1. Web Site Creation: Good Practice Guidelines Standards For Project Web Sites Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath UKOLN is supported by: Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

2. 2 Standards, Architectures, Applications, Resources The NOF-digi Technical Advisory Service aims to reach agreement on standards and be agnostic on the applications and architectures used to implement the standards, provided services are interoperable Architectures: models for implementing systems Applications: software products used to implement systems Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats Open standards vs. Proprietary HTML / XML vs. PDF CSS / XSL vs. HTML Which standards are applicable NT / Unix File system / database application HTML tools / content management Apache / IIS FrontPage / Dreamweaver Oracle / SQLServer / MySQL ColdFusion vs ASP vs JSP Development vs. Migration costs Use of in-house expertise In-house vs. out-sourced Licensed vs. open source Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems

3. 3 The Goal Before the Web Access to resources typically required use of software vendor’s software – which was only available on limited no. of platforms. Often the software would be licensed. The goal of the Web was to provide universal access to resources. Who could argue with this goal? Need for standards to provide: Platform and application independence Avoidance of patented technologies Flexibility and architectural integrity Long-term access to data Ideally look at standards first, then find applications which support the standards. However it can be difficult to achieve this ideal!

4. 4 Advantages In Use Of Standards Advantages Use of open standards formats is free Standardisation process should provide architectural integrity Standardisation process should provide interoperability Standardisation process should address accessibility issues Standardisation process may be informed by a broader vision (e.g. W3C and Tim Berners-Lee’s vision) Standardisation process should avoid ownership / patent problems

5. 5 Disadvantages And Problems Disadvantages Open standards may be slow in arriving due to length of process The market place may provide a better forum for driving innovation Proprietary formats likely have relevant tools Open standards may fail to be adopted Early adopters of open standards may find that the standards change or are superseded “If there’s a need for a feature the market place will provide it”

6. 6 Different Perspectives Different groups will have differing views on the importance of standards Funders Likely to insist on standards Content Providers May be persuaded Users: Disinterested Developers: What’s in it for them?

7. 7 Nightmare Scenarios Too Flash A Flash-based Web site is developed which looks impressive but: Doesn’t work on digital TVs (discovered after Tony Blair announces digital TV access to E-Government) Too Microsoft A Web site is developed which uses proprietary Microsoft software but: It doesn’t work on Apple Macs, Palm PDAs or Unix systems Microsoft is split into separate companies and the Web company decides to charge to use its reader software

8. 8 The Holy Grail A NOF-digi Web site is developed using open standards Change Of OS For financial, security and performance reasons it is felt that the service should move from a Microsoft platform to Linux. This is achieved with little effort due to avoidance of MS-specific features. Support For New Devices Following growth in use of Palms PDAs and Digital TVs, access by these devices is achieved by adding a simple transformation script to transform from a neutral XML master. Integration With E-Government and NGfL Following audits of e-government resources, only compliant resources are permitted. The NOF-digi Web sites satisfies the e-government requirements.

9. 9 Our Perspective From the point of view of the NOF-digi Technical Advisory Service: Standards are of particular importance to a publicly-funded programme Standards are of particular importance in the digitisation of cultural heritage in which long term access is important Accessibility (for people with disabilities and from a wide range of devices) is important However it is recognised that there are areas in which:  Open standards may not be mature  Projects will be facing challenges with timescales, resources, expertise, etc.

10. 10 A Standards Culture NOF-digi projects will be expected to: Develop solutions which are informed by the standards-based culture of the programme’s Standards and Guidelines framework and seek to use them whenever possible Ensure that the key deliverables comply with accessibility guidelines Fully document occasions when use of open standards is felt not to be possible:  Research into open standards alternatives and documents pros and cons  Develop migration strategy for move from proprietary format to open standards

11. 11 Migration Strategy If proprietary formats are to be used projects should provide a migration strategy which: Provides evidence of research into open alternatives and why they are not suitable Documents integration of the proprietary format with an open solution (e.g. Flash interface which reads XML data) Documents how the interface will appear to non-standard browsers (e.g. old browsers, browsers on PDAs, offline browsers, search engines, etc.) Describes migration to an open alternative when/if one becomes available, including  Resource implications  Model for migration (emulation, software transformation, re-digitising)  Possible funding streams for the work

12. 12 Further Information For further information on standards see: W3C Web site at Web Standards Project at Diffuse Project Home Page at WDVL: Specifications and Standards at Or use Google to search for “Web standards” “standards for digitisation projects”, “standards for digitization projects”, “standards for digital library projects”, etc. Any questions?