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Web Site Creation:
Good Practice Guidelines
Architectures For Project Web Sites
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
UKOLN is supported by:
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Email
[email protected]
URL
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
Contents
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Managing Web Resources
Managing Metadata
Open Source vs Licensed Solutions
Develop Locally Or Shrink-Wrapped
Thoughts on Browsers
Local Or Externally-Hosted Services
Conclusions
Managing Web Resources
In the early days of the Web we used HTML authoring
tools (e.g. FrontPage, Dreamweaver) or editors such as
Notepad to edit a small number of Web pages
Notepad
FrontPage
DreamWeaver
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When you have many hundreds or thousands of resources to manage
the use of simple HTML authoring tools is no longer appropriate.
There is a need for a better approach in order to manage:
• Content
 Resource fragments
• Groups of resources
 Metadata
• Access control
…
Using A Neutral Format
You should store your resources in a neutral,
richly-structured format (ideally XML)
B2B
formats
XML
Database
XHTML
Local script /
CMS /
XSLT transformation
HTML should be regarded as an output
format – HTML resources cannot easily be
repurposed as little structure is provided
(<p> but not <author> or <artist>)
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Specialist
formats
WML
E-book
format
PDF
Print
Content Management Systems
A Content Management System (CMS) should
provide:
• Rich management capabilities
 Manage the content (which is ideally stored in a
neutral format, to provide application independence)
 Manage groups of resources (apply the following
change to all resources)
 Manage resource fragments
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Project Management
Authorisation
Manage delivery of the content
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Managing Resources & Metadata
You will need to manage the resource metadata
together with the resources themselves
Resource
Database
CMS for
managing
resources
Range of devices
CMS for
managing
access
Metadata
Repository
Note that a range of tools
could be used – not just a
single CMS
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Personalisation
CMS (or
alternative) for
access to
metadata
Harvester
e.g. OAI
Harvested
database
Systems Architecture
Issues for you to consider:
• Operating System:
Should you go for a Unix OS or Windows NT?
If Unix, should you go for Linux?
• Open Source vs Licensed Solution:
Should you go for an open source solution or buy
a licensed application?
• Package vs Do It Yourself:
Should you make use of a pre-packages solution
or develop your own solution based on a toolkit
(e.g. database, scripting language, …)?
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There are no global solutions – your choice should be
based on expertise available locally, resourcing issues,
discussions with partners, solutions provider, etc.
Browser Issues
Which approach to browser issues should you take?
Web sites should be usable to old browsers as these
are still in use and we aim to maximise access.
Therefore you should deliver HTML 3.2 / 4.0 and
avoid technologies such as JavaScript and CSS.
NOTE
• Use of ‘clean’ HTML
should degrade gracefully
• XHTML is a useful
transition format
• User-agent negotiation
may be relevant
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Old browsers are broken and fail to
implement new technologies which
provide (a) richer functionality (b)
support for new devices and (c)
better support for people with
disabilities.
Therefore you should use the latest
stable versions of HTML (XHTML),
CSS, etc.
Words On Browser Support
The aim:
• Services would degrade gracefully for old
browsers
This has not happened 
My concern - Can I make assumptions about:
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Frames & JavaScript support?
Support for CSS (stylesheets)
Browser plugins (eg Flash)?
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Words On Browser Support
Possible solutions:
• Design for mid-1990s Web technologies
• Client-side (JavaScript) user-agent sniffing
• Server-side (e.g. PHP, JSP, ASP) user-agent
sniffing
• Design assuming support for current standards
Should NOF (or Government) aim to define minimum browser standards?
Note:
• Design of richly functional, accessible services using flawed 1990s
applications is difficult
• Pre 4.7 versions of Netscape are no longer supported (security concerns
– see <http://home.netscape.com/cms/certinfo.html>)
• Netscape moving out of browser market? See
<http://browserwatch.internet.com/news/stories2001/
news-20010606-1.html>
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Local vs Externally-Hosted
Services
Options:
• Develop your own, install open source or
buy licensed solutions such as user
feedback, voting, site analysis and
monitoring
• Make use of externally hosted solutions
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Externally-Hosted Services
A wide range of externally-hosted Web services are
available:
• Usage analysis: such as Nedstat at
<http:// www.nedstat.com/>
• User feedback: such as several listed at
<http://thefreesite.com/Webmaster_
Freebies/Free_poll_services/>
• Service monitoring: such as several listed at
<http://thefreesite.com/Webmaster_
Freebies/Free_Web_site_monitoring_
services/>
• etc.
See also <http://directory.google.com/Top/
Computers/Internet/WWW/Free_Stuff/>
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Pros And Cons
Externally-hosted services:
 May be free
 May not need technical expertise to use
But:
 May become unavailable if remote company fails
(cf. My.Palm portal recently)
 Charging policy may change
 You are often allowing a third party to provide
content on your Web site – what happens if, for
example, the third party dotcom company
becomes bankrupt and the domain name is
taken over by a porn site!
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Use of Externally-Hosted
Services
If you choose to make use of externally-hosted services
you should ensure that you have a migration strategy:
• Switching Off Access: you should document how
you would switch off the external service (ideally it
would be managed as a single resource by a CMS
– you may have problems if you provide many
hundreds of unmanaged links)
• Replacing Functionality: you should document
how you would replace the functionality of the
service
• Accessing Data: you should document how you
would access any data held by the service and
how it would be imported into a replacement
service, if applicable
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Web Stats – Case Study
Nedstat and SiteMeter usage services have been used in
the Exploit Interactive Web magazine since its launch in 1999
How
The link to the services is held
in a single HTML fragment and
is included as a Server-Side
Include (SSI) using the ASP
server scripting language.
Maintenance
The services can be removed or replaced by changing a single line in the
SSI file (this has been done to modify the HTML code).
Replacement and Data Migration
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Analysis of server log files held locally can provide usage statistics.
There is a cost if we wish to export the data from the remote service
(need to purchase licensed version of service).
The real-time access to the usage analysis service is a value-added
service and not replacing it would only be a minor inconvenience.
Conclusions
To conclude:
• HTML authoring tools are no longer
suitable for the management of large
services
• You will need to think about the
requirements of a CMS for your project
• You do not need to provide all services inhouse
• If you do use remote services, you will
need to have a migration strategy in case
of problems
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