Standards And Architectures For NOF Digitisation Projects Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY UKOLN is supported by: URL

2 Standards, Architectures, Applications, Resources 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 XML / XSLT vs. HTML / CSS Which standards are applicable and how they are used OS environment: NT / Unix File system / database application HTML tools / content management Apache / IIS FrontPage / Dreamweaver Oracle / SQLServer ColdFusion vs ASP Development & maintenance costs In-house vs. out-sourced Recruitment & retention issues Licensed vs. open source Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems

3 Standards 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! 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? 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?

4 GIF As an example of the dangers of use of proprietary solutions, consider the GIF file format: Unisys announce that they hold patent to compression algorithm used in GIF images and users of GIF will have to pay Following much debate, Unisys require payment for licence from graphical software developers - and also for end users of unlicensed software ($5,000!) Web community responds with PNG format See WARNING: There is no guarantee that payment will not be required for proprietary file formats which are currently free

5 Standards in NOF Context Standards are important for NOF projects to: Address accountability of public funding Provide universal access to resources (cf disability legislation) Allow deliverables to be reused Ensure cultural heritage resources can be preserved The NOF standards document addresses the standards using a Life Cycle approach: Creation Management Collection development Access Repackaging

6 Architectures Let us consider the following areas: Content Management Systems Architecture Access (Browser support)

7 Content Management Storing resources in HTML and GIF/JPEG is: Easy to do and is a low cost solution  Makes reuse and management of resources difficult GIF / JPEG XML TIFF / …. On-the-fly or batch conversion WML HTML User-agent Negotiation Content Management System for: Management of content (content maintenance, metadata management, access rights, project management, …) Delivery of content (e.g. user-agent negotiation, alternative file formats [such as WML], etc.))

8 Systems Architecture Issues for you to consider: Operating System: Should you go for a Unix OS or Windows NT? If Unix, should you go for Linux? Open Source vs Licensed Solution: Should you go for an open source solution or buy a licensed application? Package vs Do It Yourself: Should you make use of a pre-packages solution or develop your own solution based on a toolkit (e.g. database, scripting language, …)? There are no global solutions – your choice should be based on expertise available locally, resourcing issues, discussions with partners, solutions provider, etc.

9 Browser Issues Which approach to browser issues should you take? Web sites should be usable to old browsers as these are still in use and we aim to maximise access. Therefore you should deliver HTML 3.2 / 4.0 and avoid technologies such as JavaScript and CSS. Old browsers are broken and fail to implement new technologies which provide (a) richer functionality (b) support for new devices and (c) better support for people with disabilities. Therefore you should use the latest stable versions of HTML (XHTML), CSS, etc. Old browsers are broken and fail to implement new technologies which provide (a) richer functionality (b) support for new devices and (c) better support for people with disabilities. Therefore you should use the latest stable versions of HTML (XHTML), CSS, etc. NOTE Use of ‘clean’ HTML should degrade gracefully XHTML is a useful transition format User-agent negotiation may be relevant

10 Questions Any questions?