Publishing An e-Journal Reader Requirements UKOLN is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based. Pres 4

2 Session Aims In this session we will: Discuss what readers might expect from our Web publication(s) Highlight any issues which will need to be resolved in order to satisfy these requirements Look at some examples

3 Exercise Complete exercise on Reader Requirements What reader requirements have you identified? What issues need to be addressed? E

4 Reader Requirements Access to individual articles Access to complete issues Accessible (to blind / no plugins needed) Citable and bookmarkable Articles maintained (no broken links) Searchable (in various ways) Table of Contents Available on Web Feedback mechanism Available by , on PDA, etc. Annotation / discussion Innovative Usable interface Attractive design Quality Format Navigation Functionality Content Good, relevant content Everything works Innovative Interface Reader Requirements Ease of printing No adverts Notification when released Customisable Findable (via search engine) Persistent

5 Contents Identifying Reader Requirements Design Issues Identifiers Notification Printing Searching Handling: Out-of-date content Broken links Architecture Identifiers

6 User Interface Cultivate Interactive and Exploit Interactive: Design brief produced Design outsourced Simple but usable interface Uses CSS and (X)HTML Accessible to all browsers & robots E-Book format being evaluated

7 Design of Electronic Publications What type of interface should you use for the home page: PreambleMenu NewsContent teaser Flash screen …

8 Attractive Design Having had a look around at several web sites and e-journals, we found that you have managed to combine simplicity, elegance, completeness and advanced technical backing. Susan Leech O'Neale, CERN, Sep

9 Design Brief Design brief for Exploit Interactive produced: Background about publication Definition of structure (Feature Articles, Regular Columns, News & Events, Etc.) Preferred solutions (standards based, no use of Flash, PDF, etc.) Importance of accessible design Available budget Design solution provided by ILRT, University of Bristol Issue: Do you outsource the design (and information architecture) or do it inhouse?

10 DesignFeatures Indented margins (IE only) Footer (enhanced during lifetime) Footer navigation Acknowledgments Local navigation (here in Features section) Flagging external (and broken) links [added later] Global navigation (home & search page) with grey background Internal links to references

11 Cultivate Interactive Design Key features Indented margin Site-wide navigation Issue navigation Lead-in / abstract: used as metadata Logo Similar approach taken for Cultivate Interactive with minor differences

12 Cultivate Interactive Design Internal links to references References can be followed from print External links flagged

13 Cultivate Interactive Design Author details, including photo, contact info. and biography Citation details Link to translation service

14 Changing Look and Feel Use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) makes it easier: Support new media types (e.g. print) For publisher to change appearance (single file) To allow reader to change appearance either using browser options or by selection of CSS Note we provide different style sheets for IE and Netscape

15 Changing The Look-and-Feel A Style Sheet Selector is being developed to allow readers to change the appearance. Of use for: Visually impaired Specialist devices A Style Sheet Selector is being developed to allow readers to change the appearance. Of use for: Visually impaired Specialist devices Issues: Should we allow readers to be able to chose an ugly appearance Shouldnt this be done in the browser?

16 User Control Over Look and Feel Giving users control over the look and feel: Is good for accessibility (visually impaired, colour blind, etc.) Can provide support for new devices (digital TV, …) Can be useful for standard device in unusual conditions (PCs in bright conditions, …) But: Lose control over branding Users can do silly things User control – what do you think? Good idea Bad idea User control – what do you think? Good idea Bad idea

17 Design - Issues To Consider Design Brief Its needed. But should it be outsourced? Design Technologies What formats and technologies, should you specify in the design brief – Flash, Shockwave, JavaScript, … Testing The Interface How should you test the design? What if its not acceptable? Personalisation Should readers be able to change the design?

18 URL Naming Scheme Entry Point Main entry point is : –Memorable address –More manageable Web site Issues Issue has URL of form: Articles Article has URL of form: Avoidance of File Names URLs make use of default file name i.e. not:

19 Notification How do users find out when a new issue is available? Spamming lists can be irritating Cultivate Interactive has 2 notification services: Netmind service ( sent when page changes) Local database of interested readers Which is best? Cultivate Interactive has 2 notification services: Netmind service ( sent when page changes) Local database of interested readers Which is best?

20 Print All The Print All feature: Allows all articles to be viewed on single page Developed to allow single printout of all articles to be produced easily

21 Search Facility You should provide a search facility for your online publication If resources arent available, try a third party service, such as Atmoz or Google If resources are available, try to use metadata and configure the search facility to reflect the Webzine structure Find articles in all issues published as Feature Articles which concern projects funded by DIGICULT

22 Out-Of-Date Articles What do you do when an article becomes out- of-date? What parts of an article are we discussing? What are the pros and cons of different approaches? metadata-masses/intro.html Published 11 September 1996 Widely cited and linked to Published 11 September 1996 Widely cited and linked to

23 Annotations You could allow the author to annotate the article For example, see Jakobs Nielsons Alertbox column What are the pros and cons of this approach?

24 User Feedback You could provide a general article feedback mechanism What are the pros and cons of this approach?

25 Updating Broken Links Links in Exploit Interactive articles were breaking. Should they: Be fixed: –Articles provide historic information and updating broken links would be rewriting history –Readers of articles simply want links to work Be left –Fixing links is time-consuming –If you fix them, will you (the editor) know that the link is pointing to the correct resource? Be annotated: –Annotated links so that end users get working links, but are also aware that a change has been made? Use some new piece of magic?

26 Updating Broken Links Links in Exploit Interactive articles were becoming broken Broken links in references: Contained icon indicating they were a link Icon updated once broken link spotted

27 People Information Case Study: A regular contributor to Ariadne marries and changes her name. Her name is also changed. What should we do to the contact address in old articles? In General Information about people is volatile: Names change (marriage, etc.) addresses change Postal addresses and affiliation changes Status change (Miss, Mrs, Dr., etc.) Possible problems: A search by Author will not find full set of articles Contacting authors via or post may not work In General Information about people is volatile: Names change (marriage, etc.) addresses change Postal addresses and affiliation changes Status change (Miss, Mrs, Dr., etc.) Possible problems: A search by Author will not find full set of articles Contacting authors via or post may not work

28 From Locators to Identifiers The effectiveness of the Web to provide access to quality information is deteriorating: Increasing numbers of links are becoming broken Resources change address as Web sites are reorganised to: –Reflect organisational changes –Exploit new technologies (e.g. content management systems, databases, etc.) Resources are moved when authors move to new jobs A move from locators to (more stable) identifiers is needed in order to provide end users with more reliable services and to ensure that important resources are not lost

29 From Static HTML To Databases A move from storing information in HTML files to use of structured databases is needed: In order to be able to update information in a manageable way (e.g. Jane Smith has married, John Brown is a Professor, etc.) In order to be able to deploy new technologies These architectural issues are needed in order to provide more robust user services. They will be discussed in the Publisher Session

30 Future Developments Ideas for new functionality for the readers: Automated news feeds (summaries of articles) which can be embedded in third party Web sites Summary information available using WAP phones [to evaluate ease of conversion of other XML types] access to newsletter View similar articles (using search and metadata) Personalised interface VRML, simulation, multimedia, … New author / editorial board functions could also be added: If cookie=editor display validation checks If cookie=author display statistics