WEB DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE

Source: December Communications, Inc.

Collected by: Tuan Truong

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Chapter 1: Planning
Planning is the process of choosing among competing opportunities for communication so that
you can set overall goals for a web. You'll need to define your web's intended audience,
formulate a statement of your web's purpose, and objective, and gather and maintain domain
information to support your web.
As a web planner, you need to anticipate the skills and resources needed for developing,
constructing, deploying, and operating the web. For example, if a web's design includes
a specification for forms (a feature supported by HTML), you should note that
web implementors should have skills in HTML forms as well as CGI (Common Gateway
Interface) programming.
1.1 Key Planning Practices
 Spend time to think about a web before implementing one.
 Plan for and obtain the resources and skills needed for developing your web.
 Formulate policies about information development, deployment, and presentation to
guide developers and users.
1.1.1 Key Planning Resources
 The Internet Service Providers List: a list of providers for access or Web space leasing.
 Web Software: a description of products related to deploying a web, including clients,
servers, tools, and others.
 Top 10 Ways to Make Your WWW Service a Flop: good discussions of common errors
in web planning and development.

1.2 Discussion
Good webs don't always happen by accident. If you are a web developer, spend some time
thinking about why you will build it and who will come.
Planning is a crucial aspect of web development because it is when many decisions are made that
affect the design, implementation, and later promotion of a web. This chapter surveys issues of
web planning, starting from principles based on the Web's media characteristics and user
experience. You can plan a web at many phases of web development, including strategic, policy,
and systems planning. Specific techniques and instructions for individual web planning are
described in this chapter, including strategies to
define the web's purpose and objectives, domain
and audience information, and web specification
and presentation.
1.2.1 Principles of Web Planning
You can apply the Web's media characteristics
and qualities to define a focus for web planning.
The Web's dynamic characteristic tends to make

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planning an ongoing, continuous process in which issues of multiple authorship and rapidly
changing information relationships come into play.
1.2.1.1 The Limits of Web Planning: What a Developer Can't Control
When developing a web and making it available to the public to freely browse, you have no
control over a range of factors. The first step of the planning process is to recognize these factors
and consider how they might limit planning for a particular web. The factors over which a
developer has no control include user behavior, browser display, links to the web, and the
resources outside the web.
1.2.1.1.1 User Behavior
Because the Web is a dynamic, competitive system based on user choices and selectivity, a web
developer can't control how users are going to access and use a web's information. The Web's
porous quality, in particular, means that users do not need to enter a web from a designated home
page; instead, they can enter from any arbitrary page. Although a developer's intent might be to
guide users down a series of pages (the wine bottle model), actual use might differ. Access to a
web follows more the pincushion model, where users might enter at any given point, and thus a
web has no true "top." Users might enter a web at any arbitrary link.
On a larger scale, the entire Web itself, composed of millions of individual webs, resembles a
cloud of hypertext (the cloud model shown). Users in the cloud model don't even necessarily
experience a single web, but instead move from page to page in Web space, through navigation
techniques such as subject, keyword, or space-oriented searching. In particular, when a user
enters a web as a result of a spider keyword search, the web pages that match the search pattern
might lead a user deep inside what the web developer might consider the introductory or
welcome pages of a web.
The Web's porous quality is a consideration during planning as well as in the other processes of
development: analysis, design, implementation, and promotion (as described in detail in later
chapters). During the planning stage, it is possible to intend to build a web with a different entry
pattern than the pincushion model. In fact, it often is possible to shape general user behavior
toward a wine bottle model by using navigational cues, web publicity, and other design
strategies. During the planning stage, however, the best web developers can do is to identify the
general model of user behavior for which they are aiming. Although user behavior can't be
controlled, a statement of the planned general user access model can serve as a guide for later
processes of web development-particularly design.
Possible planning models for user behavior follow:
Guided. This model guides the user through a sequence of pages, much like the wine bottle
model. The designation of a home page tends to support this model, which often starts the user
from the "top" of the web. This is a common model for planning the default page of a Web
server (the page that comes up when the user requests the URL consisting of the server name
only). A guided model for user behavior requires a design of the links of individual pages to
support a guided (but not necessarily linear) path. This model also is common for webs that tell a
sequential story or explain a series of concepts.
Cued. This model provides the user with many cues for choices of links to follow, with the
expectation that the user should be prepared to choose from them with minimal guidance. This
model is more common for webs containing complex information that a user might access often,
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such as reference or database information, or for webs that support users with advanced or prior
knowledge of the web's domain information.
Floating. In this model, the user might be presented with only selected cues on each page that
relate only to that page's information, as opposed to the navigational cues present in the cued
model or the narrative cues of the guided model. A floating model might be most appropriate for
entertainment or play webs, where the user is encouraged to explore links in a web from a
context not necessarily related to gaining a comprehensive understanding of a topic or looking up
information.
Although a developer can't control a user's entry point into a web, an explicit statement of a
general user model (guided, cued, or floating) might help designers create a design to support a
user's likely path through a web.
It's important to note that being unable to control a user's entry point or path through a web is not
necessarily an undesirable feature. In fact, many would say that this porousness is precisely the
power of hypertext itself; it allows users to follow links based on their interests or thought
processes.
1.2.1.1.2 The User's Browser and Display
The client/server organization of the Web allows for a wide variety of browsers to be available to
users. A web planner can't know what kind of browsers users will have. Moreover, new browsers
are in development, and future browsers are certain to provide more and different features than
the ones presently available. Therefore, different users, based on their browser's operation, will
experience a web differently but share common navigational needs.
Some users might perceive a web using a text-only browser, whereas others might use the most
current graphical browser that supports extensions to HTML. Therefore, in planning a web,
developers need to consider what information will be essential so that it's not lost to users who
have text-only browsers or browsers that don't support HTML extensions. If developers place
important or essential information in a graphics file, for example, some users might never see it,
because not all Web browsers support graphics. The choices for planners in addressing user
browser display include a series of choices that might limit information available to some users.
Planners choose where essential information can be placed:
Text. Places all essential information in text (or in the ALT fields of images in a document) so
that a user with any browser can access it.
Graphics. Allows for graphics to play a major role in transmitting important information. In
particular, imagemaps might be used extensively for information selection. This choice would
make this information unavailable to users with nongraphical browsers.
Forms. Places some important communications functions within forms.
Hypermedia. Places some information in multimedia information, perhaps including movies,
sounds, and images.
Virtual Reality (VR). Places some information in VRML constructs.
By explicitly making choices about which level of browser display to support, the web planner
sets many decisions for the web specification that guides web designers and implementers.
Setting these limits is crucial, particularly when the web's intended audience is known to have

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only a certain level of capability for accessing the web, or the purpose of the web is to reach a
large audience (perhaps to the non-Internet regions of the Matrix through e-mail access).
Because of the diversity of Web browsers, web planners also have to take into consideration how
little control over information display they will have. This is a change from traditional desktop
publishing, in which every aspect of font style and size, alignment, and other layout features are
controlled carefully. HTML, working on a different philosophy for presenting information, is
intended as a semantic markup language rather than a page layout language.
Web planners must recognize that the tags in an HTML document define the structures of a
document-not necessarily how these structures are displayed. Many browsers render the
unordered list differently, however; some use graphical dots, and text browsers may use an * or
an o. Indentation and alignment of lists may vary from browser to browser. Even the font size
and style of a displayed document often are under a user's control. This issue of rendering relates
to the levels of HTML (and extensions to HTML, some of which are browser-specific) a web
developer chooses to employ. Part III, "Web Implementation and Tools," covers these levels in
detail.
The bottom line is that web planners should avoid trying to micromanage or specify page layout.
Although such page layout might be optimized for a particular brand of browser during
implementation, users with other browsers might be disappointed with their brand of browser's
rendering of the same page.
1.2.1.1.3 Links Into and Out of a Web
In a web, many links might be made to resources on the network that are beyond a web
developer's control. These resources may move, making the link no longer valid (the link then is
said to be stale). Users following a stale link from a document will encounter an error message
and not get the information the developer originally had intended for them to access, thus
degrading the experience of the users of the web. At the planning stage, a web developer can
make some policy statements that address this "links out" issue:
No links out. This is the most stringent option. It states that no links will be made from the web
to resources that are not under the direct control of the web developers. The benefit of this policy
is that the developers have absolute control over the resources that are the destination points of
the links in a web. The problem with this strategy is that the benefit and value of external
resources are lost to the users. This policy might work best for webs that contain only
information pertaining to a single organization.
Buffer layer. In this option, web planners designate a core group of web pages that are separated
from outside links by a layer of local web pages of a minimum depth. The web planners might
designate that there will be no outside links closer than three links away from the home page of
the web, for example. In this case, the home page constitutes the core set of pages, and there are
at least three links between a page within this core set and a link outside the web. Note that a
user still can enter the web in the pincushion or cloud model of access to a page that has external
links on it. If this web uses a guided model for user access, however, these outside links are
placed beyond the user's immediate attention while in the core set of pages. This buffer layer
might be the best strategy for web developers who don't want to lose their users too soon to the
outside Web.

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Centralized out. In this option, the web planners may choose to designate a single page or set of
pages to contain all the links outside the web. A common practice for webs is to include a page
containing interesting external links of this type, listing Web links to external resources on a
single page. The benefit of this strategy is that users can have a good idea when they will be
leaving the local web. This helps users who arrived at the web for a specific purpose to avoid
getting "thrown out" of the web before finding the information they want.
Free exit. In this option, no restrictions are placed on making links outside the web. This
approach allows the particular page developer to determine when outside links should be made.
This is the most flexible option, but it might send users out of a web quickly.
When links are made outside a web, other issues come into play: link connections and content
reliability. A stale link is one that will not technically resolve to a resource because of a
permanent change in that resource's availability. A broken link is a temporary problem with a
link, such as when a remote computer host is down for maintenance. Web users realize that stale
and broken links are unavoidable aspects of Web navigation. For projects that require flawless
access, planners may choose a policy of no external links in a web to avoid these problems.
Not only can a link to an external resource become stale or broken, but the content to which it
refers can change in unexpected ways. This can be particularly troubling when a developer links
to resources created by people for very informal reasons (for example, a school project or a
hobbyist's project). A web developer might have linked to a photograph of a train at a remote
site, for example, and perhaps this photograph is key to the web's information content. The
hobbyist who made that photograph available is under no obligation to forever offer a picture of
a train through that link, unless by an agreement with the web developer. The hobbyist might
change the image at that link every month. Next month, the users might retrieve an image of a
tree. Thus, link planning and maintenance is an important part of web development, and the
planning process involves taking into account which resources always must be stable or readily
accessible.
Just as developers can't control which resources exist through the links out of a web, they cannot
control the links that are made to their webs. When a web is made publicly available, any link in
a web (any URL that refers to an HTML page) can be used in any other work on the Web.
(Developers might make statements explicitly forbidding these links, but this kind of restriction
rarely is implemented on the Web and might even be considered a breach of Web community
tradition.)
Someone linking to a web could misrepresent its purpose or content, perhaps unintentionally.
Although a web might be a description of "The XYZ Company's Modem Products," someone at
a remote site might identify this web as "instructions for hooking up to a computer bulletin
board." Developers can track down references to a web by using a Web spider and often will be
able to correspond with anyone who might have misinterpreted the meaning or purpose of their
web. Although a benign case of a misunderstanding easily may be fixed, it's not clear whether
developers will be able to suppress or stop malicious references or links to their webs. The legal
issues involved are not resolved.
A developer might run across someone who describes his or her modem products web as "the
lamest modems made" or even maliciously spreads the web's URL among large groups of
people, with instructions to "click on this link until the server crashes." The latter case is a bit

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more clear cut because there are explicit rules of conduct that most users, at least at most sites,
must follow, and these usually include rules against intentionally damaging any equipment.
Moreover, the commonly held set of traditions on the Net itself definitely prohibits maliciously
crashing a server. Another view, however, is that the user who makes the comment "the lamest
modems made," about a web might simply be exercising his or her freedom of speech, and a
developer might be able to do nothing about it. In actual practice, a developer will find that links
into a web are made in good faith and that any misinterpretations or misunderstandings of a
web's purpose can be resolved.
1.2.1.2 The Opportunities of Web Planning: What a Developer Can Control
Despite the long list of issues outlined in the preceding section over which a web developer has
little or no control, there are many issues a web developer can control. In particular, the Web's
media qualities give the web planner many opportunities for planning at the strategic (long term),
systems (multiple webs), and single-web level. The following list surveys planning issues related
to the qualities of the Web. Specific planning techniques to address these issues follow this list.
Multiple user roles. (user as consumer or as consumer/producer) These possibilities open up the
potential for interaction among web information providers and users, as well as a participatory
form of information dissemination instead of just a one-way broadcast of information. Involving
users actively in information creation and dissemination is not done often, and planning for it
involves a careful definition of the policy for and purpose of user-provided information.
Porous quality. This quality of the Web works in favor of a web developer who plans
information structures that are modular and self-contained, and that contain a sufficient number
of navigation and context cues for the user. These kinds of information structures, whether they
are individual pages or groups of related pages (a package), can have multiple uses for different
places in the same web or for different webs of the same organization. These multiple-use
information components reduce production and maintenance costs, because information creation
and updates can take place in a single location within a web, and the updates can benefit all the
links where this information is referenced. This efficiency is analogous to computer-software
modules that can be referenced in different parts of a computer program or even in other
computer programs.
Dynamic quality. This quality of the Web works in favor of a web developer who uses key parts
of a web to meet the users' time-dependent needs. A news organization creating a web for mass
communications can have a page that contains the current headlines, which are updated
throughout the day, for example. A user accessing this page can expect to see different contents
from day to day and even throughout a single day, or over several hours or minutes. This
dynamism works in favor of meeting the needs of the users for current information. In contrast,
poor planning for information updates results in out-of-date information on a web, and the
dynamic possibilities are lost. The level of dynamism on a web depends on what kind of
information a web offers. Stable information might require no updating. Other information might
be valid for periods of time-perhaps years or months-and might require only periodic updating.
The key is for web planners to identify the updating needs of a web's information (this is covered
in more detail later in the section "Domain Information").
Interactive quality. This quality of the Web can engage users and provides a way for web
developers to customize information to meet users' needs. Planning for interactivity involves a

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careful process of audience identification and analysis in which these needs and the mechanisms
by which they can be met are defined.
Competitive quality. This quality of the Web requires that planners take a long-term view of
any investment in web-delivered information. Planning is essential for information maintenance
as much as the technical maintenance of a web. Planning for web promotion must be done so that
a web gains the attention of users. Planning must include provisions for surveillance of
competitor webs, new presentation technologies, techniques, or styles.
1.2.1.3 Web-Planning Techniques
Web planning is a dynamic, continuous process that involves a constant balancing of
opportunities and resources. Web planning often takes place within a context that is more general
than just the concerns about the technical composition of a set of HTML pages. Often,
particularly for larger organizations, communication on the Web is part of a strategic effort to
reach users, involving many media outlines beside the Web. The following sections outline
techniques for planning at different levels, starting from a strategic level (in which the focus is
on an organization's needs for communication), a systems level (in which the focus is on the
web-delivered portion of an organization's on-line communication techniques), and the web level
(in which the focus is on an individual web's audience and purpose).
1.2.1.3.1 People Planning
Without a doubt, people are the key to the success of a web site. Because developing a web
involves such a diverse range of skills, a talented team of people working together is crucial to
success. Although just a few years ago it was not uncommon for a single generalist (a Web
master) to be the sole developer of a web, today the trend is for a team approach, in which people
with a variety of specializations work together to produce a web. Whereas the attention in web
development years ago was on the people with technical talent (the Web server administrators
and implementers of HTML), the attention now has shifted to content developers and producers.
This isn't too surprising; nearly anyone can learn how to write HTML, but it takes great ability to
develop web information well. Eventually, the focus may shift more toward creative information
producers-just as in movies and television, talented performers often are at the apex of
recognition and reward.
When planning a web, look for people who can perform the roles outlined in the processes:
Planners. Make many choices about a web's elements and strategic growth. The planner is often
the administrator or initiator of the web project itself and in many cases may be considered the
leader of a web team. Planners should have strong management and people skills as well as a
good understand of the Web's technical makeup and possibilities.
Analysts. Perform the critical task of constantly monitoring your web's content and its use by its
audience. An analyst needs to play devil's advocate to determine what parts of a web are working
to meet the audience's needs and which are not. To do this, an analyst needs to be both confident
and diplomatic, with the ability to communicate bad news to other members of the web team. A
close match for analysts to be on your team may be people in quality assurance, copy editors of
magazines or newspapers, teachers, or researchers in human-computer interaction or computer-
mediated communication.
Designers. Create a pleasing look and feel for the Web, going beyond just the appearance of a
web in terms of graphical appearance, but including hypertext and hypermedia organization and
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design. A web designer should have all the technical skill of an implementer, a strong sense of
the web's objectives and audience, and a through feel for the World Wide Web and the Internet
as a new medium.
Implementers. Create HTML, CGI scripts, or Java applets based on the design and specification
of a web. CGI scripts and Java require computer programming and good skills not only in coding
but in software engineering techniques. Implementers need to create software that is dependable
and maintainable. Look for people who are computer programmers to fill these roles. Many
universities teach these skills (unfortunately, many schools teach only web implementation
skills), so the pool of potential implementers is great.
Promoters. Work on the public relations, advertising, and marketing issues of a web. To staff
your web team, look for people involved in these fields in other media, with the cautionary note
that the potential candidates must have a good understanding of the social and some of the
technical aspects of Web communication. You don't get this understanding from participating in
a proprietary service like America Online. The Web has a unique set of social characteristics that
play an important part in promotion.
Innovators. Like web analysts, the web team should never become stagnant or self-satisfied
with its work. Instead, it should continue to integrate new techniques and technologies that meet
the needs of the web's audience. An innovator also should be concerned about the quality of the
web's interface and content and seek to continuously improve it. Good candidates for web
innovators include quality-assurance people and technologists who work with cutting-edge
innovations.
1.2.1.4 Administrative Planning
An important part of developing a web involves considering how you want to create your
presence on-line. For professional or serious web developers, a dependable, professional
presence and a skilled web-development team are crucial for success. In addition to the people,
policy, and process planning this chapter outlines, administrative planning should be made for
the following:
A stable Web technical presence. This presence should include a domain name (to permit
switching of Internet service providers when necessary as well as for identity reasons) and
adequate Web server performance.
Improving Web content. When developing a web, you're not just making a home page. Your
goal should be to develop sustainable, reliable processes that continuously improve the content
of your site. The Web, like life, is always under construction. Your goal is to take steps to the
excellence of the content of your construction. Your audience then will begin to rely on you to
always do better in the flux of Web communication.
1.2.2 A Capability Maturity Model for the Web
An organization adopting a technology often passes through several stages of interest and
involvement. Awareness of a promising technology might cross over to curiosity and testing.
This testing then might develop into growing expertise. A wealth of expertise in a technology
then might lead to its widespread use in an organization. A model for proceeding through these
steps can help an organization understand the key issues and tasks to move from one level to the
next.

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The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) has developed
an organizational life-cycle model for the acquisition of software engineering technology for an
organization. Called the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) for software, its purpose is to define
the characteristics of a mature, capable process for creating software. The framework describes
five levels that an organization may traverse in software-engineering practices. These stages
proceed from immature, unrepeatable processes to mature, repeatable ones. The five stages
follow:
1. The Initial level. An organization's ineffective planning hobbles good software-
engineering practices. Projects typically are planned poorly and their success is
unpredictable. Very few stable software processes exist in the organization, and these
are attributable to individual rather than organizational capability.
2. The Repeatable level. An organization establishes policies for software project
management and procedures to implement those policies. The key to achieving this
level is for the management processes to make successful practices repeatable. A
process that is effective is "practiced, documented, enforced, trained, measured, and
able to improve" (ftp://ftp.sei.cmu.edu/pub/cmm/ASCII/tr25-overview.ascii).
3. The Defined level. An organization documents a standard process for developing and
maintaining software across the organization. This standard includes an integration of
both the management and technical-engineering processes involved. An organization-
wide group coordinates software-engineering process activities, and there is
organization-wide training so that individuals can fulfill their assigned roles. For each
project, the organization's standard software process is tailored to a "coherent, integrated
set of well-defined software engineering and management processes" to best meet the
needs for that project. Software quality can be tracked because processes are stable and
repeatable.
4. The Managed level. An organization sets quality goals for products and processes, and
productivity and quality are measured. The risks for moving into new application
domains are predictable. The resulting software products produced are of high quality.
5. The Optimizing level. The entire organization focuses on continuous process
improvement. Innovations are identified and transferred to the whole organization.
Defects can be analyzed and processes adjusted to reduce them. Organizations at the
optimizing level continuously improve through incremental improvements in existing
processes and innovation in technologies and methods.
Mapped to the activities of web development, the CMM described in this list provides a good
framework for approaching the Web. Web development shares some characteristics of software
engineering (it is created and deployed on computers, for example). Web development, however,
involves more skills in information shaping and communication. The preceding CMM is, overall,
a good framework for approaching the Web. Web planners can use this CMM for software as a
basis for a CMM for web development. This model then can help as a framework for strategic
planning in using Web communication:
1. The Initial level. An organization uses Web communication haphazardly, with no
defined processes or standards. Individuals with knowledge of HTML are assigned to
develop webs without much thought for communication strategies or process issues.

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 Success is unpredictable or is not evaluated or measured at all. Any beneficial results
are attributable to individual effort and talent rather than organizational capability. This
is the amateur stage of web development, when knowing HTML is the sole criterion for
developing a web.
2. The Repeatable level. An organization establishes and defines policies and processes for
web development. These processes focus on information shaping so that success can be
repeated. This involves evaluation of results, documentation of processes, and some
training of developers.
3. The Defined level. An organization documents a standard process for developing and
maintaining webs across the organization. This standard includes an integration of both
the management and technical processes involved. An organization-wide group
coordinates the development process and activities. There is organization-wide training
so that individuals can fulfill their roles. For each project, the organization's standard
development process is tailored to include a set of web development and management
processes to best meet the needs for that project. Web quality can be tracked because
processes are stable and repeatable.
4. The Managed level. An organization sets quality goals for products and processes, and
productivity and quality are measured. The risks for moving into new application
domains are predictable. The resulting Web products produced are of high quality.
5. The Optimizing level. The entire organization focuses on continuous process
improvement. Innovations are identified and transferred to the whole organization.
Defects can be analyzed and processes adjusted to reduce them. Organizations at the
optimizing level continuously improve through incremental work on existing processes
and innovation in technologies and methods.
A web planner can use this framework to set strategic goals. An organization already might be
developing webs at the initial level, where creative individuals drive success. Without strategic
plans for moving to the higher levels, however, this organization generally will not be able to
predictably repeat successes or continuously improve quality. Although software engineering
differs very much from web development, there is a correspondence in the complexity of
product, culture of skills, and technical practices and development environments between both
disciplines. The CMM for software therefore can guide web developers in attempting to move to
higher levels of maturity.
1.2.2.1 Web Policy Planning
As part of defining policies for web development, planners should begin to address policy and
administrative issues that are bound to arise during the course of developing, deploying, and
using information on a web or set of organizational webs:
 Developing information. Policies must be set out to identify the processes, products, and
responsibilities for web development. This is an essential framework for ensuring that
everything gets done, there is no duplication, and the important definition and
standardization take place. Issues outlined previously for user access, information
display, and link policy should be identified. A decision about technological change
rates for the web should be made-how much and how fast new technology should be
introduced to the web.

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  Providing information. Policies must be developed to state the mission or purpose of the
web (or larger system of webs) in an organization. This mission statement then can
define content and serve as a guideline to determine appropriate content and appropriate
allocation of resources. Policies for information providers should be created.
 When developing a collection of Web-based information on a particular topic area,
information provider maintainers should
o Keep aware of current developments in Internet resources on that topic.
o Become knowledgeable in the domain area represented by the field of study of
the collection. The maintainer also should rely on domain experts to help
advise on the significance and value of information sources.
o Be available and accessible for comments from users and domain experts and for
timely maintenance of the collection based on these comments.
o Provide leadership and vision toward making the collection serve the interests of
the users by seeking out user opinions and frequently testing the usability of the
information.
o Ask for and acknowledge the assistance and collaboration of others in shaping
the information in the collection.
o Actively seek and install new resources, links, or information-presentation
methods in the collection. Provide periodic publicity and announcements about
the collection to appropriate on-line discussion forums and indexes. Seek a
replacement when they no longer are able to develop the information in the
collection or when they are absent for an extended period.
 Using information Policies must state how the training needs for web developers as well
as local and client users will be addressed. Information policies must state who should
be accessing the web(s) of an organization, and how and why they should be doing it,
including statements about appropriate use for intended and unintended audiences.
Intellectual property, information-dissemination, and copyright policies must be set so
that users and developers know the boundaries of information use.
1.2.2.2 System Planning
Strategic and policy planning can guide web planners in creating a framework for increasing
quality on a web. The next step is to plan organization-wide strategies for on-line (and off-line)
communication. This work involves media definition, integration, and differentiation at the level
of several webs or communication channels (the systems level).
Communication on the Web involves mediated communication, and the Web has particular
characteristics and qualities as a medium. Therefore, the first step in web systems planning is to
explore how the Web can play a role in an organization's communications needs. This process of
definition can start with an inventory of the arsenal of communications methods that an
organization already may be using. An organization already might advertise its products in print,
television, radio, and structures (such as billboards), for example. The organization also might
sponsor events or make donations to worthy causes for the good will and publicity that may
result (for example, sponsorship of public television broadcasting). The Web does not need to
replicate or replace all of these existing communications methods; instead, it should enhance,
12
supplement, or replace only some of them. Sponsoring worthy events or resource lists on the
Web is possible, for example, as well as many forms of advertising in Web-based magazines.
Another example of communication replacement is in-house communication. Local webs might
be constructed to supplement or replace existing forms of intra-organizational communication.
Organizational webs might facilitate extra-organizational communication. The Web offers
international or global organizations an effective way to communicate worldwide.
After a role is defined for what communication tasks an organizational web or set of webs might
fill, the next step in web systems design is integrating the web or webs into the existing
organizational communication infrastructure. An organization already might have an Internet
domain name with an e-mail address, or it might have on-line communication systems in place,
such as Gopher or an FTP site. An organization web can be integrated with these existing
Internet information systems. Users accessing the FTP or Gopher sites might be referred to the
organizational webs as sources of further information. The organizational webs may draw on the
Gopher or FTP sites for content. If no existing on-line communications system exists, a set of
webs must integrate with lines of communication in place. A paper-based catalog can be
translated to a web, for example. Customer service representatives might attend to Internet e-
mail questions as well as phone-in questions. The key is that a plan for web systems integration
links the elements in web development to existing organizational communication flows.
After definition and integration, the next step is differentiation. A system of webs might, at first,
simply replicate or supplement other activities. These webs must provide value over these other
forms, however, or an organization should discontinue the web activity. This is a process of
differentiation, in which communication tasks are best left to the media that most satisfactorily
serve those tasks. Instead of promoting a system of webs as the solution to all of an
organization's needs, only those communication tasks that seem best suited to the web should be
planned or continued.
1.2.2.2.1 Web Element Planning
After strategic and systems planning, a developer comes down to the very specific task of
planning a web. The planning techniques described here address particular aspects of each of the
web-development elements: audience information, purpose statement, objective statement,
domain information, web specification, and web presentation.
1.2.2.2.1.1 Audience Information
Creating effective communications, particularly mediated communications, requires that
developers plan what they want to communicate to whom. Information about the target audience
for information is crucial for creating successful communication. In fact, many would consider
information about an audience to be a valuable resource. Knowing the audience is key because
audience information, like the purpose statement, helps shape the whole information content of a
web as well as its look and feel. If developers do not have a specific audience in mind for the
web, a specific audience will use the web, and that audience's experience of it might be positive
or negative as a direct result of the choices the developers make about the web's presentation. A
web influenced by accurate information about its intended and actual audience should have a
higher probability of successfully communicating its intended message and information.
Excellent planning for audience information involves two steps: defining the audience and then
defining the information that it is important to know about that audience:

13
 Define the target audience. A developer should write a statement describing the target
audience for the web. A developer might want to reach "scholars who are interested in
botany," for example. Although this statement is simple, it serves as a valuable guide for
developing many of the other elements in web development. A plan to reach the
audience defined as "everyone interested in science" is a very broad one. Although a
web might be created successfully that reaches such an audience, it might be an
unrealistic audience planned for a new web or for developers without the expertise or
resources to support it. One technique for helping to define an audience is to generate a
cluster diagram.
A web developer might be interested in reaching just professors at universities who are
professional botanists, for example, or any professional botanist or teacher of botany at
any level. After making the cluster diagram, the planner can shade in the sets of people
in the intended audience. Ovals in the cluster diagram represent the audiences and their
relationships (such as overlapping or inclusion). The cluster diagram also shows related
audiences as a way of explicitly identifying audiences that the developer might not want
to reach.
The developer might not plan to reach grade school and high school students, but might
include them in the diagram in order to show their relationship to members of the target
audience. Many scholars might teach younger students, for example. As such, some of
the target audience (botany scholars) might have an interest in gathering and developing
material for younger audiences or in issues involved in teaching. This clustering process
can continue until the planner zeroes in on what the specific audience wants. The
diagram might prompt considerations about exactly what audiences should be reached.
Perhaps only professional botanists who also are botany professors are the target
audience, for example. Note that a web may target multiple and overlapping audiences
rather than just a single group.
 Define critical information about the audience. The definition of critical information
depends largely on the purpose statement for the web. If the web intends to reach
scientists interested in botany, what characteristics of these scientists are important?
Educational level? Area of specialization? Personal characteristics such as age, height,
and weight? For some purposes and some audiences, different information is important.
Weight and height information might be important only if the web attempts to sell the
scientists clothing or equipment for their research that depends on their body
characteristics, for example. Otherwise, such information might be totally irrelevant.
The key is to identify the relevant information about the audience in the planning stage
based on an initial statement of purpose. In later stages, this list of key characteristics
can be refined and then can serve as a basis for gathering audience information and
analysis.
Because the planning process itself is incremental and continuous, the developer might
not yet know exactly what information about the audience is important. The cluster
diagram can generate possible characteristics of that audience as a starting point for later
refinement. Based on the audience defined in the cluster diagram, a developer can
generate lists of that audience's characteristics, concerns, and activities.
Botany scholars-characteristics:

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 o highly educated, interested in biological, environmental processes
o skilled in critical thinking
o Botany scholars-concerns:
o funding for projects
o publishing findings
o getting the right equipment
o teaching
o valid research methodologies
o reading related publications
o Botany scholars-activities:
o attending conventions
o conducting research
o communicating with the public
o teaching
o gathering samples
o serving in industry roles
Some items listed might fall into several categories; notice that "teaching" showed up
both as a concern and an activity in this list. The next section shows how planning for
the purpose statement helps trim down this list of possible audience information to the
most relevant items, which then can serve as the database of audience information a
developer will be concerned about collecting and maintaining.
1.2.2.2.1.2 Purpose Statement
The statement of purpose serves as the driving theme throughout web development. The purpose
helps a developer choose what information about the audience to gather and maintain, and it
influences the form of the web's presentation. Not having a succinct purpose statement for why a
web is operating makes it very hard for web designers to choose among techniques to present
information. Without a statement of purpose, web analysts have no basis for evaluating whether
the web is operating effectively. Moreover, a web without a clear purpose often conveys a
cloudy message to the user; the user will wonder, "What is this for?" and have no clue as to an
answer.
To define a web's purpose, a developer needs to make a statement about what the web should do
with regard to the following elements:
 The subject area. What area of knowledge serves as the context for what the web
conveys? This area of knowledge does not have to be a traditional Library of Congress
subject classification (such as Botany or Biology). It might be "information about the
odd-bearing division of XYZ Industries."

15
  The audience. The purpose statement contains the audience identification within it. This
audience identification is a part of the purpose statement because so much of the "What
is this supposed to do?" question about a web revolves around the specific audience
mentioned in the purpose statement of the web.
 The level of detail at which information is presented. The purpose might be, "To provide
a comprehensive overview of botany for botany scholars," or it might be more specific,
such as "To present basic reference material about botany for botany scholars." This
level of detail influences how much domain information needs to be gathered and
maintained.
 The user's expected benefit or response. What will users of the web gain from it? The
purpose statement might include the phrase "in order to keep current in the field of
botany," "in order to keep up with current developments," or some combination of these
kinds of statements.
Planning the purpose statement forces the web planner to make many decisions about the
message the web will convey. A well-formed purpose statement serves as a touchstone for all the
other web-development processes and elements. Indeed, the purpose statement itself might play a
very important role as one of the first pieces of information about the web presented to users.
Here are some sample purpose statements that contain many of the points outlined in the
preceding list. Notice that the more complete the statement of purpose, the easier it is for a user
to answer the question, "What is this for?" when encountering the web.
"This information server (ftp.arpa.mil) provides selected information about the activities and
programs of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). It initially contains information
provided by the Computing Systems Technology Office (CSTO) and associated information
about the High Performance Computing and Communications Program. Additional capabilities
will be added incrementally to provide additional information." -from the ARPA home page
(http://ftp.arpa.mil/)
"The purpose of this center is to serve the needs of researchers, students, teachers, and
practitioners interested in computer-mediated communication (CMC). This center helps people
share resources, make contacts, collaborate, and learn about developments and events." -from the
Computer-Mediated Communication Studies Center
(http://www.december.com/cmc/study/center.html)
"The purpose of this server is to provide access to a wide range of information from and about
Japan, with the goal of creating deeper understanding about Japanese society, politics, industry,
and, most importantly, the Japanese people." -from the Center for Global Communications home
page (http://www.glocom.ac.jp/index.html)
1.2.2.2.1.3 Objective Statement
After a web developer plans for the purpose of the web, who the audience is, and what the
developers need to know about the audience, the next step is to combine all this information to
arrive at a specific statement of web objectives. As such, an objective statement is much more
specific and lengthy than a purpose statement. An objective statement makes clear the specific
outcomes and information that will implement the stated purpose of the web. The objective
statement therefore expands on the general descriptions given in the purpose statement. An
important difference exists, however: Although the purpose statement might stay the same, the
16
objective statement might change as new information about the domain or audience becomes
available.
A phrase in the purpose statement such as "to provide access to a wide range of information from
and about Japan" (Center for Global Communications home page,
http://www.glocom.ac.jp/index.html) could be implemented with a variety of specific objectives.
The objectives could include showing Japanese cultural information, geographical and climate
information, and selections of on-line Japanese publications. Whereas the purpose statement
says, "here is what we are going to do," the objective statement says, "here is the information that
will do it."
Unlike the purpose statement, the objective statement does not necessarily need to be written on
the web's home page. Instead, an objective statement is behind-the-scenes information that
guides the development of other elements in web development. From the statement of purpose
given for the Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) Studies Center, for example, the
statement "help people share resources" can be used to generate a set of specific objectives:
 Purpose: Help people share resources
 Objective: Provide a list of resources with links to the following: major on-line
collections of CMC-related material, bibliographies, academic and research centers
related to CMC, and on-line journals
Over time, this objective statement might change by expanding to include links to other kinds of
forums for subjects related to CMC. Also, changes in the objective statement might require that
features are removed from the web. Planning the objective statements gives a developer a head
start on another web-development element: domain information.
1.2.2.2.1.4 Domain Information
Domain information refers to information and knowledge about the subject area of the web,
including both on-line and off-line sources of information. Domain information includes not only
information that will be presented to users of the web, but also all information and knowledge
the developers of the web need to know in order to do a good job. Therefore, the collection of
domain information serves as an "information store" from which both the developers and users
of the web will draw. The purpose of the web itself might be to provide an interface to this
information store, or it might be that this information store is only incidental to the purpose of
the web, playing a supporting role as background information for the developers. In either case,
planning for domain information is essential. Steps for planning for domain information follow:
The planner should define what domain information is necessary for the developers to know and
what information will be provided to users. Are there specialized databases to which developers
or users must gain access? Is there an existing store of on-line material that will serve as a basis
for user information? What kind of background in the discipline do developers of the web have
to appreciate and understand in order to effectively make choices about information content and
organization? What other material might be needed, either by the users of the web or by the
developers?
Plan for the acquisition of domain information. After the information store is defined, how can it
be obtained? Is a large collection of information files easily accessible? Or is there a paper-based
information source that the web developers should read or a course they should take before
trying to build the web? Developers working on creating a web about botany should have some
17
appreciation for the topics and subdivisions of the field in order to make judgments about how
information should be presented, for example.
Plan for updating and maintaining the information. It's not enough to define and acquire a
database. If it is time-dependent information, when will it lose its usefulness? How will it be
updated? Who will update the information? What will be the costs of this updating and
maintenance? The degree of attention paid to domain information acquisition and maintenance
varies a great deal according to the purpose of the web itself. A web that purports to be an
interface to current satellite imagery of the Earth's clouds, for example, must necessarily have
constantly updated domain information. In contrast, a web for information about British
literature might require updates as new knowledge is formed, but not on an hourly or minute-by-
minute basis.
1.2.2.2.1.5 Web Specification
The web specification is a refinement of the objective statement in more specific terms, adding a
layer of constraints or other requirements. These requirements might restrict or further describe
in detail what the web will offer and how it will be presented. The web specification, for
example, takes the objective statement "to provide links to bibliographies in the field" and makes
it specific with a list of the URLs that will be provided. The specification statement also can
characterize limitations on the information and its presentation, such as "no more than 10
bibliographies will be listed on the resources page; if more are required, a separate bibliographies
page will be made."
The specification acts as a guidebook for the designers and implementers who will create the
actual files of the web itself. The specification should completely identify all resources (for
example, links; web components such as forms or graphical imagemaps; or other resources, such
as sound, image, movie, or text files) that should (or can) be used on the web. The web
specification also should identify any restrictions based on choices or policies discussed
previously, such as for an intended model for user traversal, link policy, and the presentation of
essential information.
Similar to how the objective statement can change while accomplishing the same purpose, the
specification statement might change while accomplishing the same objective. (The URL to a
resource required by an objective statement might change, for example.)
The major issue when planning for the specification is for the web planner to make sure that the
people developing the web have the tools, training, and time necessary to develop the web
according to specifications. One part of the specification could state that a customer can order a
product by using the forms feature of HTML, for example. In such a case, the planning process
must identify the capability to build these forms as a skill web implementers must have.
The web specification also can exclude specific items based on information policy decisions. The
specification might state that the forms feature of HTML is not to be used (because some Web
browsers do not support forms), for example, or that no graphics are to be used. The
specification therefore acts as a list of building blocks and tolerance limits that can satisfy the
objective statement for the web.
1.2.2.2.1.6 Web Presentation
Although the audience definition, purpose and objective statements, and domain information are
most closely associated with the planning process of developing a web, the development of a
18
web's presentation also must be planned. The web's presentation is the whole look and feel of the
web, along with its actual implementation. Web designers planning for the web's presentation
rely heavily on the web-specification statement as a basis for making choices. Planning for web
presentation involves verifying that resources that comprise the Web are and will be available to
support the files on the server. Therefore, the person planning for the web's presentation must
work closely with the web server administrator (sometimes called the Web master), whose duties
include allocating space or setting any special file or directory permissions so that the web
presentation can be implemented.
Web planners also anticipate needs for the web's presentation by doing the following:
 Generating a set of possibilities for web presentation based on current or possible
specifications. These possibilities might include sample HTML pages or, if the
specifications allow, graphical imagemaps or forms to help the user interact with the
information.
 Planning the work schedule necessary to implement the web according to specifications,
including how much time it will take to implement and test web pages, verify links, and
implement changes based on new specifications.
 Creating and maintaining a pool of generic web components (for example, common web
page layouts or forms to serve as templates for web implementation).
 Creating a mock-up of the web based on an initial specification. This mock-up could be
created quickly from generic web components and offer a rapid prototype to be used in
the other web-development processes.
Although the implementers working on the web's presentation are the ones to actually write
HTML files, the implementers aren't the "authors" of the web itself. As demonstrated in this
chapter and the rest of the chapters in this part, many processes are involved in developing a
web. Whether one individual is involved or a whole team, all developers take part in creating an
effective web.
1.2.3 Wrap-up
Web development planning depends on your understanding of the characteristics and qualities of
the Web as a medium for communication and your ability to make choices among the many
possibilities for expressing information on the Web.
There are limits to what you can and cannot control in web planning and development. You can't
control user behavior, browser type, or links in and out of your web. You can plan for people;
administrative issues; and a model for increasing your information's quality, policy, and web
elements.

19
Chapter 2: Web Analysis
Analysis is the process of gathering and comparing information about the web and its operation
and use in order to improve the web's overall quality and to identify problem areas.
A web analyst checks to make sure the web works:
 Rhetorically: Is the web accomplishing its stated purpose and meeting its objectives for
its intended audience, including satisfaction of identified revenue models?
 Technically: Is the web's presentation functionally operational and consistent with
its specifications and design as well current HTML practices and syntax?
 Semantically: Is the web's domain information content correct, relevant, and complete?
Is the web's user interface usable and effective?
Analysis Checklist
Poin
Evaluate if the web...
t
A Attempts to reach an audience that has and will use Web access
B Contributes new information (accomplishes goals that haven't already been done)
C Is self-consistent (its purpose matches its objectives and specifications)
D Is correct (the domain information it presents is accurate, up-to-date, and complete)
E Is accessed in a balanced manner, both in terms of its own files and in terms of outside
links into it
F Is accomplishing objectives that meet the needs of the users
An analyst weighs alternatives and gathers information to help with the other processes of web
development, including planning, design, implementation, promotion, innovation.
2.1 Key Analysis Practices
 Observe representative audience members using your web (usability analysis).
 Evaluate the consistency and verify correctness of the information content of your web.
 Check the technical implementation of the web with validation tools.
 Ask yourself these questions about your web to see if you might be making some of the
more common mistakes.
2.1.1 Key Analysis Resources
 http://www.useit.com/
Designing Web Usability: This is Jakob Nielsen's site on Web usability and provides
excellent coverage of Web page layout and design techniques. Dr. Nielsen provides
links to his numerous papers and essays concerning usability, including his expertise in
heuristic evaluation and usability metrics.

20
  http://usableweb.com/
Usable Web: This site provides a large collection of links about human factors, interface
design, and usability issues specific to World Wide Web development. The resources
are described, and mutiple organizational schemes allow for searchng by date, site,
topic, or popularity. Topics covered include news, usability engineering, design,
calendar of events, issues, sources, and technology.
 The HTML Toolbox
This provides references to a variety of tools to use in implementing a Web site.
2.2 Discussion
If you have just planned a web, a big question that should be in your mind is, "Will the web
accomplish its purpose?" Even when a web already is deployed and operating, you frequently
should investigate whether the web is accomplishing its planned objectives. The web analysis
techniques presented in this article are intended to help you check web elements in a planned or
operating web. This analysis process covers the technical validation of a web's HTML
implementation as well as analysis of the web's planned or existing content and design. This
process also touches on usability and style issues. Because of the dynamic information
environment in which a web operates, these ongoing efforts to evaluate web quality and usability
may be the key to increasing the effectiveness of an organization's Web communication.
The figure shows the key information needs of a web analyst for all the web's six elements:
purpose and objective statements, audience and domain information, and specification and
presentation. The overall goals of a web analyst are
1. Check to make sure that the web works:
o Rhetorically: Is the web accomplishing its stated purpose for its intended
audience?
o Technically: Is the web functionally operational, and is its implementation
consistent with current HTML specifications?
o Semantically: Is the web's information content correct, relevant, and complete?
2. Make recommendations to the other web-development processes:
o Advise on new web planning, including administrative and information policy.
o Give input to web designers on user problems or redesign ideas.
o Recommend maintenance to web implementers.
o Give reports to web promoters about user experience with the web.
o Collaborate with web innovators by providing insight for improving the web's
content or operation.
The web analyst thus acts as a reviewer, evaluator, and auditor for the web-development process.
When practical, therefore, the web analyst should be as independent as possible from the duties
of web implementation, design, and planning.
2.2.1 Web Analysis Principles

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Based on the characteristics and qualities of the Web, web analysis should pay close attention to
evaluating how the web is consistent with the following principles:
 Strive for continuous, global service. Because a characteristic of an operating public web
is that it is available worldwide, 24 hours a day, an analysis of its content and operation
must take into account a multinational, multicultural audience and its needs for
continuous access.
 Verify links for meaning as well as technical operation. As networked hypermedia, a
web extends and augments its meaning through internal and external links. External
links tightly bind a web within larger contexts of communication, culture, and social
practice that extend beyond an organization's outlook. A rhetorical and semantic
analysis of links in a web therefore must look at how links contribute to a web's
meaning. Technical analysis of links must ensure their operation and availability to the
degree possible.
 Ensure porousness. A web that contains more than one page offers multiple entry points
for its users. An analysis of the usefulness of a web must examine how each of these
multiple pathways offers a user the right amount and level of information to use the web
well. A close analysis of a web's design should reveal multiple strategies for addressing
porousness.
 Work with dynamism. A web operates in an environment in continual flux in terms of
meaning and technologies. Not only are new webs introduced all the time that try to
accomplish the same purpose and/or reach the same audience of a given web, but
methods for implementing and experiencing webs continually are introduced and
upgraded. An analyst needs to keep abreast of the state of the Web's information and
technical environment in order to evaluate a web's effective operation.
 Stay competitive as well as cooperative. Because of the Web's dynamic nature, an
analyst as well as the web's innovator must work to know the competitive webs that vie
for their audience's attention. Opportunities also exist for competitor webs to combine,
using the features of linked hypertext, to better serve the audiences.
In summary, a web analyst is concerned with principles for the technical and rhetorical integrity
of a web. The goal is to create a web that works with the characteristics and qualities of
networked hypermedia to best accomplish the web's purpose for its audience.
2.2.2 Information Analysis
A web analyst can evaluate many of the web's technical and rhetorical aspects by analyzing the
web's elements (audience information, purpose and objective statements, domain information,
web specification, and web presentation) and performance (information about how users have
used or are expected to use the web). This information analysis process also involves gathering
information about other competitor webs that may be accomplishing a similar purpose or
reaching a similar audience. When performed with the other people involved in web
development processes, web information analysis serves as a check of the web's overall quality
and effectiveness. Web information analysis seeks to uncover the answers to the following
general questions:
 Is the web accomplishing its stated purpose and meeting its planned objectives?

22
  Is the web operating efficiently?
 Are the intended benefits/outcomes being produced?
Although a definitive answer to these questions might be impossible to obtain at all times, web
analysis can serve as a check on the other development processes. This section looks at
information analysis checkpoints that can be examined during a web's planning or after it is
implemented. This analysis process involves gathering information about a web's elements and
comparing it to feedback from users and to server statistics.
The figure at the right shows an overview of information useful in analysis. In the figure, the
web's elements are in rectangles, and supporting or derived information is in ovals. Key
checkpoints for analysis are shown in small circles, labeled A through F. At each checkpoint, the
web analyst compares information about the elements or information derived from the web
elements to see whether the web is working or
will work effectively.
The information about the web elements and
derived information varies in completeness
depending on how far the developers are into
actually implementing the web. A web analyst can
obtain information about the web elements from
the results of the planning, design,
implementation, or development process. If the
developers have just started the planning process,
web analysts can analyze the checkpoints for
which they have information. A web analyst can
obtain the derived information through examining
web statistics. Ideally, a web analyst will be able
to observe representatives from the intended
audience as they use the web. If web analysts
don't have a working web ready, these audience representatives may give feedback on a mock-up
of the web, its purpose statement, or a diagram of its preliminary design.
The key to the analysis process is that it is meant to check the overall integrity of the web.
Results from the analysis process are used in other processes to improve the web's performance.
If analysis of the web's domain information shows that it is often out of date, for example, the
planning process needs to be changed to decrease the time between updating the domain
information. The analysis process on the web's elements helps all processes of web weaving
work correctly and efficiently. The following sections go through each of the analysis
checkpoints shown in the diagram.
Does the Audience Exist on the Web for the Given Purpose? (Checkpoint A)
Before spending too much time in the planning process defining and describing a target
audience, web analysts first should check to see whether this audience can use the web at all.
Although the interests of all the people who use the WWW are increasingly growing diverse, a
routine check of the Web's demographics or contents might tell web analysts something about
the size of the audience they want to reach.

23
A number of research organizations study and present information on Internet demographics.
Their reports give a fascinating picture of the evolving nature of the online user.
Pew Internet & American Life Project
http://www.pewinternet.org
The Pew Internet & American Life Project researches the impact of the Internet on
people, communities, the workplace and civic life. The project's Web site offers a wealth
of free and very detailed reports that profile Internet use and trends.
Some Pew research has overturned stereotypes. For example, one project found that
Internet users are far from antisocial nerds. In fact, they found that Internet users have
more extensive social lives than non-users. Another project challenged the notion that
everyone will eventually be online. Research found that 57% of people who did not
already have Internet access did not plan to get access. In the spring of 2001, a Pew study
confirmed again that the gender gap in Internet access has narrowed: of the 104 million
American adults with Internet access, 50.6% are women.
Cyberatlas
http://www.cyberatlas.com
Cyberatlas is a directory that links to research involving online retailing trends, finance
and advertising news. The "Stats Toolbox" section allows you to easily select the kind of
statistics you need, such as demographic usage statistics, online populations, browser
statistics, top Web properties and more.
The links to the statistics in each case identify the research organization(s) behind the
numbers. Fascinating nuggets among these statistics abound. For example, an
Arbitron/Edison Media Research study in 2001 found that one-third of Americans with
Internet access at home would give up television if forced to choose between television
and the Internet.
A September 2000 Nielsen/NetRatings study found that the top three cities in terms of the
percentage of households accessing the Internet from home with a personal computer
were: San Francisco (66%), Seattle (64%) and San Diego (62%). Milwaukee came in
30th at 46%, right between 29th place Chicago (46%) and 31st place Minneapolis (45%).
eMarketer
http://www.emarketer.com
Using a magazine-style format, eMarketer keeps you up to date on the latest trends in
online marketing and demographics with news, feature stories and reference information.
While much of the content is free to browse, detailed and specific reports cost money.
For example, a 335-page March 2001 eCommerce report costs $795. This is not an
atypical price for a detailed and current online demographic study in key business areas.
The free content in the eMarketer news sections, however, provides a great service for
tracking the shape of online business and marketing. For example, in the news section, a
link to an American Demographics (http://www.demographics.com) article characterizes
the online population as shifting away from a majority of "geeky white guys" to a far
more diverse population, with the highest growth being among the "Walmart crowd"-
Americans over 55 years old with working-class incomes and middlebrow tastes.

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Internet Geography Project
http://www.zooknic.com
If you are fascinated with the geographical dispersion of the Internet audience, this site is
for you. Tackling the complex task of measuring Internet users and domains by
geographic region, this site is a project of Matthew Zook of the University of California,
Berkeley Department of City and Regional Planning. Included in the analysis are some
fascinating maps showing the dispersion of the 377 million Internet users worldwide as
of September 2000.
Zook also tracks the number of Internet domains by state. A January 2001 count of
Internet domain names ending in "dot com" showed California and New York on top
with 1,843,900 and 721,725 domain names respectively. Wisconsin came in at number 25
with 105,600 domain names. In terms of the growth of total domain names registered
from July 1998 to January 2001, Wisconsin came in 49th, ahead only of Kansas.
Nua Internet Surveys
http://www.nua.ie/surveys
Based in Ireland, Nua is a Web publishing software company that has gained widespread
attention for its Internet Surveys Web site. Its surveys and news links give a
comprehensive overview of many measures of Internet audience size and activity. Nua's
site also organizes survey results by industry sector-ranging from advertising and the auto
industry to telecommunications and travel. Weekly editorials, bi-monthly reports and
year in review sections round out the site.
Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society
http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/
While not focused entirely on the Internet, this Stanford research group has conducted
some notable studies about the social impact of Internet use. A major study of the social
consequences of the Internet looked at a representative sample of 4,113 adults in 2,689
American households. A key finding of this study, according to Institute director
Professor Norman Nie, was that "the more hours people use the Internet, the less time
they spend in contact with real human beings."
The Stanford study also found that 25% of respondents work at home on the Internet
without a corresponding reduction their office work. Stanford also found shifts in media
use with 60% of regular Internet users who have reduced their television viewing time to
instead spend time online.
eLab
http://elab.vanderbilt.edu
If you are doing any marketing online, this site is a must-visit. Put together by professors
at Vanderbilt University, this site provides a deep view of research and theory about
analyzing how people react to online marketing. This site has become well-known for its
work in de-bunking poor research (e.g., "cyberporn" from Carnegie Mellon, and Neilsen's
ratings of Internet usage). Strength: detailed research and discussion; insightful analysis
and de-bunking. Weakness: discussion and materials can tend toward academic-speak.

25
Without demographic statistics, the other way to see whether the audience is on the Web (or the
Net) is to check for subject-oriented information resources and forums that are of interest to the
audience. If the target audience consists of botanists, for example, what on-line information
already exists that shows botanists as active on the Web and the Net? A web analyst can find out
by:
 Searching subject-oriented trees for resource collections related to botany
 Locating institutions-academic, commercial, or research-that are involved with botany
 Checking Usenet newsgroups and FAQ archives to see what botanists are active on the
Net
 Checking to see whether there is an on-line mailing list devoted to botany
 Checking to see whether professional societies or publications in the field of botany offer
an on-line forum or information service
Web analysts can interpret the results of the check of demographic statistics or Net resources
related to the subject in two ways. First, if they find nothing, it might mean that the audience has
made no forays into the Net-no newsgroups, no mailing lists, and no on-line collections of
resources at major institutions. Based on this, web analysts could decide that the web would fill a
great need for this audience. In contrast, they might conclude that this particular audience is not
interested in on-line communication at all.
To decide which of these two alternatives is more accurate, web analysts should consult
representative audience members. Analysts can check with people in the field and ask them,
"What if you had an on-line system for information and communication?" Because on-line
electronic mail discussion lists have been around longer than many network communications
forums, an on-line mailing list that the target audience uses can be a good source of information
about that audience's interests. Another aspect of this analysis of audience information is to make
sure that the purpose for the web is one that meets the audience's patterns of communication, or
at least the patterns in which the audience is willing to engage.
Web analysts might find that certain audiences are not willing to have a publicly available forum
for discussion and information because of the nature of their subject matter, for example.
Computer security systems administrators might not want to make detailed knowledge of their
security techniques or discussions publicly available on a web server.
Certainly, private businesses or people involved in proprietary information might not want to
support a web server to share everything they know. These same people might be interested in
sharing information for other purposes, however. Computer security administrators might want
to support a site that gives users advice about how to increase data security on computer systems.
Thus, the web's purpose statement must match the audience's (or information provider's)
preferred restrictions on the information. Current technology can support password protection or
restricted access to Web information so that specific needs for access can be met.
Through a check of the audience, purpose, and communication patterns for that audience, web
analysts quickly can detect logical problems that might make a web's success impossible. If the
web's purpose is to teach new users about the Web, for example, web analysts might have a
problem if the audience definition includes only new users. How can new users access the web in
the first place? In this case, the audience should be redefined to include web trainers as well as

26
the new users they are helping. This more accurate audience statement reflects the dual purpose
of such a training web: getting the attention, approval, understanding, and cooperation of trainers
as well as meeting the needs of the new users. If web analysts have an accurate audience
statement, all the other processes in web weaving, such as design and development, can work
more efficiently because they take the right audience into account.
Is the Purpose Already Accomplished Elsewhere on the Web? (Checkpoint B)
Just as web analysts don't want to reach an audience that doesn't exist or target an audience for a
purpose they don't want to achieve, they also don't want to duplicate what is being done
successfully by another web. Checkpoint B is the "web literature search" part of the analysis: "Is
some other web doing the same thing as what the web analyst wants to do? What webs out there
are doing close to the same thing?" These questions should be asked at the start of web
development as well as continuously during the web's use. New webs and information are
developed all the time, and someone else might develop a web to accomplish the same purpose
for the same audience.
To find out whether someone has built a web for a specific audience and purpose, use the subject
and keyword-oriented searching methods. Web analysts also might try surfing for a web like this
or for information related to the audience and purpose. During this process, save these links; if
they are relevant to the audience and purpose, they can become part of the domain information
on which the web's developers and users can draw.
The other benefit of this web literature search is that web analysts can find webs that might be
accomplishing the same purpose for a different audience. These webs might give web analysts
ideas about the kinds of information they can provide for the audience. Also, they might find
webs that reach the same audience but for a different purpose. These webs can give useful
background or related information that web analysts can include as links in the web. If they find
a web that reaches the same audience for the same purpose, they can consider collaborating with
the developers to further improve the information.
Do the Purpose, Objective, and Specification Work Together? (Checkpoint C)
One of the most important elements for the integrity of the web is the purpose, objective, and
specification triad. These three elements spell out why the web exists and what it offers. The
purpose statement serves as the major piece of information the potential audience will read to
determine whether they should use the web. If the purpose statement is inaccurate, the audience
might not use the web when they could have benefited from it, or they might try to use the web
for a goal they won't be able to accomplish.
The check of the purpose-objective-specification triad is to make sure that something wasn't lost
in the translation from the purpose (an overall statement of why the web exists) to the objective
statement (a more specific statement of what the web will do) to the web specification (a detailed
enumeration of the information on the web and constraints on its presentation).
During the development of the specifications, the analyst might find that a piece of information
was added that has no relation to the stated purpose. Or some aspects of the stated purpose might
not be reflected in the specification at all.
One way to do this check is to make a diagram that traces the links from the purpose statement to
the objective statement to the specifications-both top-down and bottom-up. Each objective gives
rise to specifications for the web. From the bottom up, every specification should be traced to an
27
objective, and each objective should be traced to some aspect of the purpose. Every URL and
component of the specification should be traced back to an objective, and each objective should
be traced back to the purpose statement. If there is a mismatch, more planning must be done to
restate the purpose, objectives, or specification so that they all match.
Is the Domain Information Accurate? (Checkpoint D)
The quality of the domain information affects the users' perceptions of the web's overall quality.
Inaccurate or incomplete information hinders web developers and leads to dissatisfaction by the
web's users. The domain information must be checked to make sure that it is accurate, updated,
and complete. Periodic checks can be made according to the nature of the domain.
There are two kinds of domain information: the information that the web developers need to
understand enough to plan, analyze, design, implement, and develop the web; and the domain
information that the web provides to its users. Remember also that domain information of the
first type does not need to be located on the Net at all; it might include textbooks or courses the
web developers use as a means of getting up to speed in the area of knowledge the web covers.
This kind of domain information also can serve as reference information throughout the course
of web weaving.
Verifying the accuracy, currency, and completeness of the domain information is a difficult task
because the web analyst must have adequate knowledge of the subject matter to make a
judgment about the veracity of all domain information. Although the verification of off-Net
resources, such as books and courses, can be evaluated according to the same judgment the
analyst uses for similar off-line materials, the Net information included in the first type of
domain information and all the second type of domain information can be checked through a
process of Net access and retrieval.
The process for checking Net-accessible domain information follows. For domain information
provided to developers but not users of the web (the first type of domain information, which is
Net-accessible), check the web page provided to developers in the same manner as described in
the following paragraphs.
Verify the freshness of links. If the web is operational, use the links provided in the web itself to
ensure that the links are not stale and that the resource has not moved. (The section
"Implementation Analysis," discusses checking links in more detail.)
Check the accuracy of the information. If the web purports to respond with the correct solution to
a problem given a set of inputs (for example, a physics problem answer through a forms
interface), have a set of conditions that lead to a known result. Test the web to verify that it
yields the same answer, and vary the test cases the web analyst uses.
Use reliable and authoritative sources. Use these sources, when available, to verify the new
information added in the web since the last analysis. If necessary, contact the developer of that
information and discuss his or her opinions of the information's accuracy.
In the case of databases, make sure that they are as current as they possibly can be. This is
crucial, for example, if the web serves out time-dependent data, such as earthquake reports. If the
web analyst is not getting a direct feed from an information provider who supplies the most
current information, check to make sure that the most current reports or data have been
downloaded to the database that the web analyst uses in the web.

28
Compare all specifications to items in the database. Are there any specifications calling for
information that currently is missing?
Check locations on the Net. Use the methods of navigation described in Part III, "Web
Implementation and Tools," to locate more current or reliable domain information.
Check locations on the Net to find other domain information that might be helpful as background
to developers. Also look for information that could be part of the objective statement of the web.
Is the information at the right level of detail? Are the web weavers getting the right level of
information for their work? Are the web's users given the right amount of information, or is there
an information overkill or an oversimplicity in what is offered?
Is any of the information not appropriate for the users or the Web community at large? Is any of
the information unethical, illegal, obscene, or otherwise inappropriate? Check links to outside
information to verify that users will not encounter inappropriate material. Clearly, for outside
sources of information, web analysts will be limited in the ability to control inappropriate
information. Include this check in the analysis process to make decisions about what outside
links the web analyst wants to use.
Is the Web Presentation Yielding Results Consistent with the Web's Design and Purpose?
(Checkpoint E)
The goal of this checkpoint is to determine whether the web, based on server statistics or
feedback from users, is being accessed consistently with how the web analyst wants it to be used.
One part of checking this consistency is to find out whether the web server's access statistics
show any unusual patterns. A web server administrator should be able to provide the web analyst
with a listing of the web's files and how many times they have been accessed over a given period
of time. Although this file-access count is a simple measure of web usage, using it might reveal
some interesting access patterns. A check of the web's files, for example, might show the
following access pattern over the past 30 days:
File Number of Accesses
top.html 10
about.html 9
overview.html 5
comic.html 5800
resources.html 200
people.html 20
newsletter.html 8
This shows a fairly uneven distribution of accesses in which a single file is accessed many times
(the 5800 shown for comic.html). Compared to the small number of accesses to a "front door"
(top.html) of the web, this pattern shows a problem unless this imbalance was intended. Also, the
statistics show that the newsletter isn't being read very much, whereas the resources are being
accessed quite a bit. In order to interpret the web's access statistics, the analyst should ask the
following questions:
Does the overall pattern of access reflect the purpose of the web?
Does the pattern of access indicate a balanced presentation, or are some pages getting
disproportionate access? Does this indicate design problems?

29
If the web's "front door" page isn't getting very many accesses, this could indicate problems with
the publicity about the web.
Another aspect of verifying the web's consistency of design and purpose is to see that it is listed
and used in appropriate subject indexes related to the subject of the web. Does the web analyst
find links to the web on home pages of people working in the field? Is the general reputation of
the web good? A web analyst can find answers to these questions by doing web spider searches
to find what pages on the web reference the pages. Check major subject trees to see whether the
web is represented in the appropriate categories. Much of this analysis of the web's reputation is
useful in the development and process.
Do the Audience Needs, Objectives, and Results of Web Use Correspond to Each Other?
(Checkpoint F)
It is very important that web analysts determine whether the audience's needs are being met by
the web. To do this, they must compare the audience information (the audience's needs and
interests) with the objective statement and the intended and actual benefits and results from the
web. Information about the actual benefits and results of the web's use is the most difficult to
come by. Web analysts can use several methods, however, to get a view of the effects of the
web:
Ask users. Design and distribute a survey. This could be done using the forms feature of HTML
if web analysts are willing to use features not found on all web browsers. They could distribute
the survey by e-mail to a random sample of users (if such a sample can be constructed from a
listing of registered users or derived from web-access logs). Include in this survey questions
about user satisfaction. Are the users satisfied that the web meets their needs? What else would
the users like to see on the web? How much do users feel they need each of the features the web
offers?
Survey the field. Is the web used as a standard reference resource in the field of study? This is
similar to the analysis performed at checkpoint E, but instead of just focusing on the occurrence
of links in indexes and other web pages, web analysts need to analyze the web's reputation in the
field of study or business as a whole. Do practitioners generally recommend the web as a good
source of information?
Are the web analysts accomplishing the purpose? Are outcomes occurring that the web analysts
specifically stated in the purpose? If one phrase of the purpose is to "foster research in the field,"
for example, is there any evidence to support this? Is there research published that was sparked
by the interactions the web fostered? If the web analysts have a commercial web, how many
sales can they say the web generated? Determine some measure of the purpose's success and
apply it during the analysis process.
Another way to look at checkpoint F is to ask the broader question, "Is the web doing some
good?" Even though the web might be under development and its objectives still have not truly
been met, is there at least some redeeming value of the web? What benefits is it offering to the
specific audience or even to the general public? A commercial site that also provides some
valuable domain information, for example, is performing a public service by providing education
about that topic.
Another approach is to conduct research using theory and methods from the fields, such
as Computer-Mediated Communication, Computer-Supported Cooperative Work, Human-

30
Computer Interaction, or other disciplines that can shed light on the dynamics of networked
communication. These fields might yield theories the web analysts can use to form testable
hypotheses about how the web is working to meet users' needs, to foster communication, or to
effectively convey information.
The key to checkpoint F is to make sure that the other checkpoints-A through E-are working
together to produce the desired results. A web analyst will notice that checkpoints A through E
each touch on groups of the web's elements. Only checkpoint F spans the big-picture questions:
Are the people who use the web (audience information) getting what they need (purpose,
objective, benefits/results) from it?
Design and Performance Analysis
Not only should the information in a web be analyzed for its rhetorical and technical integrity,
but the overall design of a web also should be evaluated for how well it works as a user interface
and for its intended purpose and audience.
2.2.3 Performance
One of the most important impressions a web gives to users is how much it costs them to retrieve
the information in it. One aspect of user cost related to the technical composition of a web is
retrieval time. Many inline images and extremely large pages can cause long retrieval times.
Performance for users varies widely, based on the browsers they use, the type of Internet
connections they have, and the amount of traffic on the network and the Web server.
Analysis can be done, however, in general terms, to get some ideas of retrieval times. Here is a
possible (not necessarily definitive) checklist for web-performance analysis:
 Retrieval time. The analyst can retrieve the pages of the web using a browser and time
how long it takes to download them. If the analyst retrieves the web pages from a local
server (that is, a server on the same local network as the analyst's browser), these
retrieval times, of course, will be less than what a typical user would encounter.
Therefore, it might help if an analyst has an account or a browser available that is
typical of most users-perhaps an outside account on a commercial service or at a remote
site. This remote browser account then can be used to time the retrieval of the web
pages. The analyst can report the retrieval times to the web designers. In many cases, it
might be difficult to determine exactly what is "too long" for retrieval times. An analyst
can look for pages that are very long and pages that contain a great deal of inline
images, however, and evaluate whether the download costs of these pages are
appropriate for the web's audience and purpose.
 Readability. This is a simple test to see whether the user can read the text on the pages of
the web. With the advent of background images, developers often create textured and
colored backgrounds that make reading unpleasant and sometimes nearly impossible.
 Rendering. The analyst should test the web in various browsers just to make sure that the
information is available to users. This rendering check should be done to the level
specified during the planning stages. If essential information is available in text, the
analyst can use text-only browsers to make sure that information (including information
in image ALT fields) is set to guide users without graphics.

31
  Aesthetics. Aesthetics, which are a subjective impression of the pleasing quality of a
web, are difficult to test. Some guidelines, however, can help an analyst evaluate the
aesthetics of a web:
Does the web exhibit a coherent, balanced design that helps the user focus on its
content? One design problem associated with a lack of aesthetic focus is the clown pants
design method: The web consists of pages containing patches of information
haphazardly organized. A related (poor) design technique is the K00L page design
method; The web designer apparently attempts to use every HTML extension possible-
including blinking text, centered text, multiple font sizes, and blaring, gaudy colors. An
analyst should try to identify page designs that fall outside the purpose of the web or the
audience's needs.
Do the web's pages exhibit repeated patterns and cues for consistency, with variation in
these patterns for expressiveness? Repetition with expressive variation is a design
principle used in many areas, such as graphic design, architecture, painting, textile
design, and poetry. Which graphic elements are repeated on many pages for
consistency? What content is varied to convey informational or expressive content?
How is color used? Color can be used effectively to code information or to focus user
attention. Randomly used color can confuse the user, and some users have impaired
perception of color. Complementary colors used on top of each other often give a
jarring, shimmering effect.
2.2.4 Usability
Analysts can test a web for usability in a variety of ways. The quick ways of usability testing can
give inexpensive, rough ideas of how well the web is working. More elaborate methods of
usability testing can involve controlled experiments that might be prohibitively expensive. Here's
a checklist to analyze the usability of a web, starting with the quick, simple, and inexpensive
methods:
Perform a simple web walkthrough. With the web's purpose and audience definition in mind,
analysts can perform a simple check of the pages, looking to see whether the major objectives
are met.
Check sample user tasks. Based on the purpose statement and audience information for the web,
analysts should be able to devise a set of tasks that the user is expected to accomplish. They then
can use the web to accomplish these tasks, noting any problems along the way.
Test tasks on representative users. Based on the list defined in the preceding check, analysts can
find several representative users and observe them as they complete the tasks. They might ask
the users to say aloud what they are thinking when trying accomplish the tasks. They might
record this narrative, gather recordings from several audience members, and then analyze the
transcripts. This might help not only in web analysis, but also in redesign ideas.
Perform field testing with actual users. This method attempts to get a true sense of how the web
actually is used. Analysts need to be able to select random users of the web and observe them in
the settings in which they use the web. The users of a web might not be located in a single
geographic area, so, obviously, this type of testing can be very difficult and expensive.
Alternatively, extensive interviews of actual users or focus groups of users might give better
insight into how the web is being used.
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2.2.5 Semantics
Semantics refers to the meaning conveyed by the pages of the web. Through many of the
information-analysis steps outlined previously, the analyst would have addressed many aspects
of how the web conveys meaning. But a separate check of the web, focusing only on semantics,
might reveal problems not detected in other ways:
 Check for false navigational cues. Some designers put arrows on pages, indicating "go
back to home" or "go back" to some other location on a web. Due to the web's porous
quality, these arrows might make no sense for users encountering them. In general, Back
or Forward arrows in hypertext don't make much sense. Linear relationships among
pages is rare. Instead of arrows and the word back, cues on pages should indicate the
destinations to which they refer.
 Check for context cues. Some designers create pages with no context cues at all. These
pages are simple "slabs" of text, perhaps without even any links to cue the users as to
how the page's information fits into a large system of information or knowledge.
 Check graphical/symbolic meanings. If the web uses graphics or icons, an analyst should
consider whether the symbols or icons used are standard or can be misinterpreted by
members of other cultures or even by the users.
2.2.6 Implementation Analysis
Besides analyzing a web's information and design, web analysts also should take a look at a
web's implementation. The HTML that comprises a web should be correct, and, to the extent
possible, the links that lead out of a web should not be stale or broken. Validating that a web
conforms to current HTML specifications is key to making sure that a web is usable by many
different browsers.
This analysis of implementation is not content analysis. These tools can help improve the quality
of the HTML code, but not the meaning of what that code conveys. Analysts should be careful
not to focus entirely on the technical validation of a web. This is analogous to focusing entirely
on spelling and grammar as the single most important factor in quality writing. As a result of
problems in internal or external links, web analysts should inform the web implementer.
Directory, File, and URL-Naming Checks
Because you will use the URL of your web in a variety of contexts, you should check to see
whether the directory structure and naming conventions used are simple, consistent, and
extendible.
First, if you are analyzing a planned web, what will its URL be? In the early days of the Web,
many companies' webs were "hosted" on the sites of Web presence providers. This led to
situations in which URLs for a company (for example, evergreen) included a reference to their
Web presence provider (for example, globalweb.com), leading to a URL such as
http://www.globalweb.com/evergreen/. This URL doesn't clearly convey the ownership or brand
of the web. Instead, if you are preparing a web for a company or major brand, consider getting a
domain name.
Next, take a look at the planned structure of the directories on the web. Check to see whether the
resulting path names make sense, are as simple as possible, and yet allow for growth in the

33
directory tree. One common error is to place all files at a site at the highest level, leaving no
room for organizing the files into a structure for easier maintainability and usability.
At the highest level, the URL identifying your server only, such as http://www.example.com/,
would be the identifier you most commonly will use in advertising and promotion, particularly in
non-Web media. This page therefore should load quickly and contain information to guide users
efficiently to the information content of the site.
For other files at your web site, the directory structure and the file and directory names should
identify the resource named by the URL. When I created a directory structure for my on-line
periodical, CMC Magazine at http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/, I collected files about
editorial policies into a single directory called editorial. This led to URLs to these files, such as
the following:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/editorial/style.html
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/editorial/plan.html
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/editorial/identity.html
These URLs are quite specialized, so I wouldn't expect to list them in a print advertisement.
Therefore, their length is not as important as the meaning they convey. The benefit of the
directory structure is that the URL can be read as a phrase. The URL
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/editorial/plan.html, for example, is for the CMC Magazine
editorial plan.
Avoid redundancy in directory or file naming. For example, the URL to the home page of the
following site doesn't need to be so complicated:
http://www.example.com/html/home/examplehome.html
There's often little reason to create a directory for files of a special format (html), to use names
like home, or to repeat the site name in a URL. A cleaner solution is
http://www.example.com/index.html as the home page of the site. The file index.html is treated
as the default page by most Web server software, so you even can leave off the index.html when
providing publicity about your site.
Avoid mixed case in your directory names. A convention that provides directory names in initial
uppercase and file names in all lowercase letters is a good one, but more often than not, it can
lead to confusion. For example,
http://www.example.com/Projects/STAR/Docs/index.html
conveys a good structure for the documents of the STAR project, but its mix of upper- and
lowercase might make it cumbersome to reference elsewhere. The mix of upper- and lowercase
does convey meaning, but it is a redundant meaning when encoded into a URL; clearly, Projects
is a directory because it has a subdirectory and index.html is a file because it is in the last
position of the URL. The STAR project is clearly an acronym. The URL
http://www.example.com/projects/star/docs/index.html
enables the user to concentrate on the logical organization of the files on the server rather than
the syntax of this organization.
Look for ways to make the directory structure of your site meaningful and stable, but as simple
and extendible as possible.

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HTML Validation (Internal Links)
The first step in implementation is to check to make sure that the HTML implementing the web
is correct. See The HTML Toolbox.
Link Validation (Internal and External Links)
Another aspect of checking a web's links is to examine the links out of a document. This requires
network information retrieval to verify that these external links are not stale or broken. Several
services are available in this area.
Questions Every Web Analyst Should Ask About a Web
The sections in this article so far in this have approached web analysis from a very formal set of
checklist items intended to exhaustively analyze the integrity of any web. In looking at many
web sites, I've also come up with an informal list for a web critique. These questions approach
some of the most common problems I often see. In special cases, there might be a very good
reason why a web designer or implementer has used a technique or effect mentioned here, so all
these questions should be taken in the spirit that they might have a reasonable affirmative
answer--but that answer had better be good.
2.2.7 Wrap-Up
A web analyst examines a web's information, design, and implementation to determine its overall
communication effectiveness. This process of analysis involves gathering information about the
web's elements and performance and evaluating this information to see whether the web's
purpose for its intended audience is being met. This analysis process involves the following:
 Information analysis to evaluate whether the web meets these checkpoints:
o Checkpoint A Attempts to reach an audience that has and will use Web access
o Checkpoint B Contributes new information (accomplishes goals that haven't
already been met)
o Checkpoint C Is self-consistent (its purpose matches its objectives and
specifications)
o Checkpoint D Is correct (the domain information that it presents is accurate, up
to date, and complete)
o Checkpoint E Is accessed in a balanced manner, both in terms of its own files
and in terms of outside links into it
o Checkpoint F Is accomplishing objectives that meet the needs of the users
 Design analysis to evaluate a web's performance, aesthetics, and usability
 Implementation analysis to verify the internal and external links for integrity and
availability

35
Chapter 3: Web design

Design is this process by which a web designer, working within the web's specification, makes
decisions about how web components will accomplish the web's objectives.
A web designer takes into account the web's purpose and audience. A good designer knows how
to achieve the effects called for in the most flexible, efficient, and elegant way. A web designer
should have a thorough grounding in implementationprocesses and possibilities as well as
knowledge about how particular web structures affect an audience.
3.1 Key Design Practices
 Create a consistent look and feel for the web.
 Separate information into manageable page-sized chunks.
 Provide cues for the reader about the web's information structure and contents, context,
and navigation.
 Use links to connect pages along the routes of use and user thinking.
3.1.1 Key Design Resources
 ADAM, the Art, Design, Architecture, and Media Information Gateway.
 Task-Centered User Interface Design: a shareware book by Clayton Lewis & John
Rieman.
3.2 Discussion
If you are designing a web, your overall goal is to create a look and feel for your web that has the
"right stuff:" information at the right level of detail and an arrangement of pages that efficiently
guides users to needed information. Although a user's positive experience of a web depends on
many subjective factors, you can use certain techniques to increase the probability of user
satisfaction with a web. Good web design is not easy, though; all webs must balance user needs
with trade-offs in performance, aesthetics, and usability. And users differ in their abilities, tastes,
and even the Web browser and Internet connection they use, so it is impossible to design a web
that perfectly meets all needs for all users. Based on an understanding of the Web's
media characteristics and qualities, and using design techniques and an awareness of common
design problems, you can create a plan for a web to meet a specific audience's needs for a
particular purpose.
This article first reviews principles of web design
based on media characteristics and qualities, and
on the experience of a web user. This review
highlights how this design process is essentially
user centered-it draws on audience information
and the designer's understanding of how people
navigate in webs. After the review of design
principles, some basic design methodologies are
described: top down, bottom up, and
incremental/in-time. These terms should be

36
familiar to people who develop software, because they take their inspiration from software
engineering. Web design does not necessarily follow one methodology throughout, particularly
because the design process, like all the other processes of web development, can continue even
after the web is deployed and used. Instead, the designer should be aware of the different design
methodologies and be prepared to flexibly use any one of them at various times during the
process of web design.
3.2.1 An Overview of Web Design
A web's design is essentially its look and feel. A good design should take into account all the
web elements-audience information, purpose and objective statements, domain information, and
web specifications-and combine them to produce a plan for implementing the web. Web
implementers then use this design and the web specifications to create a working web.
Web designers make many choices about how to best achieve the effects called for by the web-
planning process, the purpose and objective statements, and audience information. Web
designers also draw on a repertoire of techniques for packaging, linking, and cueing information
using one or more design methodologies. Throughout this process, they should be sensitive to
users' experiences of the web's information space, texture, and cues. Very practical issues are
involved in design, such as considerations for inline images and graphics, how much to put on a
single page, and which text or images should be made a link as opposed to which should not.
Over time, web designers gain a sense of judgment and experience on which they draw,
ultimately making web designing an art in itself.
The design process, however, is just one process in the interlocking web-development processes.
A successful web requires that all processes and all elements work together. Thus, this article
shows how designing a web draws on the elements from the other web development processes.
The web design process takes information from all elements of web development and combines
them to produce a look-and-feel design that then is used by the implementation process to create
a working web. By separating the design from the implementation process, information about the
web's structure and operation can be cast in a hypertext, language-independent form. Whereas
the design process is influenced by knowledge of what is possible in the target design language,
its product can be implemented in any language that can capture the features used in the design.
In this way, this design process can be used with successors or alternatives to the widely used
HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
An Interesting Hypertext Design Article

Vannevar Bush's article, "As We May Think," which appeared in the July 1945 issue of The
Atlantic Monthly, has inspired generations of hypertext designers and implementers. You can
read a hypterext version online at the Atlantic Monthly.
3.2.2 Principles of Web Design
Aside from having a set of design methodologies to flexibly draw upon, the designer also should
have a set of techniques for packaging, linking, and cueing information. The nature of
hypermedia demands a strong attention to the user's experience of information space, texture,
and cues. The best way to manipulate the user's experience is by judiciously packaging the

37
information in the right amounts on pages and in sections of pages, linking these pages to
support the user's needs, and cueing the user to information and navigation aids.
Based on the discussion of media and user-experience principles, a web designer can keep these
general principles in mind when creating a design:
 Build associative meaning. Take advantage of the power of hypertext to link related
information. Designs can contain links to further context information as well as chunk
information.
 Maintain competitiveness. Because the Web is so competitive, web designers must make
sure that their designs include the lowest possible costs to their users. User costs include
download time, information-retrieval time, and the effort required to use and understand
information.
 Efficiently use resources. When designing and implementing a web, select features that
meet the users' needs with the least amount of space, access time, graphics, and long-
term maintenance requirements. Aim for web features that are efficient to operate,
elegant to use, and easy to maintain.
 Focus on user needs. A web should not be built for the personal taste of the designers,
the convenience of the implementers, or the whims of the planners. Instead, the web
serves the audience for which it is designed. Meeting the needs of the users is the first
priority of the web. The web designer focuses on user needs by using the purpose
statement and audience information to make decisions about page organization and
layout. Working with the web analyst, the web designer can evaluate how effectively
the design meets the audience's needs for the web's purpose.
 Recognize porousness. Recognize that a user may enter a web from any other point on
the Web. After entering a web, a user might not be able to interpret cues that depend on
a web's linking structure; for example, Up, Down, or Next labels would mean very little.
 Create a consistent, pleasing, and efficient look and feel. The design of the web should
aim to give users an impression on all its pages of a common, coherent organization and
consistent visual cues. Each page of the web should cue users to the web's identity and
page purpose. The web's overall appearance should help users accomplish their
objectives through interfaces that strike a balance between simplicity and completeness
and aim for an aesthetically pleasing appearance. In fact, a consistent page design is one
of the best design principles to alleviate the fractured experience of users due to
porousness.
 Support interactivity. At the minimum level, users should have a way to contact the web
developers for questions or problems with a web. Based on the purpose of the web,
there might be greater levels of interactivity, ranging from forms interfaces to
computation and gateway programs. A web designer should meet these user needs by
providing cues (such as an e-mail contact address) about interactive features (for
example, identifying the security of forms transactions).
 Support user navigation. The discussion of user browser experience highlights how users
might employ a hotlist, session history, built-in directories, annotations, file
management, and visual aids when navigating a web. Although some of these
navigation aids relate to browser functions, a web designer can support these in a web
38
 by supplying navigation and information links. These links cue users about how to use
the information on a page (information cues) and how to get further or contextual
information (navigation cues).
3.2.3 Web Design Methodologies
Although there is no one way to develop a web, a web designer can choose from a variety of
approaches. No one way necessarily works best all the time; therefore, a web designer even
might consider varying approaches while developing the same web.
3.2.3.1 Top Down
If web designers have a good idea about what a whole web should contain in advance, a top-
down method of design might be best. In the top-down methodology, designers start with a front
or top page (often called the home page) for a web and then branch off from there. They even
might create prototype holder pages that contain only minimal information but hold a place for
later development in the web. The benefit of the top-down approach is that designers can develop
pages according to one central theme or idea. This provides a good opportunity to affect the look
and feel of the whole web very powerfully because all pages are designed according to the top
page look and feel. A good way to do this is to design a set of templates for types of pages in a
web and use these during the implementation process.
3.2.3.2 Bottom Up
If web designers don't have a good idea of what the final web will look like (or even exactly
what it will do), but they know how specific pages will look and work, working from these
specific pages to the top page might be the way to proceed. This is particularly true if they
already have existing pages as a result of the development of some other web or service.
If web designers have no pages from which to start, they can begin by designing leaves or pages
that accomplish specific objectives and then link them through intermediate pages to the top
page. The benefit of this design is that the designers aren't constrained by the style of a top page
in the leaf pages. Instead, they design the leaf pages in exactly the right style based on their
functions. Later, they adjust the pages to create a common look and feel for the whole web.
3.2.3.3 Incremental/In-Time
Similar to both the top-down and bottom-up approaches, the incremental/in-time approach
develops pages "just in time" when they are needed. An initial home page might be needed as
well as specific leaf pages that implement particular objectives. These are created and linked
with the understanding that later, intermediate pages might be added. This works well if web
developers want to very quickly have a working web that grows incrementally rather than
deploying all at once.
3.2.4 Design Techniques
To design a web and deal with the issues raised previously about user experiences and design
methodologies, a designer must use a variety of techniques to achieve particular effects. These
techniques relate to information-shaping skills to meet users' needs. Like many aspects of web
development, design techniques are an art in themselves, and having a good repertoire of these
increases the value of a web designer.
3.2.4.1 Package Information in the Appropriately Sized Chunks

39
Humans can process only so much information at a time. Helping web users process information
is a web designer's overall challenge. A specific task in web design is to package or "chunk"
information in pieces that don't overwhelm users. As a general guideline, the number of pieces of
information to engage a user's attention at any one time is five, plus or minus two. Although a
web designer must judge what constitutes an information "piece" and decide exactly what
constitutes the field of a user's attention, the key idea is to chunk information so that
The amount of information on any one page doesn't overwhelm the user or cause long download
times for a page. A web designer can create reusable pages. If each page a web designer creates
accomplishes one specific purpose, it can be a useful link throughout the entire web for that
purpose. In this way, a web designer can flexibly include a page of information in as many
places as appropriate to the user's needs but only create that information once.
A web designer can focus the user's attention. The chunks of information, when created around
ideas, concepts, and ways of thinking familiar to users, helps users focus on one topic at a time
and build their knowledge incrementally.
How can a designer do this chunking? There are several techniques. As a first step for all these
techniques, the designer must gather the documents that represent the information to be
presented in the web. This information should be listed in detail in the web specifications
(created by the planning process) and reflected in the objective statement. Information to be
served to users and that is useful to designers should be in the store of domain information. Here
is a clustering technique to arrive at packages of information for a web:
Start with a copy of the purpose and/or objective statement for the web. Circle the nouns in the
statement. For example, here is the purpose statement for the Computer-Mediated
Communication (CMC) Studies Center (http://www.december.com/cmc/study/center.html):
"This Web site is dedicated to serving the needs of researchers, students, teachers, and
practitioners interested in the study of human communication via computers. This field of study
is called Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). The CMC Studies Center helps people
share information, make contacts, collaborate, and learn about developments and events."
Using a simple graphics-drawing program, type the circled nouns and move them until the
related ones are close together. Define this relatedness in terms of the audience's perspective.
Ideally, a web designer knows how the target audience will think about the information a web
provides. Does a user think in terms of subjects or topics (the subject categorization of the
nouns) or in terms of processes (what a web designer does with the nouns)? Try both
arrangements and show each version to a representative user, asking, "Which clustering of words
is most useful to the work the web intends to support?" The benefit of hypertext is that a web
designer may be able to implement both views of the same information.
In the word-cluster diagram, draw nested circles around the words that are related. In a topic-
oriented clustering, this can proceed along a hierarchical breakdown of the topic. In a process-
oriented clustering of words, this can be done by grouping nouns on which the same processes
act. After all words are in at least one loop (even if there is just one phrase in each loop), group
loops together by drawing lines around related groups. Keep drawing loops until there is just one
outer loop. This final loop shows that the clustering diagram is finished and that no other
clustering can be done.

40
This technique revelas a possible organization for a web: information related to people (students,
teachers, practitioners, contacts, and researchers), resources (communication, computers, and
information), activities (developments and events), and information about the CMC Studies
Center itself (metainformation). Note that the resources and activities clusters are related because
they are both information-oriented clusters. This reflects, at the level of clustering shown, a
separation of what the web offers by a breakdown by people and resources. A different clustering
could have been done: The list of people could have been grouped with the resources, and the
activities could have been grouped with the resource information. This would reflect a
research/activities and resources slant to this information (with people viewed as resources-
possibly in supporting or informational roles).
A clustering diagram can serve as a map to breaking down a web into packages. A package is a
web page or group of web pages that are closely related, as defined by the clustering process.
Eventually, each package must be defined as a web page or a set of web pages. One simple
transformation from a cluster diagram to packages is to make each loop a package. In other
words, you would have the following packages:
1. A package containing three packages: information about people, resources, and
metainformation.
2. A package containing information about metainformation.
3. A package containing information about people.
4. A package of information containing a package of information about resources
(communication, computers, and information) and a package of information about
activities (developments and events).
You can see how this cluster method works even with this simple example to give you a quick
way to create a preliminary set of packages of information. The next step is to transform
packages to pages of hypertext.
A simple transformation is to make each package a page, paying close attention not to overload
any given page. Based on the clustering, a web designer would obtain six pages.
To ensure that no page is overloaded with information, for each page, you can estimate the total
number of kinds of links and how many of each link the page would contain. The List of People
page might contain just one kind of link (to a personal home page), for example. If there are 50
people on the list, this page would contain 50 links to personal pages plus other navigation or
information links (there might be five of these, for example). This yields 50 instances of one kind
of link and five instances of navigation links. This is not necessarily an unmanageable
combination for a single web page. If there were 500 people in the directory, however, it might
be a problem to put the whole directory on one page. The main issue is scalability. The directory
could grow so large that it would cause performance problems. The design decision at this point
might be to include the preliminary listing, but then to investigate using a database or other
lookup scheme for the lists of people.
A better transformation might be to create a page for every noun in the cluster diagram, and then
link these pages by activity. Using this method, 13 pages would be created for each noun phrase:
1. A home page for the studies center itself (CMC Studies Center).
2. A page describing the Web site.

41
 3. A page describing the field of study.
4. A page of students.
5. A page of teachers.
6. A page of practitioners.
7. A page of people wanting to make contacts.
8. A page of researchers.
9. A page of information about communication.
10. A page of information about computers.
11. A page of information about the field of information studies.
12. A page of developments in the field.
13. A page of events.
3.2.4.2 Link Pages Together

42
After a web designer has a set of pages, the next step is to specify how they will link together.
The cluster diagram showing the packages of a web is a good start toward seeing how these links
might be made. The following methods yield an initial linking of pages that you can augment

with some other linking techniques (see the index, title bar, and foot bar methods). To get an
initial link diagram, you can use two possible methods:
 Link pages in a hierarchy determined by the nesting of packages derived from the cluster
diagram, and then link pages within the same package together. Using this method, you
can link the six pages generated defined by the six packages. The page and link diagram
using this method. The benefit of this scheme is that the hierarchy of pages helps guide
users through the information to the major packages quickly, and then within packages
in detail. The downside of this technique is that users must follow a particular path to
reach a page-a path that might be several links away from the home page.
 Create pages based on packages in the cluster diagram, but link every page to every
other page. This creates a nonhierarchical web, in which all the pages of information
called for by the purpose statement are available to every other page. For webs with a
small number of total pages, this might work well; for large webs, the number of links
required grows rapidly as the number of pages increases. A nonhierarchical, complete
linking of all the pages for the CMC Studies Center could be based on a five-page
design solution. The benefit of this structure is that all pages are just one link away from
any other page. The downside is that there is no information hierarchy to help the user

43
 cope with the link choices from any given page, and this technique is not scaleable
(requiring many links for large webs).
Other methods of linking pages follow:
 By need. In a test situation, give representative users a problem (a set of questions or an
"information hunt" type of exercise) they can solve by using the information given in
the web pages. Observe the order in which the users access the pages in search of
information to solve the problem. Based on these observations of user access, link the
pages together based on minimizing the number of links users typically must traverse to
solve the problem.
 By association. Have representative users rank how closely each of the pages relate to
each other (for example, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being a strong association). Provide
double links between pages with association scores over the average for all links (or use
some other criterion that generates something short of a complete, double linking of all
pages).
3.2.4.3 Specify Overall Look and Feel with a Universal Grid

Besides the
package,
page, and
link
diagrams,
the web
designer can
use several
other
products to
help express
the look and
feel of the
web. One of
these
diagrams is
a universal
grid for the
entire web-a diagram that sets out the function and arrangement for text, cues, and links on any
given page.
A universal grid creates a template to give all pages of the web a uniform look. This uniform
look helps the user of the web know what cues to expect where on each page. The grid might not
specify exactly what has to go into the footer and header for each page; this can vary according
to the purpose for each page or type of page.
3.2.4.4 Use Repeated Icons

44
Another technique for creating a unified look and feel for the web is to use repeated icons to
represent classes of information, or an icon representing the web itself. These repeated icons can
be specified in the universal grid.
These repeated icons help the user perceive a sense of consistency in all the pages of this web.
The topic icon helps cue the user to the purpose of the page. Because these icons are repeated,
the user benefits because the browser loads a given icon only once, and then it can use it (without
reloading) on any other page in the web. In this way, repeated icons can give the web a strong
sense of identity for each page. This is particularly important when a pincushion access pattern is
expected for the web-the repeated icons help users know where they are.
3.2.4.5 Create and Use Web-Wide Navigation Links
Just as repeated icons provide users with information cues on each page, navigation cues and
links can help users move through an entire web.
One technique for creating a web-wide navigation link is to make an index page that links to
every page of the entire web. For webs with a large number of pages, this clearly can create
problems, but the concept is to provide a central point for users to locate a page that they know is
in the web somewhere but can't remember how to get to it. An index page is particularly
important for webs linked using a hierarchical technique (see Fig. 7.5). Figure 7.9 shows the
index page for the web in Figure 7.5, for example.
Given that an index page is created, the index itself then can become part of the universal grid-
either in the title bar or in a foot bar. Local or specialized indexes of pages within the same
package also can be created and placed on pages within the same package. Another web-wide
navigation link might be to the top or home page for the entire web. Often, the web icon itself
can serve as this link. By placing this link on the universal grid, the home page for the web can
be just one link away from any page in the web. Just like the other elements of the universal grid,
these repeated navigation links can help a user make sense of an arbitrary web page, particularly
in pincushion access patterns.
3.2.4.6 Use Information Cues
Within each page of a web, a designer can look for opportunities to use the audience information
or purpose and objective statements for explanatory or information cues. Web developers
carefully planned the audience for a web. Why hide this information from the user? An explicit
statement of the target audience, written with the appropriate wording for a particular web page,
can help the user immediately see whether the information on that page is of interest.
The purpose statement is perhaps the web element on which a web designer draws the most in
providing information cues to a user. Purpose statements can serve as a powerful mission
statement for communicating the web's intent to users. Because every page of the web reflects its
purpose, a web designer might find that every page can contain a variation of the purpose
statement that is specific to the function the given page serves.
Similarly, the objective statement can be put to use on pages worded for the right level of detail
and can serve as an important information cue for the user. One objective statement might be,
"To list on-line bibliographies in the field of geology." This can translate directly to introductory
text at the top of the page that meets this objective: "This page lists on-line bibliographies in the
field of geology." Although not all translations between web elements and information cues used

45
in the web design are as easy or mechanical, the web designer should take full advantage of the
wording and language in these elements.
Finally, information cues about a web page should be placed in its design. Generally, as part of
the footer in a page's grid (see the universal grid technique discussed previously), the following
information should be included:
Contact e-mail address Where the user can send problems, questions, or give feedback.
Date modified Shows the date the document was last modified. Alternatively, this can include
the date created and the last modification date.
Any copyright notices To alert users to restrictions on the text in the web or restrictions on its
use.
Organizational information A clear identification of the information provider's organization.
3.2.4.7 Consider Media Type, Information Structure, and Connections
Based on the discussion of information texture, the designer can consider how media texture
influences user experience. The information texture often sets up user expectations about what
has been found and how to deal with it. As a designer, the following specific strategies might
help shape a user's perception of media texture:
 Media type. What matters to the user most: the media type of the information or the
content conveyed? Some users might want to locate all sound files on a web. Other
users want only relevant information presented as it relates to meaning, with media type
flagged (a symbol shown to alert the user of the media type for a link in the web). The
user's needs will dictate how to arrange resources according to media type.
 Information structure. What degree of guidance do users require to use the information?
A list of items conveys less context information than a narrative paragraph but is more
to the point, particularly if the user knows exactly what the list is for and what each item
on the list means. When creating web pages, a web designer and implementer constantly
must balance expressiveness with terseness.
 Connections. When does the user need the information? In the case of introductory or
help information, how can it easily be made available at the major web-entry points as
well as at other appropriate places? How can a web page be linked at exactly the right
spots in a web so that its meaning is enhanced by connections to other pages? These are
the main issues dealing with connections facing a web designer. The answer, of course,
lies in the user's needs:
o How often would the user need to see this information?
o When would the user need to see this information?
o Why would the user need to see this information?
3.2.4.8 Design Web Layers over Information Spaces
When planning a web, the developers might have specified what information spaces should be
presented to the users. If the web specifications call for integrating other spaces into the web,
such as information from an FTP site or Gopher server, web designers can consider the user's
experience with these spaces. Specifically, they can consider the following techniques to
integrate information spaces in a web:

46
 Difference in space interface. The appearance of the information spaces in a Web
browser differ. The user who encounters an FTP site through a graphical Web browser
has a different experience than seeing that same information through a Gopher server.
As such, this difference can have a big impact on the look and feel of a web.
 A developer should examine the web specification and enumerate the different
information spaces that a web might require. There may be no requirements for any
other information space; in that case, designers can choose to serve all information
through the web. They also should consider the needs of the users: Will someone need
to access this same information through an FTP session? The answer to this question
requires input from the planning and analysis processes.
 Space overload. If web developers decide to include different types of information
spaces in the web, such as several FTP sites and several Gophers, designers need to
consider how this variety might best be integrated to create a consistent look and feel.
They might object if such a variety would lead to space overload or to too many
information systems with disparate styles of interfaces in the web. The benefit of a
graphical Web browser is that, although the different information spaces look different
through a line-mode client, a Web browser provides consistent functionality in each
space (a point-and-click mechanism or similar graphical representation, for example).
By also looking at the uniformity the browser brings (it displays all spaces in the same
typeface and uses the same symbols where possible), designers might judge that a
number of different spaces in the web still will meet the users' needs. In other words, the
final decision comes down to the characteristics of the users: Are they concerned with a
uniform appearance? Do they have experience using an existing information space for
the same purpose? Do they already use a Gopher or FTP space, for example, or will a
variety of information spaces detract from users' experiences of the web?
 Space transitions. If multiple information spaces are to be used in the web, consider how
transitions between them are designed. A transition to an FTP space might be a bit
daunting if the users are not familiar with using one. In an FTP space observed through
a Web browser, the textual cues might be reduced dramatically. Different levels of
transition might be right for different users, ranging from no help instructions on space
transitions to a page that explains the use of the FTP, Gopher, or other information
space.
 Web layers over spaces. Web designers might decide to put a web layer over an
information space by preparing a web page that contains links into the information
space. This allows greater flexibility for describing the information. The drawback is
that the implementation and maintenance of these web layers can be expensive. If there
are only a few links, this might be a good way to link to the information space while
retaining the expressive possibilities of the web. The links from the web page's hotspots
can be made into the directories or specific files at the FTP site. The benefit of this
layering is that it can include explanatory text, placing the meaning of the files at the
FTP site within the context of the meaning of the information presented on the web
page. Notice, though, how this linking requires a coordination of the web page with the
structure of the FTP site, requiring more links than if just one link were made to the FTP
site. This requires an increase in implementation time as well as maintenance.

47
3.2.5 Design Problems
Although the preceding techniques can help web designers create a consistent look and feel,
specific problems can detract from a web's design. These include problems with a lack of
navigation and information cues (see "The Page from Outer Space"), a page with large access
time required or with an overly complex information texture and structure (see "The Monster
Page" and "Multimedia Overkill"), a page with an uneven information structure (see "The
Uneven Page") and problems with linking (see "Meaningless Links") in pages. These problems
sometimes can actually play an integral role in effectively accomplishing a purpose, however.
The key is that web designers should be aware of these issues without taking my discussion of
them as iron-clad rules or formulas.
3.2.5.1 The Page from Outer Space
One of the most frustrating things a web designer can find as a web navigator is a page that has
no cues about its authorship or context.
Such a page might be well-written. It could have a descriptive heading and it include a narrative
that guides a reader through its main points. But someone using this page, however, would have
many questions: Who wrote this page? Why? What web is it a part of?
Avoid creating pages that have no cues. Designers generally can't assume that users will
encounter a web according to the wine-bottle model of access. Moreover, web designers are not
taking advantage of the power of the Web itself if they treat the information on each page as just
a slab of text with no links to other context, information, or navigation cues. Most important,
they are closing off user interaction and feedback.
On the other hand, there's no need to provide links to every conceivable scrap of information
related to the topic of the page. The key is to balance the number of cues with completeness of
information. As a rule of thumb, ask what a user would do to get more information from a given
page. There should be at least one cue or link on that page to help users at some level, even if it's
a link to the home page. Variations on the page from outer space include home pages that give
information that has little meaning in a global context. For example, web designers might see the
following as a title for a page:
3.2.5.2 Think Locally, Communicate Globally
A common error for many Web developers creating pages that relate to a specific geographic
location is to forget that someone coming across their page on the Web might not be aware of
that geographic location.
A typical problem Web page like this woud be titled, "Department of Physics home page." What
university? What country? What continent? Although the skilled navigator (usually) can obtain
the answers to the questions by looking for clues in the URL, the designers of this page
apparently did not realize that their page reaches a global audience.
Although it's usually not necessary to qualify a geographic location as "Department of Physics,
Delta University, Delta, Mississippi, USA, North America, Earth," a web designer should have
some sense of how many cues to give in order to help a user place web information in the global
context of the Web. Don't assume that a web user knows a particular organization, city, or state
name. Often, qualification to the country level is enough.
3.2.5.3 The Monster Page

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Just as the page from outer space had too few cues to help the user effectively place the
information in context, a page can get too cluttered with links, graphics, lists, and other effects.
Cluttered pages have two major problems:
 Access time. If there are many inline images or there is a great deal of text on the page,
the access time for that page can be enormous.
 Information overload. If a web designer puts too much information on a single page, the
user simply won't be able to cope with it. The physical limits of the browser display by
default will chunk the information on the page into screenfuls of information accessible
by the scrollbar or another system in the browser. Instead of having the browser chunk
the information, the designer should determine these chunks. In some situations, though,
a long list of similar items is best browsed in one long list, and any breakup of the
information would be arbitrary.
The strength of hypertext is that information can be chunked into pages so that these pages then
can be encountered by users according to their needs. The monster page, with its overabundance
of links and cues, creates too much noise for the user to pick out the essential information.
For long pages of information, a web designer should consider creating a front table of contents
and linking sections and subsections of the document to that.
3.2.5.4 Multimedia Overkill
New designers often include many inline images as well as links to graphics, sounds, movies, or
other multimedia files. When not needed, this multimedia overkill can lead to the same problems
associated with the monster page. The multimedia used in a web must play a key role in
accomplishing an objective that directly meets a user's need. Chunking links to these resources,
just like chunking links among pages, can be done using the cluster diagram and packaging
techniques outlined previously. Another issue related to multimedia overkill is using the same
graphics in several places in a web without using a link to the same graphics file, which requires
that the Web browser reload the image every time it's used. If web designers use a repeated
image in a web, they should link to the same file (the same URL) every time instead of creating
duplicate image files in different files. By doing this, the Web browser can load the file just once
and display it on many other pages in the web.
3.2.5.5 The Uneven Page
An uneven page contains information at vastly different or incongruous levels of detail. For
example, consider a hypothetical home page for the ABC University's Information Technology
Department. The design and context information might be adequate; a link to the university's
home page is given, a link to an index is shown, and the page is signed by the Webmaster.
Consider that this page lists the following information:
1. Faculty Directory
2. Research Programs
3. Our Mission
4. How to Use Kermit
5. CS 101 Final Grades

49
The items in the list given on the page, however, are very incongruous. Faculty Directory seems
to be on the same level of importance as Research Programs and IT Department's Mission. But
the next two links--How to Use Kermit and CS 101 Final Grades--seem to be at some other level
of detail. A page often becomes uneven through a process of iterative accumulation of links. In
the case of the ABC IT Department, the Webmaster probably added links as they were
developed. This unevenness, however, weakens the coherence of the page; the user begins to
wonder what this page is supposed to accomplish. Naturally, a page reflecting a deliberate grab
bag or collection of links would display this unevenness. Usually, unevenness can be a problem
on major home pages or pages that have a specific, often high-visibility purpose in the web.
Every time a web designer adds a link to a page, ask whether it fulfills the purpose of that page
or in some other way helps the user with that information.
3.2.5.6 Meaningless Links
One manifestation of a meaningless link is a link that takes the user to a resource or document
with no apparent connection to the meaning conveyed on the original page. Every link should
somehow extend the meaning of a page. Look at this sentence, for example:
Welcome to <a href="abc.html">ABC</A> University's Home Page</A>
The link from the term ABC to the file abc.html should contain some background or historic
information about the university's name (because the link was made to ABC as opposed to ABC
University's Home Page). If this link goes to a special project by the page designer or some other
unrelated or unpredictable subject, the link is vacuous.
Another form of a vacuous link is a sentence such as this:
For more information, click <a href="info.html">here</A>.
The hotspot here has no meaning within the sentence. A better choice might be
A user can get <a href="info.html">more information</A>.
Another kind of meaningless link is the trivial link, in which a link is made to some resource or
document that relates to the original page, but only trivially in the given context. A web designer,
for example, might find this sentence on the home page of ABC University:
Welcome to ABC University's Home <a href="page.html">Page</A>.
If the link from the word Page to the file page.html is to a dictionary definition of the word page,
it is a trivial link because the information isn't essential in the context of a university's home
page. In the context of a narrative about Web vocabulary and terms, however, this same link
(from the word Page to a definition of the term) might be essential.
Another kind of meaningless linking occurs when a designer creates a web with very small
chunks and excessively links these chunks together. This creates a mesh of pages, and each page
carries very little context and content. This requires the user to traverse a great number of pages
in order to accumulate meaning or context. This is the opposite of the monster page effect and
represents hypertext taken to an extreme. In some cases, however, this effect is highly desirable,
such as in hyperart, hyperfiction, or hyperpoetry, in which the medium of hypertext may be
stretched to its limit. As a general rule, though, each page should accomplish a specific, self-
contained purpose so that the user has a feeling of attaining a goal instead of being left with a
need to follow still more links.

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3.2.5.7 Clown Pants
Writing in the Yale Center for Advanced Instructional Media's style manual for web page design,
Patrick J. Lynch borrows the term "clown pants" to refer to pages with a haphazard organization.
The term originated from gardeners who used it to describe a plot with a hodgepodge
organization-types of plants and vegetables thrown together in patches without a central focus.
These pages lack a grid system to systemize access to information or to focus user attention.
A solution to the "clown pants" problem is to use a grid to create a visual hierarchy that reflects
the information hierarchy on the page.
3.2.5.8 K00L Design
Another overindulgence that web page designers sometimes take part in is defined here as K00L
design. The term K00L is a parody of adolescent speech sometimes found on Bulletin Board
Systems (BBSs), as in "Hey K00L DUUDZ." The idea behind this design problem is that the
designer uses many features of HTML, and particularly Netscape extensions to HTML, such as
centering, font changes, and blinking. Combined with a clown pants design, the overall
appearance of a page can reach irritating levels.
3.2.6 The Study of Design
Designing web pages involves more than just thinking about graphics and HTML. Design relates
to a whole range of issues dealing with how people use objects. You might browse the links
about design at dmoz.org. Be sure to realize that the field of design is as old as human
handicrafts themselves. Don't think that the field of design started with the Web.
3.2.7 Wrap-Up
Designing a web involves considering the user's experience and meeting the user's needs by
shaping information. In doing this, a designer strives to follow the principles and goals of a user-
centered web design process to develop a web that works efficiently, is consistent, and is
aesthetically pleasing.
The web designer understands a user's experience of information space, texture, and cues, and
uses design techniques to package and link information in a way that best meets a user's abilities
and needs. A designer can approach the overall process of web design by using a top-down,
bottom-up, or in-time/incremental methodology. A web designer uses a variety of techniques to
specify the look and feel of the web through a cluster diagram showing web packages and pages,
through a link diagram, or through a universal grid for an overall pattern for page development.
A web developer might unintentionally create many problems in the process of web design: a
page with no accessible context (the page from outer space), a page with an overabundance of
information texture or information (the monster page), a page with too many multimedia effects,
particularly inline graphics (multimedia overkill as well as clown pants and K00L design), an
uneven page with items at inconsistent levels of detail, and meaningless links that distract from
the user's ability to access useful information.
The overall process of web design involves both acquired skills in information design and
acquired experience in design problems and their solutions. No web design is flawless, but the
task of a web designer should be to always strive to improve a web's design to better meet the
needs of users.

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Chapter 4: Implementation
Implementation is the process of building the web according to its design. A web implementor
creates hypertext markup language (HTML), Common Gateway Interface (CGI) programs,
and/or Java scripts and/or applets.
The implementation process resembles software development because it involves using a
specific syntax for encoding web structures or a programming language in a formal language in
computer files. Although there are automated tools to help with the construction of HTML
documents, a thorough grounding in HTML enriches the web implementor's expertise.
4.1 Key Implementation Practices
 At the outset, create an extendible directory and file structure to manage the web's files
and/or software components (CGI or Java programs).
 Use HTML tools where helpful.
 Check the web's implementation in various browsers.
 Use templates or web generating schemes for supporting a consistent look and feel.
4.2 Key Implementation Resources

 The HTML Station: summary and demonstration of HTML syntax.

 HTML index section on HTML from webreference.com. Includes links to editors, FAQs,
etc.
 HTML Writer's Guild: an organization dedicated to creating good hypertext.

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Chapter 5: Promotion
is the process of handling all the public relations issues of a web. These include making the
existence of a web known to online communities through publicity as well as forming business
or other information relationships with other webs. Promotion may involve using specific
marketing strategies or creating business models.
5.1 Key Promotion Practices
 Follow online community norms and practices.
 Innovatively connect with users to meet their needs.
 Target publicity releases for general Web audiences, potential users, and current users.
5.1.1 Key Promotion Resources
 General Marketing Resources: links to a variety of online professional marketing
organizations and resources.
 Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine, June 1996: a special issue on Web
business models.
 Addme, for free submission to major sites.
 Submit It!, for help in publicizing your site.
5.2 Discussion
Once your web is built, will they come? Will your web server's statistics rise long after its
availability is announced? Will users' bookmarks include your web's URL? Will the target
audience find increasing levels of satisfaction with the web? The answers to these questions
depend a great deal on a combination of the excellence of your content plus how you perform the
promotion, public relations, and marketing for your web. The constantly changing needs of users
and the flood of new web sites make launching a new web and keeping it in the attention of Web
users a challenging task. But with the right knowledge, attitude, and techniques, you can promote
your web well.
As a guide to promoting and marketing a web, this article includes techniques for publicity-
release strategies, ongoing methods to integrate your web into other contexts, and a discussion of
models for business.
5.2.1 Web Promotion Principles

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A web's media characteristics and qualities offer communicators some unique opportunities as
well as challenges. Like television, a web might reach a global audience; unlike television, Web
audiences for single webs are small in comparison to prime-time network television
programming. Instead, Web audiences tend to be specialized, drawn to quirkiness, and are quite
ready to click their mouse to another web if one hypertext doesn't suit them. Based on the
characteristics and qualities of the web as a medium, and on users' needs and experiences of the
Web.
The Web's unbound space/time characteristic
implies a global, 24-hour-a-day audience.
Although the present users of the web are not
representative at all of world population, Web
promoters can't assume that their audience shares
a single cultural perspective, time zone, national
allegiance, language, or outlook to serve as a
reference point. Web users are, by implication,
technically literate enough to use a networked
computer system for communication, but the
Web's audience is truly global and extends to
people at many levels of abilities who access the
Internet in a variety of ways.
The Web's characteristic as an associatively
linked system of information places Web
information in the context of other information, so that bringing users' attention to a new web
often requires contextualizing that new web into existing information. The resulting enmeshment
brings users' attention to a web by association, searching, or "surfing."
The Web's organization as a distributed client/server information system means that a web's
audience may have a wide range of browser types and Internet connections. The technical
organization of global hypermedia means that a Web user may begin a journey on the Web
anywhere; there is no "top" to the Web. Instead, users may turn to branded content (webs
provided by a known publisher) or index or resource collections as starting points, reference
resources, or navigation landmarks on the Web.
The Web's multirole quality makes it possible for users to be not just consumers and channel
switchers, but information producers, organizers, commentators, repackagers, and promoters
themselves.
The Web's porous quality means that users can sift through a single page or only a few pages,
without ever encountering the whole "work" or even necessarily being aware of the transitions
among web works. Although design techniques can work to alleviate this audience sifting
(through context, navigation, and information cues as well as repeated design elements and
graphical backgrounds), this porous quality is a hallmark of well-designed hypertext. Thus, the
audience's attention often can focus on its needs rather than the information source. Promoters
therefore can't necessarily depend on holding the audience's attention for an entire work, but only
for Web pages or sections on those pages.

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The Web's dynamic quality implies that promoting the web is an ongoing process. A new web
has to be announced and then periodically brought to the attention of its potential users (working
within social and cultural norms).
The Web's interactive quality means that promoters have the opportunity to receive information
from willing users in addition to send out information.
The Web's competitive quality means that promoters need to negotiate the value of their web
within the context of their audience's needs. Consistency of service may be the key to offering
more service than a competitor's web. Although glitz may reign in the short term, long-term,
user-oriented quality may win the race. Lack of quality in a web (and issues such as large
graphics) costs users time and money. Competitive webs seek to offer the maximum benefit to
users at the lowest possible cost.
5.2.2 Social Considerations
The Web is not just a neutral collection of technology (technology itself is not neutral in politics
or social consequences). Therefore, promoters on the Web should pay close attention to cultural
and social norms for behavior. The fundamentals of these norms follow:
 Appropriate use/forum. One of the most basic rules for participating in online interaction
is to seek the appropriate forum for a behavior or communication. The Net offers a wide
range of communication, and interaction forums focus on just about every human
pursuit imaginable. Because of this intense specialization, users want only topic-related
communication in a forum, in order to increase their own efficiency in taking part in
their various online interests. Therefore, posting, sending information, or otherwise
impeding the attention of anyone on the Net generally is accepted only in forums
appropriate to the topic. The participants in the Usenet newsgroup rec.bicycles.racing
don't want to read about new kinds of lawyers or immigration services from lawyers, for
example. They'd be interested in many topics and details about racing bikes, but they'd
look at any communication off that topic as "noise" in the group, stealing time (and
money) from their pursuits. Commercial announcements and product information
should be introduced only after consulting the FAQ for a Usenet newsgroup, mailing
list, or other communication or interaction forum. The costs in terms of bad publicity far
outweigh a web promoter's perceived benefit of spamming the Net.
Spamming

Spamming is the act of indiscriminately distributing unsolicited messages to large

numbers of inappropriate communications forums. The origin of the verb to spam is
from the Monty Python sketch in which the characters chant "spam, spam, spam,
spam…" to the point of absurdity. Net promoters who indiscriminately use mass
mailings are said to spam the Net. Net users often despise spamming because it costs
them time, money, and their attention. Note that the act of offering information to mass
audiences through a web is not spamming, because the user voluntarily chooses to
encounter the information.
 Giving, not just taking. Cultural traditions on the Net involve giving back free
information or services of value or cultural significance to users. Used appropriately,
this tradition can bring good will to commercial enterprises, such as commercial funding

55
 and support of cultural events, public television broadcasting, museums, or advertising
for not-for-profit publications. Providing information on the Net is not free, but the
culture of the Net includes traditions of "shared gifts," where users share information or
software they created to accomplish useful tasks.
 Learning specialized protocols. Specialized communication, information, or interaction
forums on the Net and Web develop their own modes and norms for behavior. Just as
human communication protocols such as telephone behavior often involve simple rules,
specialized Net communities develop their own protocols or ways of working. Web
promoters work best when they take these protocols into consideration.
5.2.3 Promotion Philosophy
It is a point of wisdom on the Net that excellence rises to the top. An over-aggressive promotion
plan, particularly if it has a strong commercial tone, won't often catch the attention of users who
tune out aggressive sales pitches. Instead, you can view promotion as primarily an exercise of
"getting the word out" about the existence of your web and then making sure that your web
regularly comes to the attention of its target audience members.
Promoting a web is no longer an inexpensive exercise. Back in the old days of the Web (1995),
you could list your web in common indexes, send some announcements out to appropriate
newsgroups and mailing lists, and then sit back and watch your web take off. Today, the sheer
number of webs out there, combined with extreme competition for the Web user's finite attention
and time, make more costly strategies necessary.
As a result of the Web's spread to a more general audience, you'll see the uniform resource
locator regularly used in advertisements in all media. Wal-Mart (http://www.walmart.com/)
places its URL on its advertising circulars that go to homes. Paramount
(http://www.paramount.com/) uses URLs and Web sites to promote its movies
(http://www.thebradybunch.com/). Cable News Network (http://www.cnn.com/) regularly
promotes its own Web site at just about every commercial break. Many radio stations have their
own Web site that they promote on the air, and radio and television commercials with URLs in
them are not uncommon. Print advertisements with URLs in them are commonplace.
Online, the trend is toward techniques to differentiate your Web site's brand identity from other
sites and to develop traffic-building relationships with other sites. Now, many professional
advertising agencies will work with you to place your site's logo or banner on other sites for a
fee. Taking out an ad in a Web publication may be a cost-effective option for getting the word
out about your site. Web advertising is a logical option for Web sites-your audience can just
"click" to your site.
Another important online trend is a variety of link exchange programs and techniques that enable
you to provide a link or advertisement to another web and receive an advertisement or link from
that site to yours. For webs related to the same kind of information or reaching similar audiences,
this is a good exchange. Undifferentiated link exchanges often are not beneficial; after all, every
link to an outside resource on your Web site is an opportunity for your audience to leave. Be
wary of aggressive link-exchange schemes that require you to provide links back to a site in
exchange for some favor or service. Be wary of "ratings" sites that provide links to "top rated"
Web sites only when those sites place an icon back to the ratings site. These pyramid-like
schemes won't do well to differentiate your web from others.

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By keeping promotion principles and philosophy in mind-and developing your own-you should
be able to get the word out-and keep getting it out-about your web. The rest of this article
focuses on specific techniques to promote your web.
5.2.4 Web Promotion Techniques
Your main goal as a web promoter is to keep the general public and the web's users informed
about the purpose and offerings of your web. A web promoter should have skills in public
relations, interpersonal communications, and mass communication. As described previously, the
need for continuous web promotion arises from the dynamic environment in which web
information exists; new resources, new information, and new forums for communication come
into existence all the time. These changes alter the context in which users experience a web.
Users of the Web experience information overload. Every moment, new services and information
become available on the Web, some of which grab the audience's attention, so making a web
known to the Web public at large is a difficult task. There's no central What's New page to
announce a new web to the world. Moreover, there are few subject-related What's New pages, so
someone interested in what a web promoter has to offer might not easily come across a particular
special-interest web. A web promoter can use certain strategies to publicize the web, however.
This publicity has several goals:
 To inform the general Web public as a whole of the existence of the web and what it has
to offer
 To attract the interest of the target audience members and let them know about how the
web meets their needs
 To educate the current web users of new developments on the web
The work that other web developers already might have done to compose purpose and objective
statements and gather audience information will be key to the success of web promotion. A web
promoter draws on the wording of the purpose and objective statements to create publicity
statements for the web (Web releases). A web promoter also draws on the audience information
to know where to place these Web releases.
Promoters can use many strategies for reaching a variety of Web audiences, starting with the
most general audience and then focusing on the narrower audience for a particular web. Other
techniques help keep publicity and information flowing to the existing web users.
5.2.5 Publicity Timing
No one likes to go into a brand-new shopping mall that still has sawdust and equipment spread
all over. Similarly, the audience won't have a good experience if a web promoter announces the
web's "grand opening" too soon. A web promoter needs to work closely with other web
developers, particularly the web implementers and planners, to decide when the web is ready to
"go public." Before this time, the web implementers and Web master must make sure that the
general public can't access the files that comprise the web on the server. (The web server itself
might have to go public for some testing before the web's widespread public release.)
One of the most intense times for the web will be just after Web-wide announcements of its
availability. This initial wave of interest will bring Net surfers, the curious, indexers, resource
aficionados, and a variety of others to the web for a first look. Don't announce the web publicly
until the web is ready to make a good first impression for this crucial first look. When the web is

57
"ready" is a subjective judgment. A web is never "done," so a web developer will have to decide
what web objectives must be met before public release and have the web in place and well-tested
before this public release. The following sections examine how to create and disseminate general
(Web-wide) and targeted (focused on a specific Web audience) publicity. A web promoter's goal
is to implement a series of periodic announcements that catch the attention of Web-wide and
targeted audiences. The basic techniques for doing this include writing announcements at
varying levels of detail and releasing these to appropriate forums.
5.2.6 Reaching a Web-Wide Audience
Timing and content issues are a part of this dissemination process. A web promoter doesn't want
to release so much periodic publicity that information about a web saturates the audience's
attention. This might happen if the audience sees a release about the web every time some
minimal change occurs. Frequent publicity should be used for more specific audiences. For
general audiences, the best strategy is to announce only the "big stuff" to have maximum impact.
Another technique is to use a resource on the web that has proven to be a popular item as teaser
information or as a hook that can help draw attention to the web. One example of this teaser
information is important domain information that is valuable to the web's audience (for example,
online resource listings about the subject area of interest to the audience). Other examples are
cartoons, entertainment, or even celebrity appearances in a web to draw user interest.
Reaching a Web-wide audience to announce the new web, or updates to it, is not easy. Despite
the enormous demand for such a service, few services on the Web offer up-to-date, widely
recognized, What's New announcements for a Web-wide audience.
There are several reasons for reaching a Web-wide audience. First, a web promoter should
announce the web to the whole Web itself to allow the whole Web community to benefit from or
use the information that a web provides. Second, reaching a general audience for the
announcement might be a key way to reach the target audience or to spark an interest in the
subject by a member of the general Web audience. Third, the general announcement serves as a
public announcement of the Web's availability so that indexers and other Web information
gatherers can evaluate the Web and place it within their web indexes and resource lists.
To craft a general Web release, a promoter should consider:
 Audience: The ultimate audience for the web, of course, is the audience that a web
promoter has defined and analyzed in the web-development processes. A general web
release, however, explains the web's purpose and offerings from a general point of view
and from a context outside of the web.
 Commercial or noncommercial. As discussed previously, the principle of an appropriate
forum should be considered in all publicity. The Web is a community of people, not a
neutral collection of machines and software, so a web promoter is mistaken to consider
only the technological aspects of the Web. Part of the Web community tradition is for
places to be set aside for commercial activity and acceptable ways to advertise. These
usually involve the following:
o Designated marketplaces such as virtual malls and directories that are clearly
labeled or intended to be commercial
o Commercial What's New lists and sponsored advertising in other webs

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 o Commercial asynchronous text discussion or information lists such as
commercial newsgroups or company-sponsored mailing lists
The key is to place a commercial advertisement only where the standards of the Web
community allow it. Many places on the Web welcome commercial announcements.
Observe the information outlet for a while to see whether commercial announcements
are placed there, or ask a moderator or frequent participant in the forum what would be
appropriate.
 Appropriate forum. Just as commercial advertisements are not acceptable by Web
community standards where they don't belong, nonrelated announcements in a subject-
specific information or communications forum aren't acceptable either. A variety of
subject-specific web indexes exist, for example, as well as subject-specific newsgroups
and mailing lists. Choose only the most appropriate forums for announcements. A web
should be using subject-specific forums for focused web releases (see the next section).
For general web releases, make sure that the forum the web promoter chooses is
intended for general Web audiences.
 Purpose. The purpose description should be in terms that appeal to a general person on
the Web. Nonspecialized terminology and more substance than hype in an ad will help
users avoid disappointment with a site.
 Tone, depth, length, and content. General web releases should be very brief. In large
forums such as NCSA's What's New page (described later), the guidelines call for a
concise paragraph and stipulate the format of the entry. Follow the guidelines of the
forum closely.
Adopt a tone and choice for details that will attract the attention of a general audience, as
opposed to an exhaustive list of what the web has to offer. Choose only the major links of the
web to include in the announcement, instead of including links to many pages. These extra links
clutter the announcement, and a web promoter might unintentionally place users too deep in the
web, bypassing the introductory pages that web developers carefully designed and built.
Some Web-based outlets follow:
 Moderated Web forums. A historical example was NCSA's What's New page that used
to be hosted at http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/Docs/whats-new.html.
This page was an outgrowth of the old Mosaic browser development. Today, these kinds
of pages simply do not exist in any stable or usable form. The deluge of new Web sites
is great and interest by users in a generic "What's New" page is very low.
 Subject-related outlets. You can find audiences interested in particular subjects and
topics in subject searching resources.
 Keyword-related outlets. Look for ways to register your web with keyword searching
resources.
 Unmoderated Web forums "Free for Alls" (locate these by a keyword search for "free for
all"). These are lists of hypertext to which a web promoter can add items at will (usually
through forms). Because they essentially are unmoderated and often run by individuals
on a very informal basis, the tone of these lists can vary from serious to scatological.

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Obviously, a web promoter will need to decide whether the tone of this list is appropriate for the
web's announcement. Frequently, a web promoter will be able to add only a short title and a short
description.
5.2.7 Focused Web Releases
As part of the publicity for the web, general announcements are great for spreading the word
about the existence of the web and possibly catching the attention of the audience a web
promoter is targeting. Focused web releases, however, also should be part of the overall strategy
to seek out a specific audience.
Instead of wording the announcement for a general audience as you would for a general web
release, write a focused web release with the audience's greater knowledge of the subject in
mind. Include commonly needed information such as the title of the resource, its URL, and
classification and contact information. For example, here is a very short information sheet for
this Web Development web:
Title: Web Development
URL: http://www.december.com/web/develop.html
Category: Internet/Web Related, Development, Communication
Keywords: Web development, World Wide Web, Documentation
Contact Name: John December
Contact Email: [email protected]
Publisher: December Communications, Inc.
Description: This web summarizes the complete life cycle
of web development: planning, analysis, design,
implementation, and promotion. Key practices and
online resources are given for each process.
The philosophy behind this presentation is that Web
development should involve more than just knowledge of
HTML implementation or page layout. Instead, developers
can use a set of processes to take advantage of--and
work with--the unique qualities and characteristics of
the World Wide Web using a variety of skills.
This kind of Web release announcement provides specific keywords to grab the readers'
attention. This increased detail would be too much for a general audience, but it should engage
the attention of an audience interested in the particular offerings of a web. There are many ways
to find outlets for focused web releases:
5.2.8 Subject-specific indexes

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Subject-specific Usenet newsgroups and mailing lists might be another resource for publicity.
(see subject searching resources). Within these subject guides, check for professional
organizations and societies related to the subject area of your web and individuals or
organizations involved in indexing network resources on your topic.
Also, see professional public relations and newswire services (PRnewswire.com) or societies
(The Public Relations Society of America and The American Marketing Association) for ideas
on marketing and promotion.
5.2.9 Current Web Releases
Not only do web promoters have to keep the general public and the potential audience informed,
but they also need to provide information about what is new on the web to the web's users. The
best way to do this is to create a What's New page and keep a link to it prominently displayed on
the web's home page or in its index. (For example here's what's new.)
A web promoter can craft the wording of web releases to be more specific than the general or
focused releases. A promoter can assume that the readers have some familiarity with the web and
also very strong interest in the details of a new service or feature. Naturally, a promoter will post
current web releases more frequently than general or even focused ones. A current web release,
for example, might be placed on the web's What's New page to announce even a minor change in
a resource or the addition of a set of new links. A web promoter shouldn't send minor changes to
Web-wide What's New services. Minor changes usually are appropriate only for the web's own
What's New page.
5.2.10 Continuous Monitoring of Your Web's Reputation
Use a keyword searching service to find out what webs link into yours. In AltaVista, the quick
way to do this is to issue a search command that searches for documents with a link to your web,
but then exclude documents at your own site (after all, you might have many links to your own
web at your site). For example, to monitor my Web Development website
(http://www.december.com/web/develop), I go to Altavista.com and enter this in the search box:
link:december.com/web/develop -host:december.com
You also should monitor subject-oriented indexes of Web information to find out into what
resources they link. You can send your focused web release to administrators of sites who can
benefit their users by a link to your web.
5.2.11 Web Business Models
The Web is growing as a place where businesses
reach audiences. Ways of reaching and supporting
customers on the Web are emerging and evolving.
An initial presence on the Web serves as an
organization's base from which to expand and
evolve other services.
The act of web promotion is to increase the web's
halo, or the links that go into a web, giving
potential buyers a way of locating a web. Note
that this increase in links is not necessarily in pure

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numbers. Quality also is a consideration; reaching the target audience, not necessarily everyone
on the Web, is the primary goal.
Through service, publishing, sponsorship, or advertising, a web can meet the needs of potential
buyers.
The buyers on the web take part in information, communication, and interaction on the Web. As
part of this activity, they have a cone of attention, or a region of Web space of which they are
routinely aware.
The goal of promoting a web business is to increase the web's halo so that it intersects as much
as possible with the target buyers' cone of attention.
Doing business on the Web, then, involves taking part in activities and integrating a web with
existing and evolving communities of interest.
5.2.11.1 Web Presence
A web presence is more than just having a home page; it involves an ongoing commitment to
making a web serve its audience. Presence starts with a deployed public web. As part of web
promotion, this presence may include listings in indexes, spider databases, and other listings.
Another option is to join a virtual mall or another association, where the critical mass of
commercial sites attracts interest just as the downtown of a city does: by providing a large
collection of places where a consumer can make choices about purchasing. The West 57th Street
area in New York city has many restaurants devoted to a particular theme (like the Fashion Cafe,
the Motown Cafe, the Hard Rock Cafe, and others), for example, so if you are looking for a
"themed" meal, you just head over to 57th Street and decide when you get there.
5.2.11.2 Customer Service
Beyond just having a presence, a web also can be a powerful way to support customers in
purchasing or using non-Web products and services. Three examples follow:
1. FedEx package tracking (http://www.fedex.com/) This service allows users to find out
when their Federal Express package arrived and who signed for it.
2. Dell computer technical support (http://www.dell.com/) Users of Dell computers can get
detailed technical support on the Web or through e-mail.
3. Novell documentation (http://www.novell.com/) Users of Novell network products can
get up-to-date technical information.
5.2.11.3 Sponsorship
Providing support for a worthy cause or sponsoring an entertainment event has long been a way
for advertisers to get their messages out. Web sponsorship follows some of the same models,
with the goal of bringing a web to the attention of potential customers through association.
Some sponsorship is for special activities, events, or information. Users gain the benefits of this
resource at no cost, and the sponsor gets publicity for its web. Other sponsorship can be for
information directly in the domain expertise of the sponsors. For example, a global
telecommunications company (http://www.wiltel.com/) maintains and develops a large
telecommunications library available for free on the Web.

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To build more interest in your products or services, you also might want to use direct promotions
at your Web site. If you are selling widgets, for example, you might offer a buy-one-get-one-free
offer. You may have special discounts for sales during specific weeks.
5.2.11.4 Advertising
Advertising has long been a way for consumers to get information at a fraction of the cost it
would take to purchase it directly. A newspaper or magazine, for example, costs much more than
its subscription price--advertisers pay the difference in order to reach the publication's audience.
Similarly, Web-based advertising also offers businesses a way to get their web in the attention
field of potential customers. Customers, as a result, get information and entertainment that could
not be provided for free.
On the Web, sponsored advertising is flourishing as a model for providing content.
5.2.11.5 Publishing
Publishing is the act of making a work widely known and available. Everyone on the Web
therefore might be considered a publisher. Publishing as an institution means more than just
printing, however, and includes issues of editorial selectivity and control to ensure quality,
accuracy, timeliness, and relevance to user needs.
A Web publishing model involves intensive work by people that is no different (or easier) than
the creative and demanding work required in paper-based publishing. What changes in the Web-
based model is that web development is a key part of this process; authors as well as publishers
create webs to deliver information or content to users. Through processes of interaction among
authors, publishers, and users, a work's content and its value can be negotiated within the
communities of users. The authors primarily are concerned with creating content; the publishers
primarily are concerned with creating a reputation and value for that content among users and
making the work widely known. Content is editorially filtered so that the users get what is best
and most valuable. This form of filtering may become increasingly important as Web space
becomes saturated with more and more information.
5.2.12 Wrap-Up
Web promotion should pay close attention to the Web's media characteristics and qualities as
well as developed social norms, protocols, and customs.
A Web promotion philosophy should recognize that excellence will rise to the top, and that the
purpose of promotion is to get the word out and differentiate your web from others.
Web-promotion techniques use publicity releases that are timed and crafted for several levels of
audience interest: general, focused, and current audiences.
Web promoters should monitor keyword and subject-based resource collections to find out how
their web is listed and used.
Web business models attempt to negotiate a web's value within a community of users by using
techniques to meet needs and gain attention in communication, information, and interaction
forums.

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Chapter 6: Innovation
Innovation is the process of continuously improving the usability and quality of the web to meet
and exceed user expectations.

Innovation involves finding creative or unique ways to improve the elements of the web or
engage the web's audience.
6.1 Key Innovation Practices
 Continuously and creatively work for improvement to meet user needs.
 Based on analysis, user testing, and focus groups, identify new user needs.
 Identify new technologies that may help you meet user needs better.

6.2 Key Innovation Resources

 Spend some time exploring the entries in The Top of the Web to get an idea of some
interesting and innovative webs.
 Information Quality: Quality, Guidelines & Standards for Internet Information
Resources, edited by Dr. T. Matthew Ciolek. This document provides pointers to
information about good procedures and practices in building Internet-based information
resources.
 APQC: The American Productivity & Quality Center and International Benchmarking
Clearinghouse. This resource includes public and membership information about quality
and process improvement.
6.3 Discussion

A web is not usually a static product that can be deployed and then abandoned. New information,
users with unique needs, and opportunities for additional services constantly are introduced to
the online world. Therefore, you'll need to use a process of continuous innovation to improve and
expand your web's service, usability, consistency, and the integration of the web with all your
organization's communications systems.
6.3.1 An Innovation Overview

The innovation process works closely with the other processes of web development. In fact,
innovation is a complement to each of the web-development processes; it draws information
from them about the current web and identifies new needs for the web to serve users. No one
person on a web-development team is designated as the single web innovator. Instead, all the
team members participate in innovation.

Innovation involves using a variety of techniques and strategies that evolve as web developers
gain experience. This chapter describes techniques that relate to the characteristics and qualities
of the web as a medium and the needs and experience of users. These techniques should help
web developers creatively meet the needs of users, continuously improve the web's quality, and
use technological innovation to increase the web's usability.

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6.3.2 Web Innovation Techniques

Innovation is a creative, dynamic process that can't be fully encapsulated in a series of how-to
steps. Instead, innovation is a repertoire of skills in creatively monitoring and understanding user
needs and developing web structures to meet those needs.

Because the World Wide Web is dynamic, highly enmeshed, competitive, and often a
continuously available, global service, developing a web never stops. The information space in
which a web operates constantly changes, and, possibly, the domain information of a web
changes. The amount that a web changes depends on users' needs, the nature of the domain
information, and other factors such as the growth of competitive webs. The key to approaching
this need for continuous development is to keep all web-development processes operating. After
plans are made for a web, those plans should be reevaluated and adjusted to new conditions.
People working on the planning, analysis, design, implementation, and promotion of a web need
to communicate with each other, work together to accomplish many tasks, and continuously
strive to improve the web for the good of the user.

6.3.2.1 Monitor the User's Information Environment

Web developers should keep informed of similar or competitors' webs that may share the web's
purpose and audience. If appropriate, developers might consider collaborating with competitors'
webs so that each organization can focus on a specialization and share the benefits of greater user
service.

Web developers also should be aware of their audience's professional societies, trade shows,
conventions, periodicals, related Net resources, and changing interests. Web developers may
have to accomplish this through off-Web channels (on the Net) or through print magazines,
journals, and newsletters. Knowing what information the audience is involved with and how its
members' interests and pursuits are changing can help identify new needs that a web may serve.

Web developers also should be aware of how their users perceive the web. Building a web's
reputation for quality, comprehensiveness, and user service can help increase a web's value in the
audience's perception. A continuous process of defining what value means for users can help a
web improve. How does a web's objective statement imply a definition of value for the user? Do
the users share this definition? Innovators can consider how to integrate the user's definition of
value into the planning and analysis processes. In this way, innovators can aggressively meet the
defined audience's needs and purpose, and identify new services before competitor webs.

6.3.2.2 Continuously Improve Quality

Web innovators should seek to creatively meet and exceed user expectations and needs by
improving the web's value, accuracy, currency, competitiveness, and user interest. Increasing
these aspects of a web is a multiprocess effort: the techniques described here blend with and
borrow from the other processes of web development.

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6.3.2.2.1 What Is Quality for the Web?

Quality is a difficult term to define specifically for a particular domain or product. Total Quality
Management, derived from W. Edwards Deming's principles, includes ideas such as continuous,
measurable improvement and multidisciplinary responsibility for improving a product.
Information quality has much in common with product quality. Like a physical product,
information should meet user needs (satisfy the customer). Meeting this principle in specific
information-development practices and web-design features, however, is not so straightforward;
the type of needs a user has varies greatly from application to application. A general statement
for web information quality can be made, however.
6.3.2.2.2 Web Quality
Quality as a goal for web information involves a continuous process of planning, analysis,
design, implementation, promotion, and innovation to ensure that the information meets user
needs in terms of both content and interface.

The definition of quality that appears here can be useful as a touchstone for developing specific
practices.

Quality therefore is more a process of continuous improvement than a set of characteristics of a

finished object (a web). Due to the dynamic nature of Web information and the context in which
it exists, any outward sign of a web's quality can change over time even if the web itself doesn't
change.

An overall principle such as this can guide an information developer to view quality as
something emerging from processes. More specific characteristics describing the quality of
products resulting from these processes can be stated, however. Quality Web information is:
 Correct. Within its stated scope, purpose, and the context of its presentation, web
information should give the user cues as to its purpose, scope, and status. Developers
should ensure that the information presented in the web stays consistent with these
stated characteristics. Web information must not only be factually precise (to the degree
that its users require), but it also should include cues that help the user know the web's
particular definition and scope of "correctness" as well as appropriate use.
 Accessible. Although information presented with a web, when viewed with multimedia
equipment, can present a rich experience for the user, web developers must ensure that
these bells and whistles don't make important information inaccessible to some users.
The scope of where critical information should be encoded is part of the planning
process. Web developers should know their audience's requirements, but they don't need
to abandon the use of graphics or sound to conform to the least capable browser. If
significant segments of the target audience don't have multimedia capabilities (or want
such features), however, the web should be designed so that important information is
not masked behind features the users can't or won't access.
 Usable. From the functional perspective, the web should deliver the information that
users need with a minimum amount of clutter, in a design that captures the information
and takes full advantage of hypertext. This means that text is not in one monstrous file.

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 Instead, the pages in the web should aim to capture a single unit of user attention-not
with so little information that the user has to thrash through multiple links in the web to
find meaning, but not with so much information that the user is overwhelmed by a
single page.
 Understandable. The web should contain cues and employ composition principles that
build and shape meaning. Web developers can use techniques for writing methodologies
used in paper and other media-audience analysis, rhetorical devices (for example,
parallelism and analogies), and technical communication techniques (for example,
chunking information, cueing the reader, and ordering information). Hypertext is not
constrained to be linear; however, in local doses and at surface particular layers,
hypertext is linear prose. More accurately, hypertext can be thought of as text that isn't
constrained in a single expressive object (such as a web) or to a single perspective for
meaning. Web-based hypertext is unbounded text that derives meaning from its links
that endlessly branch into Web space. Creating meaning at a local level within
hypertext, however, still involves crafting prose (or using visual or aural elements) to
create meaning. To do this, a developer needs to use effective composition principles as
opposed to forcing a user to construct meaning by decoding unorganized pieces of
information.
 Meaningful. Within its stated scope and context of presentation, a quality web somehow
should reach for a significance beyond itself-a meaning that can help a user form new
relationships among information. From these new relationships, new knowledge or
insights may form. For example, Le WebMuseum (http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/) is an
online art gallery containing online exhibits and a tour of Paris. As Le WebMuseum
shows, "meaning" is not purely a transfer of information content; instead, it emerges as
a result of encountering that information. A web should not merely present information,
but it should assist users in analyzing and interpreting that information within a larger
context. In fact, this contextualizing aspect of meaning is one of the strengths of the
Web itself.

6.3.2.3 What Information Providers Can Do to Increase Quality

Specifically, the growth of Web information challenges information providers to increase quality
in the following areas:
 Content. Draw on domain experts to judge and critique information, and to suggest
content development and improvements. Tirelessly work for authoritative sources and
fresh links to them in the web. Use the power of collaborating experts to fuel content
development and improvements.
 Presentation. Use techniques to cue users to the purpose, offerings, status, and usability
of web information. Use HTML design techniques that exploit the power of hypertext.
Chunk information into manageable pieces. Use links to refer to concepts and
information instead of reproducing it. Keep graphics, multimedia, and other features
serving the best interests of the users. This includes minimizing where necessary and
including where appropriate.
 Discovery. Remain aware of subject-oriented collections as well as indexes on the Web.
Publicize a web's information so that it is included in appropriate indexes and subject
trees.

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 Be aware of schemes for keyword indexing. Design document hotspots, titles, and other
features to provide the best information for keyword searching tools.

Provide a web's information within the context and communities of its intended
audience so that the users (and potential users) know a web's offerings and new
developments.

6.3.2.4 Innovation

Unceasingly work for innovative techniques used for a web's presentation and content so that it
meets and exceeds the users' changing needs. Creatively experiment in nontraditional expression
to exploit new hypermedia features and techniques that meet the users' needs. Adjust a web's
development processes to allow for new ideas, approaches, and techniques, so that creativity can
flourish.

6.3.2.5 Information Quality Web

As part of an effort to gather information about information systems quality, the Coombs
Computing Unit of The Australian National University has created a page that points to some
good ideas about improving the quality of networked information (see Information Quality).

6.3.2.6 Testing and Evaluation

During the analysis process, the existing web was evaluated for its usability. During the
innovation process, these same evaluations can be done to invent something new or to identify a
need for users that hasn't been met before.

Testing and evaluating user experience of a web is a way to monitor the web's overall health. If
users get the information they need, the web is doing a good job. Maintaining a web at a high
level of service, however, is not easy. A web innovator needs to make an effort to anticipate how
to keep a web relevant to the audience's needs and to keep it accurate and complete.

To develop the quality of a web, results from the analysis process of the existing web can be a
first step. The access logs of a web might show patterns of user interest that may be at odds with
the planner's intent in building the web.

A web innovator also can directly contact users to find out what they think of a web with a
survey form or through a voluntary email list. Here are some other specific innovation checks:
 Usability testing. Observe audience members in their own settings as they use a web.
This might be difficult, particularly if the users are geographically dispersed. This might
be more feasible for studies of company webs, in which there are groups of co-located
users. Observe how users interact with the web to accomplish their work. Note any ways
that the web fails to meet their needs in accomplishing the task(s) for which it was
designed. For some webs offering very specialized services, the work that a web
accomplishes might be a very particular task-just one part of a series of activities
performed by audience members. How can the web's service offerings expand to
possibly meet the needs for these other activities?

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  Feedback. If a voluntary registry of users is available, send a survey to a random sample
of users and ask about their overall levels of satisfaction and use of the web. When the
users voluntarily register, inform them that they might receive such a survey. Provide a
forms interface to elicit user feedback. (Note how this is a self-selected means of getting
feedback versus a direct questionnaire sent to a sample of users, as suggested
previously.)
 Iterative analysis. The analysis checkpoints for a web defined in the analysis
process check on various aspects of the integrity of a web. As a web developer, work
closely with the web analyst (who might even be the same person!) to improve on these
checkpoints and possibly add more. Devise other checks and tests, particularly for
troublesome issues such as a large database or low use of a resource that is identified as
critical in a web.

6.3.2.7 Content Improvements

In the course of improving processes for information retrieval, selection, and presentation, web
innovators also can work on the following:
 Accuracy of sources. In the early days of widespread use of the Net, any information on
it or about it was welcome. Today, the variety of information sources requires users to
seek out only those sources that are the most accurate and useful.
 Link freshness. Because Net resources constantly change, keeping links updated is a
constant task. Using link verification tools, the web analyst can identify stale or broken
links and direct their repair.
 Reducing redundancy. If outside links to resources are made in the web, developers
should seek the highest-level, most stable, most comprehensive information sources for
the given topic.
 Improving annotations. The language in a web is used in keyword databases to index its
information. Therefore, annotations of external links and well-written descriptions of a
web's offerings might be key to bringing a web to the attention of users.
 Providing alternate views. Because of the multipath nature of hypertext, higher level and
alternate views of a web can be made. Different segments of the user audience might
have different needs for information. Creating expert or beginner layers over a web's
domain information might help users get what they need more quickly or with more
help.

6.3.2.8 Advances in Technology

The excitement of the Web still is very much married to the glitz of new toys: new browsers,
graphics techniques, integration with VRML systems, and advances in HTML features. These
technological changes often can be very helpful to better serve user needs as well as to create or
sustain interest in a web. Technical innovation should never be equated with progress, however.
Improving a web sometimes can be accomplished best in redesign or more careful wording of
the language on pages. Technological change also shouldn't be an end in itself; new technology
sets up monetary as well as social barriers to access and has a risk and a cost associated with it.

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One cost of technological change is web developer training and knowledge. Changes in HTML,
possibilities for VRML, and other languages such as Java make training developers an ongoing
process. Although web developers might grasp the technical operation of a feature in a short
amount of time, the deeper integration of that feature into the design and delivery of meaningful
service to users can take longer or might never occur. The hollow use of technical features for
their own sake results in design problems such as K00L design that may stray far from user
needs.

Other costs of technological change are passed directly onto the users of a web. If new
multimedia features are added, users might need to have new hardware, software, and training in
how to understand and use them. Already frustrated with installing upgrades and new releases of
existing software, users might stop following a web into new technological areas and instead
seek other webs that meet their needs at a lower cost.

As part of the strategic-, systems-, or policy-planning process for a web, planners might have
made a decision about technological change rates for the web. Choices for proven technology
give users consistent service and give web developers a chance to improve on their strengths,
talents, skills, and artistry in working with reliable tools. A plan to build on proven technology
follows a stable migration path for adopting new technological innovations.

A choice for cutting-edge technology might propel a web into the attention of audiences who are
concerned with always having the latest in gadgetry. This path might turn off those who just
want to get their work done or want to use proven technology to obtain information or interact. A
path to follow cutting-edge technology might involve much risk and usually higher prices for the
human talent and skills needed to work with these technologies.

A choice even beyond cutting-edge technology-for bleeding-edge technology-is the most risky.
Bleeding-edge technology involves systems that are just in the early development stage and not
even ready or proven for reliable work. In-house development of bleeding-edge technology is
extremely expensive. Although it might interest the earliest innovators in a field, practical users
might be turned off by the unreliable service it offers. Web innovators should be aware of such
bleeding-edge technologies that might be of interest to users, but should use them only if users
need what they can offer, and they can balance it with the risks and costs.

Overall, innovators can turn to the original plans for the web-its purpose and objective
statements, audience, and domain information-and should question whether proven, cutting-
edge, or bleeding-edge technological change is best for the audience.
6.3.3 Wrap-Up

The dynamic characteristic and the competitive quality of the web drive the need for constant
innovation to meet the needs of a web's audience. With all processes of web development
operating continuously and working together, an innovator can monitor the users' information
environments to identify users' new needs.

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An important technique for web innovation is continuous quality improvement. Quality web
information meets users' needs for correctness, accessibility, usability, understandability, and
meaningfulness.

Testing and evaluation by observing users or feedback from users plays a large part in analyzing
as well as identifying the new needs users have.

A web's content can increase as a result of accurate sources, fresh links, reduced redundancy,
improved annotation, and alternate views of information.

The choice to employ new technology in a web must consider the trade-offs among user needs,
cost, and risk. Choosing fast-breaking, bleeding-edge technology often might not be the best
course.

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