Transcript Site Creation

Previous Lectures:
• Planning of a Web site: Discussing the strategic
issues of Web site engineering process
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Models used for Web site planning
Compare the Web site with software Engineering
Web site planning process
Technical issues of Web site planning
• Factors influencing Web browsing:
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Web browsing - model
Web session - anatomy
Client side
Network
Server side
Site Creation
• Key points
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Site classification
Infrastructure
Target platforms
Content issues
Functionality requirements
Specification
Costing
Information design
Content organization models
Program design
Site classification
• Environment
– Internet (http://www.bbc.co.uk, http://www.lsbu.ac.uk)
• Traditional Web sites that are intended for access by the
general public. External Web site or Public Web site.
– Intranet (http://lisa.lsbu.ac.uk/)
• Intended only for internal ( Intra-organizational) use. The
medium of an intranet is much different from a public Web
site:
– Intranet sites run on private networks
– Intranet sites run on more predictable and secure networks
– Extranet (lsbu.ac.uk/~facestt)
• Combination of both Internet and Intranet. They are typically
private and secured areas for the use of an organization and
its designated partners.
Infrastructure (General
Approaches)
• Static (content and design)
– Web sites will be a flat-file system of HTML files
– The requirements for a static site are mostly content related
– All pages reside on the server and have fixed content that will be
served “as is” to the user
– The dynamic generation of Web pages is impossible
– Content and presentation are merged
• Dynamic (content, design and programming)
– The contents be stored in a database
– Dynamic site will have content requirements and functionality
requirements
– Database-driven site separates content from presentation
Dynamic Web sites
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The two main components database driven dynamic site:
– Database (Access, Oracle, Sybase, MySQL) where the data resides
– Template provides the structure for the document presentation. A template is a
prototype HTML page that contains the code for the look-and-feel of the page,
including the navigation and the layout.
• Example, a single site might have many different templates: one for the product pages,
another for press releases, another for job opportunities, etc.
– CGI
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Pros and Cons
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Dynamic generation of pages
Individually tailored content
The use of pre-designed templates ensures uniformity in page appearance
Search capability
Ease of management and updating
Simplification of site maintenance
------------------------------------------Pages are not indexed
Pages difficult to bookmark
Site vulnerable to database and middleware problems
High initial cost
Requirement for programming skills
Factors Involved in Developing a
Database-Driven Web Site
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What is involved in creating a
database-driven site?
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 Choosing a database
 Choosing middleware
 Developing database schema by
studying the problem and talking to
users
 Creating update forms
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How does a database-driven site
differ from a static site?
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Dynamic generation of pages
Individually tailored content
Search capabilities
Ease of file management
Simplification of maintenance
What are the cost benefits of a
database-driven site?
 Eliminates heavy outsourcing
 Expedites updates and redesign
 Allows for multipurpose use of
database
 Possibly increases revenue due to
site-effectiveness
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What are the drawbacks of a
database-driven site?
 Dynamically generate pages not
easily indexed by robots
 Transfer performance penalty for
dynamically generated pages
 Initially more expensive
 Possibly lack of simple, consistent
URL for bookmarking
Target platforms based on client
profiling
• Technology Support (http_user_agents)
• Browsers
• Implementing Browser and Technology Profiling
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What platform are currently used on the network?
What browsers are used?
What screen resolutions are supported?
Has the user been to the site before?
What language does the user speak?
What are her/his likes and dislikes?
• Display issues
• User considerations
Content issues
• The content requirements should list what
information will e included on the Web site, if it
exists, and in what format
• Existing contents
– What to include
– How much to include
– Repurposing existing contents
• New contents
– Putting “under construction” signs all over the Web is
not acceptable.
• Amount of information
Functionality
• What the site will do
• How it will do
• Example (page 127): the functionality
requirements for an interactive product
finder on an Internet Web site
Specification
• Objectives were identified in week 3. This week will talk
about how to translate them into requirements. The main
goal of requirements specification phase is to set
boundaries and limits for the project.
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System (Environmental) requirements
Content requirements
What to include?
Repurposing existing Contents
Creating new content
Functionality requirements
Flowchart
Costing
• In-house development vs. out sourcing
• Design cost, graphic tool cost,
programming cost
Information Design
• Information design describes the organization of
information to provide clarity, meaning and context for
the information (Mok 96)
• Information design involves taking data like text,
pictures, multimedia elements, and programming
elements
• Hypertext theory
– A large body of information is organized into numerous pages,
or, in the case of the Web, into pages
– The pages relate to each other
– A user needs only a small fraction of the info at any given time
Content organization models
• Content organization models:
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Linear
Pure linear (slide show)
Linear with alternatives (hotel selection, quiz)
Linear with options (linear with skip ahead)
Linear with side trips (word explanation etc)
Grid (art gallery, etc)
Hierarchy (tree) – narrow or wide
Pure Web (no recognizable pattern)
• Picking the correct structure (page 149)
Design Issues of Web Site
• Application vs. Information:
– Web site becomes an application or software tool, and not just organized
information. From the developer’s view, the way this information is
generated is by a software application
• Program Design Principle:
– Modularity
– Cohesion and Coupling
• Cohesion refers to the intra-relations, within a module. Coupling refers to the
inter-relationships between modules.
– Information hiding
• Structure Design: structured or top-down design
– Objected Oriented Design
• Choosing a Design Approach
– Printed-oriented design
– Structured design
– Objected-oriented design
• Navigation Design
– Text based navigation
– GUI-based navigation