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Web Site Creation:
Good Practice Guidelines
Standards For Project Web Sites
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
UKOLN is supported by:
Email
[email protected]
URL
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Standards, Architectures,
Applications, Resources
The NOF-digi Technical Advisory Service aims to reach agreement on
standards and be agnostic on the applications and architectures used to
implement the standards, provided services are interoperable
Standards: concerned with
protocols and file formats
Open standards vs. Proprietary
HTML / XML vs. PDF
CSS / XSL vs. HTML
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Architectures: models for
implementing systems
Which standards are applicable
NT / Unix
File system / database application
HTML tools / content management
Applications: software
products used to implement
systems
Resources: financial and staff
costs needed to implement
systems
Apache / IIS
FrontPage / Dreamweaver
Oracle / SQLServer / MySQL
ColdFusion vs ASP vs JSP
Development vs. Migration costs
Use of in-house expertise
In-house vs. out-sourced
Licensed vs. open source
The Goal
Before the Web
Access to resources typically required use of software
vendor’s software – which was only available on limited
no. of platforms. Often the software would be licensed.
The goal of the Web was to provide universal access to
resources. Who could argue with this goal?
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Need for standards to provide:
• Platform and application independence
• Avoidance of patented technologies
• Flexibility and architectural integrity
• Long-term access to data
Ideally look at standards first, then find applications
which support the standards. However it can be difficult
to achieve this ideal!
Advantages In Use Of Standards
Use of open standards
formats is free
Standardisation
process should avoid
ownership / patent
problems
Standardisation process should
provide architectural integrity
Advantages
Standardisation process
may be informed by a
broader vision (e.g. W3C
and Tim Berners-Lee’s
vision)
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Standardisation
process should
provide interoperability
Standardisation
process should address
accessibility issues
Disadvantages And Problems
The market place may
provide a better forum
for driving innovation
Open standards may
be slow in arriving due
to length of process
Disadvantages
“If there’s a need for a feature
the market place will provide it”
Proprietary formats
likely have relevant
tools
Open standards may
fail to be adopted
Early adopters of open standards
may find that the standards
change or are superseded
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Different Perspectives
Different groups will have differing views on the
importance of standards
Funders
Likely to insist
on standards
Users:
Disinterested
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Content
Providers
May be
persuaded
Developers:
What’s in it
for them?
Nightmare Scenarios
Too Flash
A Flash-based Web site is developed which looks
impressive but:
• Doesn’t work on digital TVs (discovered after Tony Blair
announces digital TV access to E-Government)
Too Microsoft
A Web site is developed which uses proprietary
Microsoft software but:
• It doesn’t work on Apple Macs, Palm PDAs or Unix
systems
• Microsoft is split into separate companies and the Web
company decides to charge to use its reader software
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The Holy Grail
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A NOF-digi Web site is developed using open standards
Change Of OS
For financial, security and performance reasons it is
felt that the service should move from a Microsoft
platform to Linux. This is achieved with little effort
due to avoidance of MS-specific features.
Support For New Devices
Following growth in use of Palms PDAs and Digital
TVs, access by these devices is achieved by adding
a simple transformation script to transform from a
neutral XML master.
Integration With E-Government and NGfL
Following audits of e-government resources, only
compliant resources are permitted. The NOF-digi
Web sites satisfies the e-government requirements.
Our Perspective
From the point of view of the NOF-digi Technical
Advisory Service:
• Standards are of particular importance to a
publicly-funded programme
• Standards are of particular importance in the
digitisation of cultural heritage in which long term
access is important
• Accessibility (for people with disabilities and from a
wide range of devices) is important
• However it is recognised that there are areas in
which:
 Open standards may not be mature
 Projects will be facing challenges with timescales,
resources, expertise, etc.
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A Standards Culture
NOF-digi projects will be expected to:
• Develop solutions which are informed by the
standards-based culture of the programme’s
Standards and Guidelines framework and seek to
use them whenever possible
• Ensure that the key deliverables comply with
accessibility guidelines
• Fully document occasions when use of open
standards is felt not to be possible:
 Research into open standards alternatives and
documents pros and cons
 Develop migration strategy for move from
proprietary format to open standards
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Migration Strategy
If proprietary formats are to be used projects should
provide a migration strategy which:
• Provides evidence of research into open alternatives and
why they are not suitable
• Documents integration of the proprietary format with an
open solution (e.g. Flash interface which reads XML data)
• Documents how the interface will appear to non-standard
browsers (e.g. old browsers, browsers on PDAs, offline
browsers, search engines, etc.)
• Describes migration to an open alternative when/if one
becomes available, including
 Resource implications
 Model for migration (emulation, software transformation,
re-digitising)
 Possible funding streams for the work
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Further Information
For further information on standards see:
• W3C Web site at <http://www.w3.org/>
• Web Standards Project at
<http://www.webstandards.org/>
• Diffuse Project Home Page at
<http://www.diffuse.org/>
• WDVL: Specifications and Standards at
<http://www.wdvl.com/WebRef/Standards/>
Or use Google to search for “Web standards” “standards
for digitisation projects”, “standards for digitization
projects”, “standards for digital library projects”, etc.
Any questions?
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