I don't know of any tome that can provide the total ins & outs of e-commerce. This is an exciting and expanding field. I am not experienced, but have had the opportunity to attend a number of presentations on parts of the puzzle. My advice: hit the books and especially the web: microsoft.com, ibm.com, netscape.com, and sun.com among others. Also, especially pay attention to 1 and 3 on Faisal's message. If you believe the pundits, Application Servers and Java are going to be the way the web gets done. <br>
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Don't ignore on-line environments where a service company puts together some generic web templates for you and you just have to be the end-designer and ship the product. I was putting in some random 'store'-style web addresses one day and came across one of these. Sorry I don't remember the URL.<br>
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Just for fun, when you browse the web, you might take note of all the different file extensions you encounter. Then try to identify the software or tools that were used to create them. In the very near future (some marketeers would argue now), top to bottom e-commerce solutions that are easy to implement will be available. At first they will not be cheap, but the curve should be quick.<br>
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If you do find a comprehensive guide, please post it. I think a lot of us are looking for something like that.