processes. Indeed, each profitable enterprise. We lack, however, a solid understanding of this enterprise’s full structure, and thus most anti-spam distinct path through this chain—registrar, name server, interventions focus on only one facet of the overall spam value hosting, affiliate program, payment processing, fulfillment— chain (e.g., spam filtering, URL blacklisting, site takedown). directly reflects an “entrepreneurial activity” by which the In this paper we present a holistic analysis that quantifies perpetrators muster capital investments and business rela- the full set of resources employed to monetize spam email— tionships to create value. Today we lack insight into even including naming, hosting, payment and fulfillment—using extensive measurements of three months of diverse spam data, the most basic characteristics of this activity. How many broad crawling of naming and hosting infrastructures, and organizations are complicit in the spam ecosystem? Which over 100 purchases from spam-advertised sites.
    [Show full text]
  • Discontinued Browsers List
    Discontinued Browsers List Look back into history at the fallen windows of yesteryear. Welcome to the dead pool. We include both officially discontinued, as well as those that have not updated. If you are interested in browsers that still work, try our big browser list. All links open in new windows. 1. Abaco (discontinued) http://lab-fgb.com/abaco 2. Acoo (last updated 2009) http://www.acoobrowser.com 3. Amaya (discontinued 2013) https://www.w3.org/Amaya 4. AOL Explorer (discontinued 2006) https://www.aol.com 5. AMosaic (discontinued in 2006) No website 6. Arachne (last updated 2013) http://www.glennmcc.org 7. Arena (discontinued in 1998) https://www.w3.org/Arena 8. Ariadna (discontinued in 1998) http://www.ariadna.ru 9. Arora (discontinued in 2011) https://github.com/Arora/arora 10. AWeb (last updated 2001) http://www.amitrix.com/aweb.html 11. Baidu (discontinued 2019) https://liulanqi.baidu.com 12. Beamrise (last updated 2014) http://www.sien.com 13. Beonex Communicator (discontinued in 2004) https://www.beonex.com 14. BlackHawk (last updated 2015) http://www.netgate.sk/blackhawk 15. Bolt (discontinued 2011) No website 16. Browse3d (last updated 2005) http://www.browse3d.com 17. Browzar (last updated 2013) http://www.browzar.com 18. Camino (discontinued in 2013) http://caminobrowser.org 19. Classilla (last updated 2014) https://www.floodgap.com/software/classilla 20. CometBird (discontinued 2015) http://www.cometbird.com 21. Conkeror (last updated 2016) http://conkeror.org 22. Crazy Browser (last updated 2013) No website 23. Deepnet Explorer (discontinued in 2006) http://www.deepnetexplorer.com 24. Enigma (last updated 2012) No website 25.
    [Show full text]
  • 2013 State of Media
    UNDERSTANDING GROWTH TARGETING THE NEW MOBILE AUDIOAND FRAGMENTATION 26 CONSUMER82 STATE OF MEDIA 2013 ANALYTICS DEATH OF BIG DATA, RISE OF SMART DATA 68 ESPN: End of an Empire? 34 02 VIDEO EVERYWHERE FACT, FICTION & FUTURE Letter from the President For me, working in the discussions that will continue this industry has to drive growth and progress. always been an exciting adventure. Offline and online are cohabitating It still is to this now more than ever to earn day. Nevertheless, viewers’ time, so let’s examine the continuous shakeup of content and provider advancements models. Today technologies like in the media Dish Network’s Hopper and landscape Aereo (page 6) are stirring the can make pot, but tomorrow, who knows? our jobs and the task of tracking I also happen to be a tablet addict, trends a challenging endeavor. so it’s been enjoyable to see my These rapid changes are what favorite magazines adapting to the encouraged us to write our very ever-increasing push for crossover first STATE OF MEDIA (SOM) content (page 22). This process has four years ago, and I am proud to already made for some truly creative say our mission to keep business uses of the medium and I can’t wait partners, clients, new friends and to see what’s next. Again, it all ourselves informed has successfully reminds me that we should dispel continued to this day. Now, just the premonitions and instead look like the industry in which we work, at the opportunities a more unified KSM is evolving our publication media ecosystem will produce.
    [Show full text]
  • Before the Web There Was Gopher
    Before the Web There Was Gopher Philip L. Frana Charles Babbage Institute The World Wide Web, universally well known today, was preceded by an efficient software tool that was fondly named Gopher. The Internet Gopher, much like the Web, enabled users to obtain information quickly and easily. Why, then, did it disappear but the Web did not? Gopher faded into obscurity for two main reasons: hypertext and commerce. Before the Web there was Gopher, a nearly anymore, despite the efforts of a handful of defunct Internet application protocol and asso- individuals to revitalize the protocol. Why did ciated client and server software.1 In the early Gopher fail? Many Gopher aficionados have a 1990s, Gopher burrowed a crucial path ready answer: pretty pictures. For them, the through a perceived bottleneck on the Web won and Gopher lost because the Web Information Superhighway. Internet Gopher could display vibrant images of, for example, passed away as a technological and social phe- hand-woven Turkish rugs, animated glyphs of nomenon quickly: Its inventors released mice stuffing email into virtual mailboxes, and Gopher in 1991. Within three years, the World blinking advertising banners. Clearly, the Wide Web had bypassed it. Most people who “Gopher faithful”—as they are often called— surf the Web today have no idea what Gopher are right about the importance of pictures. is, but in the 1990s it helped usher in a new age People get serious when money is at stake, and of user-friendly access to a rapidly growing uni- in the early 1990s lots of people came to accept verse of online information.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Websites Can Change Without Warning
    Why Websites Can Change Without Warning WHY WOULD MY WEBSITE LOOK DIFFERENT WITHOUT NOTICE? HISTORY: Your website is a series of files & databases. Websites used to be “static” because ​ there were only a few ways to view them. Now we have a complex system, and telling your webmaster what device, operating system and browser is crucial, here’s why: TERMINOLOGY: You have a desktop or mobile “device”. Desktop computers and mobile ​ ​ ​ devices have “operating systems” which are software. To see your website, you’ll pull up a ​ ​ ​ ​ “browser” which is also software, to surf the Internet. Your website is a series of files that ​ ​ needs to be 100% compatible with all devices, operating systems and browsers. Your website is built on WordPress and gets a weekly check up (sometimes more often) to ​ ​ ​ see if any changes have occured. Your site could also be attacked with bad files, links, spam, comments and other annoying internet pests! Or other components will suddenly need updating which is nothing out of the ordinary. WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE IF SOMETHING HAS CHANGED? Any update to the following can make your website look differently: There are 85 operating ​ systems (OS) that can update (without warning). And any of the most popular roughly 7 ​ ​ ​ browsers also update regularly which can affect your site visually and other ways. (Lists below) ​ Now, with an OS or browser update, your site’s 18 website components likely will need ​ ​ updating too. Once website updates are implemented, there are currently about 21 mobile ​ devices, and 141 desktop devices that need to be viewed for compatibility.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study on Topologically Dedicated Hosts on Malicious Web Infrastructures
    Finding the Linchpins of the Dark Web: a Study on Topologically Dedicated Hosts on Malicious Web Infrastructures Zhou Li, Sumayah Alrwais Yinglian Xie, Fang Yu XiaoFeng Wang Indiana University at Bloomington MSR Silicon Valley Indiana University at Bloomington {lizho, salrwais}@indiana.edu {yxie, fangyu}@microsoft.com [email protected] Abstract—Malicious Web activities continue to be a major misdeeds. Indeed, such infrastructures become the backbone threat to the safety of online Web users. Despite the plethora of the crimes in today’s cyberspace, delivering malicious forms of attacks and the diversity of their delivery channels, web content world wide and causing hundreds of millions in the back end, they are all orchestrated through malicious Web infrastructures, which enable miscreants to do business in damage every year. with each other and utilize others’ resources. Identifying the Malicious Web infrastructures. Given the central role linchpins of the dark infrastructures and distinguishing those those infrastructures play, an in-depth understanding of their valuable to the adversaries from those disposable are critical for gaining an upper hand in the battle against them. structures and the ways they work becomes critical for coun- In this paper, using nearly 4 million malicious URL paths teracting cybercrimes. To this end, prior research investi- crawled from different attack channels, we perform a large- gated the infrastructures associated with some types of chan- scale study on the topological relations among hosts in the nels (e.g., Spam [2], black-hat Search-Engine Optimization malicious Web infrastructure. Our study reveals the existence (SEO) [11]) and exploits (e.g., drive-by downloads [23]).
    [Show full text]
  • Principles of Segmentation Culture Segments: the Quest for the Holy Grail 10 Top Tips for Successful Segmentation
    > Segmentation ISSUE 37 | JANUARY 2010 Principles of segmentation Culture segments: the quest for the holy grail 10 top tips for successful segmentation > So I think I’ve got > Segmentation in a segmentation practice: getting > Friends, fans … but how do I started and followers colour it in? Contents JAM is published by JAM is sponsored by > Regulars Spotlight ................................................................. 3 Research round-up ............................................ 4 www.a-m-a.co.uk Just a minute ...................................................... 11 © sugarfree/istock AMA museums and galleries marketing day ................................................... 12 Resources ........................................................... 23 > Segmentation ( Principles of segmentation .............................6 0 Case study: Segmentation in practice: 6 getting started .....................................................9 Culture segments: the quest A rough guide to the Principles of Just a minute for the holy grail ............................................... 14 segmentation toolkit segmentation Case study: segment evolution at the Southbank Centre .............................................17 Case study: Friends, fans and followers .............................................................. 18 Case study: So I think I’ve got a segmentation .... but how do I colour it in? 20 10 top tips for successful segmentation ....................................................22 AMA museums and Culture segments: the
    [Show full text]
  • The Abcs—Web Lingo and Definitions
    THE ABCS—WEB LINGO AND DEFINITIONS THE A's ABOVE THE FOLD the page section visible without scrolling down—the exact size depends on screen settings; this is premium ad-rate space but may be worth it. AD EXTENSIONS added information in a text ad such as location, phone number, and links. AD NETWORKING multiple websites with a single advertiser controlling all or a portion of the sites' ad space, such as Google Search Network, which includes AOL, Amazon, Ask.com (formerly Ask Jeeves), and thousands of other sites. AD WORDS is Google’s paid search marketing program (introduced in 2001), the world's largest and available in only a handful of countries that run their own similar programs such as Russia (Yandex) and China (Baidu). AdWords uses a Quality Score determined by search relevancy (via click- through rate) and bid to determine an ad's positioning. AFFILIATE MARKETING involves internet marketing with other partner websites, individuals, or companies to drive site traffic, typically with fees based on a Cost per Acquisition (CPA) or Cost per Click (CPC) basis. AGGREGATE DATA details how a group of consumers interacts with your marketing or websites and what they do after interacting, offering a comprehensive view of your target market as a whole, as opposed to the behavior of individuals. ALGORITHM is a trade-secret formula (or formulas) used by search engines to determine search rankings in natural or organic search. Search engines periodically crawl sites (using “Spiders”) to analyze site content and value-rank your site for searches. ALT TAGS are embedded HTML tags used to make website graphics viewable by search engines, which are otherwise generally unable to view graphics or see text they might contain.
    [Show full text]
  • Spam in Blogs and Social Media
    ȱȱȱȱ ȱ Pranam Kolari, Tim Finin Akshay Java, Anupam Joshi March 25, 2007 ȱ • Spam on the Internet –Variants – Social Media Spam • Reason behind Spam in Blogs • Detecting Spam Blogs • Trends and Issues • How can you help? • Conclusions Pranam Kolari is a UMBC PhD Tim Finin is a UMBC Professor student. His dissertation is on with over 30 years of experience spam blog detection, with tools in the applying AI to information developed in use both by academia and systems, intelligent interfaces and industry. He has active research interest robotics. Current interests include social in internal corporate blogs, the Semantic media, the Semantic Web and multi- Web and blog analytics. agent systems. Akshay Java is a UMBC PhD student. Anupam Joshi is a UMBC Pro- His dissertation is on identify- fessor with research interests in ing influence and opinions in the broad area of networked social media. His research interests computing and intelligent systems. He include blog analytics, information currently serves on the editorial board of retrieval, natural language processing the International Journal of the Semantic and the Semantic Web. Web and Information. Ƿ Ȭȱ • Early form seen around 1992 with MAKE MONEY FAST • 80-85% of all e-mail traffic is spam • In numbers 2005 - (June) 30 billion per day 2006 - (June) 55 billion per day 2006 - (December) 85 billion per day 2007 - (February) 90 billion per day Sources: IronPort, Wikipedia http://www.ironport.com/company/ironport_pr_2006-06-28.html ȱȱǵ • “Unsolicited usually commercial e-mail sent to a large
    [Show full text]
  • Transforming the Customer Experience Through New Technologies ⁎ Wayne D
    Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect Journal of Interactive Marketing 51 (2020) 57–71 www.elsevier.com/locate/intmar Transforming the Customer Experience Through New Technologies ⁎ Wayne D. Hoyer a, & Mirja Kroschkeb& Bernd Schmitt c& Karsten Kraume d& Venkatesh Shankar e a McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States of America b Marketing Center Muenster, University of Muenster, Münster, Germany c Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York City, NY, United States of America d European Research Center for Information Systems, University of Münster, Münster, Germany e Center for Retailing Studies, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, United States of America Available online 19 May 2020 Abstract New technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Mixed Reality (MR), virtual assistants, chatbots, and robots, which are typically powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI), are dramatically transforming the customer experience. In this paper, we offer a fresh typology of new technologies powered by AI and propose a new framework for understanding the role of new technologies on the customer/shopper journey. Specifically, we discuss the impact and implications of these technologies on each broad stage of the shopping journey (pre-transaction, transaction, and post-transaction) and advance a new conceptualization for managing these new AI technologies along customer experience dimensions to create experiential
    [Show full text]
  • Third Edition) : Strategies for Dominating the Worlds Largest Search Engine Pdf, Epub, Ebook
    SEO MADE SIMPLE (THIRD EDITION) : STRATEGIES FOR DOMINATING THE WORLDS LARGEST SEARCH ENGINE PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Michael H Fleischner | 160 pages | 02 Jan 2013 | Createspace Independent Publishing Platform | 9781481838061 | English | North Charleston, S.C. SEO Made Simple (Third Edition) : Strategies for Dominating the Worlds Largest Search Engine PDF Book Google Ads also allows you to place your ads on participating, relevant websites. But they also need to build trust with the individual. Fleischner the specific SEO techniques that deliver top rankings in less than 30 days. You must deliver relevant, useful information and a great experience for your audience throughout the purchase funnel ToFu, MoFu, BoFu. And don't try to take shortcuts when doing it. Visitors spend significantly more time on pages with videos embedded than on pages with no videos. Name, address, phone number, website. Since that time, his Marketing Blog has gained International recognition and provides leading commentary on marketing, Internet marketing, and Search Engine Optimization. In the sketch below, Moz demonstrates the ideal internal linking structure: each page links to multiple relevant pages, branching off from the home page, and no two pages are more than three clicks apart. Searching For My Ancestors. Our team leverages these efficiencies to maximize impact while maintaining complete control and reducing risk. Michael H. That should always be your goal and your aim. Then, develop a repeatable process to systematically attack one page at a time. Then you can change the settings to deliver those results weekly, daily, or automatically as they are found; to deliver results only from certain sources; or to filter according to region and language, among other options.
    [Show full text]
  • Towards Automatically Evaluating Security Risks and Providing Cyber Intelligence
    TOWARDS AUTOMATICALLY EVALUATING SECURITY RISKS AND PROVIDING CYBER INTELLIGENCE A Thesis Presented to The Academic Faculty by Xiaojing Liao In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Augest 2017 Copyright c 2017 by Xiaojing Liao TOWARDS AUTOMATICALLY EVALUATING SECURITY RISKS AND PROVIDING CYBER INTELLIGENCE Approved by: Professor Raheem Beyah, Professor Henry Owen Committee Chair School of Electrical and Computer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Professor Raheem Beyah, Advisor Professor Vijay K. Madisetti School of Electrical and Computer School of Electrical and Computer Engineering Engineering Georgia Institute of Technology Georgia Institute of Technology Professor John Copeland Professor XiaoFeng Wang School of Electrical and Computer School of Informatics and Computing Engineering Indiana University Bloomington Georgia Institute of Technology Date Approved: June 12th 2017 To my daughter. Lorie Xing, My heroic dream when exhausted. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Dr. Raheem A. Beyah. For the past five years, he offers me invaluable guidance, inspiration, and support. His generous help made this dissertation possible. I am proud to be a member of the Communications Assurance and Performance (CAP) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. I also want to thank Dr. XiaoFeng Wang. It has been with his constant encouragement and priceless mentorship that has helped me to grow within my role as a researcher. Also, I would like to extend my gratitude to my committee members, Dr.
    [Show full text]