IMS5401 Web-based Systems Development Topic 3: Development for the web (a) Overview of web development issues

2 Agenda 1.Topic 3(a) Overview of web development: Who should develop web-based systems? Web development tasks and processes Some web development problems 2.Topic 3(b) Web Content design and layout: The context for content design and layout Web site content creation: issues Layout and graphic design: issues Information professionals and web design

Who should develop Web- based systems? ‘Ownership’ of the development task Specialisation in development processes and tasks; specialist developers Determining influences on specialisation in development task Specialisation of development process within IT The state of development process for the web?

4 The context for development process Web Application (Purpose) Development Process Web Technology

5 Some perspectives on Web usage and development An IT perspective: Making the technology work Extending the technological capabilities An IS perspective Linking client needs to technological capabilities Turning the concept into a working system An IM perspective Identifying and classifying the information Managing the information collection Other perspectives? Publishing, media, graphic design, e-commerce, etc

6 IS/IT/IM professionals and the web What aspects of web systems development and usage need the skills and expertise of IS/IM/IT professionals? Can (should?) IS/IM/IT professionals extend their knowledge and skills to include new areas needed by web systems? What other professional groups can/should be involved in web development, and how will their work relate to that of the IS/IM/IT professionals?

Web development tasks and processes IS has developed methods and techniques for carrying out systems development: Waterfall SDLC, prototyping, RAD, JAD, etc DFDs, E-R modelling, O-O, interface design, etc How well do they fit the development needs of the web and different types of web system? Needs for analysis/design/etc may remain, but how should they be done for a web application? Different development processes for different applications? Maybe development processes from other disciplines work better for some applications?

8 How well-suited are our (IS) methods and techniques to web development? Our development processes and techniques derive from engineering and the ‘scientific’ disciplines Other design/development traditions (arts, architecture, etc) have different approaches Is web development a design problem in: engineering? architecture? fine arts? information? something else?

9 Issues for web development: methods and techniques What are the specialised development problems which have emerged which require resolution in web development? What are the methods/techniques which have evolved to cater for these? Note the dependence on perspective! – Siegel vs Rosenfeld & Morville vs Nielsen vs McCracken & Wolf, etc

Some web development problems Briefly introduce some key problem areas: Content design and layout User interaction Site architecture & navigation Content and site management Each of these areas is: very complex strongly influenced by the application and the (changing) technology Second assignment

11 Some web development problems: Content design and layout Choosing the right media for message representation on the web Making the media work for an audience of web users Web page structure and layout Creating page content suitable for the web Page design Design standards and creativity Modelling and design

12 Some web development problems: User interaction The nature of user interaction Measuring user response Evaluating site design Catering for different audiences

13 Some web development problems: Site architecture & navigation How to structure a web site and its information How to make a web site easy to use How to make the information on the site searchable and findable How to support multiple user/usage types

14 Some web development problems: Content and site management Indexing site content and optimising its searchability Implementation and installation issues Maintaining site content