1. Free Market Textbooks
Larry Chang, Mark De La Rosa
Overview
Textbooks are one of the biggest investments for just about every student. Many use the
one for a particular class then never touch them ever again. Not only that; finding them at a
reasonable price is a very difficult and exhausting task, especially for students with financial
needs. Currently the only reasonable places to find these textbooks would be Facebook groups,
Amazon, or third-party websites. Even then, these are quite a difficult to match up prices. Our
goal for this project is to create a place where students of a said school will be able to freely
post/sell their old textbooks for the students of the later quarters. All students whom use this
website are able to buy and sell with freedom of pricing their own books, much like what
craigslist offers.
Purpose
There just isn’t a place that properly organizes second hand books. On social media
websites like Facebook, the best you can do is make a post and update what is being sold. Out
site will provide two things: Immediate response and convenience.
-Problem 1: The original way of contacting a seller. On the UW textbook site you never
knew if a book is sold or not until you communicated with the seller.
-Problem 2: Organization, there is none. Students post not knowing whether or not their
posts will even be noticed as they are pushed down by newer posts by other people.
-Problem 3: This may full under organization, repeated items. If more than one version
of the book is being sold by an older sellers may not be noticed.
Background
Not much is being done in this area. Many students still rely on third-party websites and
social media to purchase textbooks. Outside of that craigslist is a resource but not many people
use.
Constraints
As far as constraints go there really were none. This being a prototype, we had plenty of
fun working on it. If anything much of the small details were slightly beyond our control and we
were unable to include them in our active design as much as we would have liked to.

2. Related Works
-Craigslist: Essentially a free market system where buyers and sellers meet to negotiate the item
they want to sell.
-Amazon: Online market for just about anything. There is a section where private sellers can sell
their old used copies of the books. Mailing service for transport.
-Ebay: Again the focus on private sellers. Mailing services for transport.
-Other online buy/sell: All require a Mailing services.
-Facebook/Social Media Sites: In person; but, very unorganized and can be very hard to find
what you need by way of looking through posts online.
Requirements
Security: Most online marketing websites aren’t very secure in terms of personal information
security. To solve this we plan on adding a UW login to the site to at the very least provide a
small level of security.
Simplicity:
- The purpose isn’t to sell everything like Craigslist. Our website is entirely focused on
books.
- Some sort of notification, let it be cellphone text messages or email notifications.
- Most recent submissions are stored in a visual database which is shown on the main
display webpage
- Search field that allows you to look for results in multiple categories.
Information:
- In the case that this becomes an active school system:
o Having access to student accounts and schedule to assist in finding the required
textbooks.
- In the case that this becomes a standalone system:
o Person posting will have to provide a much bigger variety of personal
information. All of which will help the system organize.
Communication: As it stands there really isn’t a good way to contact the seller outside of email
through the site you are purchasing the book from. Sites like amazon use this function to
communicate between the buyer and seller. Facebook is probably the closest thing to a face to
face contact between the buyers and seller. In our design, we envision cutting out the middle man
and just allow you to directly contact the seller when you are buying. The preferable method
would be a phone call, of course all of this will be optional as the seller can decide how they
wish to be contacted.

3. Notification: Most websites focus on what I like to call the middleman method. Every action the
person that is purchasing the book and seller of the book takes is monitored through them. This
means notification systems are entirely reliant on the website. If something were to go wrong
with it then there would be the issues of customer dissatisfaction. Our method is different; we
want to allow the buyers to directly interact with the person selling the product. Especially with
the implementation of the schools authentication network.
Interface: This is something that will be addressed in the design of the website. We want it to be
simple and allow the users to have the most comfortable time getting to the places they need to
go. Thus the entire function of the website is just to post/sell the books and access seller
information to buy it from the user.
Validation: We don’t want fake posters or faulty users to make spam like posts on the website;
nor do we want repeated posts from users either. As mentioned before we want to allow for only
the UW students to access this website which cuts down on the possibility of a stranger accessing
the network. As for the possibility of having repeated posts due to slower connections I would be
addressing this with posting additional details on the book to avoid multiple postings.
User information: As far as user information is concerned nothing that cannot already be
accessed through the schools network will be viewable. Another measure we will take to ensure
a secure working environment would be allowing the student to have the options to set their own
levels of privacy when posting a book. This could be something that is addressed in a student
account before having the access to the site.
Sorting and listing of book posts: This is part of the interface; as stated before we will address
this in the design of our page. But overall there is one thing that we want to keep constant with
the websites. Having a live display of the most recent textbooks. This simple is to give the
person that is posting the confirmation that the book is posted and viewable for others. Most
recently posted books are always first. Other sorts will be simply having the listings of the book
sorted by the standard, posted date, alphabetical order, and the author.
System Request with Feasibility Analysis
Technical Feasibility
Our design will be mostly focused on manipulating a particular website template that we
have downloaded. Much of which has been changed but we will be keeping some of the basic
functions already provided. In doing so we will be using Javascript, HTML, and CSS. I (Larry)
will be focusing on the design of the website as that is where I have the most experience and
knowledge of the coding. And thus will be taking care of a majority of this part of the process.
As far as what kind of technology I will be using to develop with; most of it will be done
in Notepad++ and some in visual studios. I don’t have much experience in Visual Studios nor
any of the shortcuts for drag and drop design.
The website is currently being designed like a normal UW webpage. All color pallets are
taken directly from the existing websites. If this were to become a page that integrated into the

4. schools web page network much of the changes would be very minor and just small additions to
what is already there.
Economic Feasibility
The development of the website itself wouldn’t be costing anyone anything because so
much of it is already provided. Had this been a commercial project some of the work would be
partitioned off to multiple people to do. And thus nothing will cost much in terms of editing.
Of course in a scenario where this becomes an official page the cost of its upkeep would
only be minimal and much of it will be small costs here and there. Personally I’d imagine that
much of the economic costs would be the management of the database that will be storing the
information that is posted by each user.
Organizational Feasibility
Project champions, our champion would technically be us the creators of the website and
the project in general. As far as the technology is concerned most of it will just be using existing
things we already have. As the designers we already have access to a computer and the
knowledge behind how to create a working website.
The users of this product would actually come to us as current students here at the UWT.
This is only because in the early stages of something like this we want to keep the initial
population small as to work out and possible bugs that may occur.
The stakeholders would also be us, the creators of this website. Our responsibility is
completely based on whether or not this system is safe and secure for the users. If anything were
to be leaked to the public or something malicious were to attack the network, it could lead to
legal issues for us and the people that host our website.
This website is what I would imagine is an extension of the UW bookstore. Of course
they may not see it the same way as they already offer a service for used textbooks.
Ethical, Legal, and Security Design
Ethics: There isn’t much to talk about here because the website does not hold any social
responsibility to the people that use it. Because we use the schools authentication system to allow
only the students of the school to use it, the users would be limited to only the students here. Our
ideal website is simply create a user friendly website to allow students to essentially pawn off
their used textbooks to students of a later quarter.
In the long run the only real issue that I would imagine would be the problem of conflict
between us and the current bookstore which is already selling the textbooks being sold back to
them at the end of the quarter.
Security also comes into play here as the possible yet unlikely leak of information to an
outside source. I only bring this issue up because of the application of another class. Which we
were able to extract passwords and personal information from a website simply by running a

5. packet sniffer on a website while someone is accessing it. This is sadly something that can’t
entirely be avoided as it is a program that essentially looks at a stream of information and
displays it for the person using it. The protection of student information is a very important part
of our design because so much of it is displayed when a book is selected by a user.
Legal: This website has no legal obligation. It is only a tool that is used by the students here at
the UW. Had this been a public posting website we would have much more to look into before
we could go live. However that is one scenario that is very unlikely, because we are going to be
using the schools network and implement it into the system.
Security: In all honesty this is probably the biggest issue that would have to be addressed here.
As mentioned earlier in the ethics portion. These tools are very simple to use and to find. Much
of it is literally one download away and barely and maintenance.
In reality I would put my faith in something like the IIS security feature to block out any
possible harm that may come to the website. Though that being said it is a very unlikely situation
because, like before it is a tool for the students.
Questions and Feedback
Our webpage does have a page that is there to display the contact information of both
Mark and I. This only temporary as this is a class project and not an official page to be
published. There is contact information for both of us. In the case that it was an officially
documented website, the information would be for the schools help desk information and the
people that would in charge of the sites upkeep.
As far as upkeep goes, it really isn’t something we plan to worry about. Again back to the
idea of it being a tool and not something that is meant for much social interaction. Any feedback
would only be addressed if it were something along the lines of a bug that happened on the
website.
Foreseen Risks
The biggest risk we may run into would be the foreign access to the website. As
complicated as it may be, it is entirely possible to compromise another part of the UW network
and use that information to gain access to our website. Of course the logical steps to take, would
be completely unreasonable. But alas, emails being compromised is something in the realm of
possibility.
Another risk that actually is something we had just learned was something called a SQL
injection. I personally don’t know all too much about this but yet again it is something that can
be quite a pain to deal with.
Non-network related issues would simply come in the form of false postings or spam that
occurs of students being malicious. Of course this is very easy to address as you can easily just
disable there access to the system. For the multiple postings issue one fix would simply be a

6. perhaps a Captcha system on the site to limit bots from posting multiple times. Of course if it
were user error it can be fixed by deleting repeated posts.
Construction
Website Design
The main focus is going to be mainly manipulating a template that we will change
according to what we need for the website and design. As usual the website will be using the
three main types of files; HTML, CSS, and JS.
- HTML: For the unacquainted that reading this is essentially the shell that will be placed
around the information. Or in a more basic terms the websites basic design.
- CSS: The CSS is the details for the HTML. These can be anything from the color to the
style of the design of specific objects on the webpage.
- JS: The Javascript is essentially the websites functionality. It is the gears that make the
objects on it do what you want it to do. In our website had a few uses for scripts. Mostly
for the design falls under the slider that we have decided to use on the main page. This
involves the timing between the changing pictures. Much of this would actually just be
using JQuery to add special effects.
What is needed to satisfy HW and SW requirements?
Knowledge of a scripting language:
Our design and purpose entirely relies on how out website will turn out. Having the know
how to script a website like this is very important. Much like any other skill, scripting is very
easy to pick up but very hard to master.
Psuedo-Coding:
I had thought previously about doing some pseudo coding for this project but, I realized
that much of it would come easier if I had just worked with what I had and added to it. In our
case we used a template website. We went in an essentially took out everything we disliked and
just kept a very basic shell.
Software:
-Notepad++: As stated before this is our main resource for editing the website. The
software itself gives you a few colors to work with which will help you identify the specific
types of code being used. Or also gives you a good formatting style so it’s quite readable.
However the downside of course is having to do this all by hand.
-Any Web Browser: Personally I prefer Chrome. That’s because it comes with a website
debugger which automatically identifies specific elements in the website as well as tells you
where specific objects are in the code. Essentially it is an extension of Notepad.
Hardware:

7. -Laptop: It’s very straight forward. We are working on a website and thus we should have
the platform for this project design.
Status of What’s Left
Database: As discussed before we would very much so like to incorporate a database of
some sort into this project so that we can hopefully use this later on in a presentation or example
in future classes. So far we lack the knowledge of how to incorporate this into the website. XML
as the professor has told us before is very easy to use. Though I cannot guarantee that it’ll be in
the projects prototype as of now. If there is the inclusion of the database it would be displaying a
live feed of the books being posted.
User Login: Again this is something beyond the scope of our prototype. As stated before
we would like to include some sort of user authentication system that would limit the users to
just UW students or for the people that would be using our said website. Though there is a quick
process of adding something like a UW login screen the process would take too long and due to
time constraints we have opted to not go this route just yet.
Social, Political, and Economic design implication
Social: Not much can be said here because we are not a social website. We are a tool to be used
at the student’s convenience. Of course our system relies on authentication of the posters and the
process of contacting people through a phone call. I have however thought about a messaging
system on the website to make it much more attractive for people that are perhaps shy when it
comes to contacting a seller or buyer.
Political: There should be no political boundaries stopping us from the completion of this site.
The only foreseeable issue may come from attempting to add a student authentication process to
the website. But even then this would be small exchange of information between the hosts and
the website managers.
Economic: I think this may be the biggest impact, if there is any. But only to some extent at
which the schools book store would be speaking against us. Students want to buy there textbooks
solely for the sake of having it as a resource they can refer back to, it is not an investment that
want to look into for the long term. During the ends of the quarter usually two things happen.
They sell it back to the store or they keep it. In most cases they sell it back and receive a small
amount of money. But why not sell it to another student for a closer price to something you
would be willing to sell it by? The biggest impact would be the bookstore.
Desired End-State:
The projects purpose as stated before numerous times is to create a tool for students alike
to find textbooks for their quarterly classes. It is a place much like a free market where the
people that post a textbook is able to sell it at a price they see fit.
As a visual end-state, I want to have a database that stores information on the student and
the books being posted. Essentially just a view or snapshot of what is being stored on a very

8. straight forward website. Though this may not be a part of the websites prototype because a lot
of it was not covered and we don’t have enough knowledge to complete something to this level.
What has been acquired?
As of this moment everything has already been acquired and completed to an acceptable
and presentable level. The prototype website is, in its current state a shell that can be added to
later. All the small details are being added at this time. Really the only thing that would be more
convenient would be an online host and access to the UW student network. Hardware wise, the
presentation would be prepared on our personal laptop and displayed using it.
Design Description and Specific Requirements
This is a four page website that has single purpose of displaying user posted textbooks
and information allowing for the viewers to contact the sellers by way of the posters choosing.
The goal is to create an environment specifically for the students.
-Main Pages:
- Introduction and attractive presentation:
Our goal is to create a place that welcomes students with a very simple point and
click method of looking for a specific book. There are only four locations on this website
so there isn’t much to do except completing your original task. Near the bottom (Not in
prototype) there would be a live feed that constantly streams in the ten most recent posts
by the students. This will ensure that a post one of the students most recently made will
show up. There will also be a search field on the main page as well as a basic categorical
field on the right side.
-Listing/book posting page:
The main part of the website or the sole purpose of the website is to have a fully
functioning visual database of what students post as textbooks. And thus four things will
always be displayed:
1. A sellers name and contact information
2. Title of a specific book
3. Categories to be sorted into
4. A search function for ease of access to the listing and many other possible search
results.
-Making a listing/submission:
A very basic form that will only request the required details on the book from the
poster. This is where a user would add in all of the detailed information for the people
that are searching to view.

9. -Contacts Page:
This is included just for this project as a way to have our names displayed in some
way. Had this been an official project page we would have more formal contact
information. Much of which would be left as helpdesk contact information.
Requirement details and inclusion
- Security- Not in Prototype
o The design itself is meant to be specific for the school that is using the system.
This means in order to access it the student must be registered for a class and have
working identification to gain access.
- Simplicity-
o It is a basic search and found design. Not much else would be added into it. The
people posting a book too would have a very simple time use it if they filled out
all of the fields.
- Information- Not in Prototype
o We opted to have all student information to be stored in some sort of database to
allow for ease of access. There will also be visual display of what is most recently
posted if no search is made initially.
- Communication-
o Using the word in a very informal manner, communication simply means a way
of communication between the buyers and the sellers. Of course this would also
fall into the realm of security as you would want to keep the information being
displayed secret if the seller doesn’t want to show it.
- Notification- Not in Prototype
o Aside from the contact info provided by the original poster, if a student shows
interest in a particular textbook there is a function I would like to add in that
would allow for the users to be notified that someone would like to purchase a
posted book.
- Interface-
o The website is made to be very simple to use. And as such it will only have one
job to do. More can be explored by looking at the actual website.
- Validation- Not in Prototype
o Due to some time constraints and lack of creativity I would have liked to add
some sort of real authentication process to the posting of a book. Which in some
cases is easy with the correct knowledge. Another issue brought up during a
meeting was the problem of multiple posts. Earlier I had mentioned a fix would

10. be something like a captcha function on the website to prevent any sort of spam.
Another way I thought about addressing this would be having a local copy of the
listing stored on the posters computer as to prevent multiple sends.
- Sorting- Not in Prototype
o This part is quite easy but I haven’t yet created an image for the button to sort the
lists. In a perfected prototype with a working database there would be an active
list of books which can be sorted in multiple ways. Currently there is a sidebar
which shows what types of books there may be.