Planning Your Web Site Brian Kelly UKOLN University

Planning Your Web Site Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath, BA 2 7 AY UK Email B. Kelly@ukoln. ac. uk URL http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/ UKOLN is supported by: A centre of expertise in digital information management www. ukoln. ac. uk

Contents • • Introduction Purpose Of Web Site Resourcing Architectures Information Management Legal Issues Some Useful Resources Questions A centre of expertise in digital information management 2 www. ukoln. ac. uk

About You How many: • Currently run a Web site? • Are thinking about running a Web site? What does your Web site aim to do? A centre of expertise in digital information management 3 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Purpose Scenario Let us imagine a scenario: • You work in a research group within a scientific organisation • You have received funding for a new research project • You wish to provide a Web site which enables you to disseminate your findings Is this a relevant scenario? Is anyone in this position? A centre of expertise in digital information management 4 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Purpose Of Web Site When planning a Web site it is important to think about its purpose Is it: • To provide information about a project to everyone • To provide information to project partners Does the Web site: • Provide access to project deliverables e. g. findings, reports, etc. • Provide access to information about the development of the project Is the Web site: • An information resource • An interactive resource A centre of expertise in digital information management 5 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Purpose Document Its Purpose You should ensure that you document the purpose of the Web site: • All interested parties are made aware • To prevent arguments in the future • To identify the resource needed to develop and maintain the Web site • For use in a specification document • To document what the Web site will not do A centre of expertise in digital information management 6 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources Resourcing Your Web Site In a proposal for research funding (in our scenario) you will document: • The aims of the project and resource requirements You should do the same with your Web site: • The purpose of the Web site • The technical architecture to be used • The information flow for the creation and maintenance of the Web site content • The resources needed to do this: • Staff effort • Hardware • … Software Network A centre of expertise in digital information management 7 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Scenario Our Scenario For our Web site let us imagine: Purpose • The Web site will be used to provide access to published papers, presentations and data for our scientific work • Our target audience is fellow researchers around the world Resources • We have very limited effort to develop the Web site A centre of expertise in digital information management 8 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Areas to consider: Standards: concerned with protocols and file formats Open standards vs. Proprietary HTML / XML vs. PDF CSS / XSL vs. HTML GIF vs PNG Applications: software products used to implement systems Architectures: models for implementing systems NT / Unix File system / database application HTML tools / content management Information Flow Resources: financial and staff costs needed to implement systems Apache / IIS Development vs. Migration costs Front. Page / Dreamweaver Use of in-house expertise Oracle / SQLServer In-house vs. out-sourced Cold. Fusion vs ASP Licensed vs. open source A centre of expertise in digital information management www. ukoln. ac. uk 9

Architectures Which platform should we use for the Web server: Unix • Popular, especially in many scientific institutions, universities, etc. • Linux is open source Windows NT • Also popular • May be easier to use • A Microsoft option may be unpopular Other • Macintosh? ? A centre of expertise in digital information management 10 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Dedicated Server Should we use a dedicated server for our Web site or make use of an existing one? Dedicated Server • Funding may be available • Have greater control • Need resources to manage Existing Server • May be only option if no funding is available • May be managed by others • May not provide options we require A centre of expertise in digital information management 11 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Dedicated Domain Use of your own domain, such as : http: //www. project-name. it/ rather that: http: //www. university. it/depts/cs/ projects/project-name/ has advantages: • Branding • Shorter URLs Memorable … But there are disadvantages • Cost of domain • Loss of identification with host organisation • May conflict with organisation’s policy A centre of expertise in digital information management 12 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Case Study Cultivate Interactive: http: //www. cultivate-int. org/ • An e-journal funded by the EU • Hosted on a Windows NT platform in order to gain experience of this platform • Has its own domain name to maximise impact • The Web site is intended for end users, not for project partners A centre of expertise in digital information management 13 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Backend Architecture You will need to think about the backend architecture for managing and accessing resources: Server-side Scripting HTML Files Options Content Management System A centre of expertise in digital information management 14 Database www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture HTML Architecture Use of HTML files: • Is simple • Likely to be HTML authoring tools available • Can generate HTML from office tools (e. g. MS Word) But: • HTML is difficult to repurpose (it’s an output format rather than a master format) • It’s difficult to manage large numbers of HTML resources using this approach • It’s difficult to introduce new functionality (e. g. personalisation, enhanced user interfaces, etc. ) A centre of expertise in digital information management 15 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Server-Side Scripting Use of server-side scripting (such as PHP or ASP): • Allows HTML fragments to be included • Similar approach to writing software using subroutines This approach also allows header conditional inclusion of fragments: • Time of day • User agent navigation • Cookies • … Main body footer A centre of expertise in digital information management 16 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Database Use of databases (such as My. SQL, Oracle or SQL Server): • Allows resources to be managed • Can make use of RDBMS (relational database management system) features • Database normalisation techniques can ensure that a piece of information (e. g. person’s name, address, etc. ) is stored only once, which helps with maintenance • Resources can be accessed using database techniques (e. g. report writer) as well as by using a Web interface A centre of expertise in digital information management 17 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Content Management System Use of a Content Management System (CMS): • Provides many of the advantages of server-side scripting and databases • Also can provide additional management facilities: • • • Version control Project management Access control Publication utilities … But: • Can be expensive • Open source CMSs available, but may require technical expertise to use A centre of expertise in digital information management 18 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture for the Cultivate Interactive e-journal uses file fragments (SSIs) which are included by a serverside script (ASP technology on a Windows NT Server) issue 8 resources issue 7 ssi css default. asp header. ssi ie-style. css content. ssi nav-top. ssi ns-style. css rss Standard headers, etc. managed separately Case Study Article content managed by editor Cultivate Interactive Request for article <http: //cultivate-int. org/issue 7/rss/> runs default. asp This checks the browser and pulls in an appropriate CSS file. It then pulls in the header. ssi and nav -top. ssi, then the content. ssi file, … A centre of expertise in digital information management www. ukoln. ac. uk 19

Architecture Searching If you have a Web site with more than a few pages you should provide a search facility Possible approaches include: • Running licensed search facility locally e. g. ht: //Dig • Running open source search facility locally e. g. a Microsoft solution • Using an externally-hosted search facility e. g. Google, Freefind, etc. See <http: //www. searchtools. com/> A centre of expertise in digital information management 20 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Approaches To Searching Surveys of the search facilities used in UK University Web sites have been carried out since 1997 ht: //Dig is the most popular – this is an open source solution Externally-hosted solutions, such as Google and Freefind are growing in popularity See <http: //www. ariadne. ac. uk/ issue 30/web-watch/> A centre of expertise in digital information management 21 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Externally-Hosted Solutions http: //www. leeds. ac. uk/ A centre of expertise in digital information management 22 Rather than install a search engine locally you can make use of an externally-hosted solution, such as Google. To do this you simply need to complete a form and then add a few lines of the HTML provided www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Using Metadata may enable you to provide richer searching Scenario – US Government Web Site Find Bush Pages about George Bush and by George Bush, plus details of Bushes in White House garden Find author=Bush Pages by George Bush Note that not all search engines allow you to index metadata A centre of expertise in digital information management 23 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Architecture Cultivate Interactive In Cultivate Interactive the metadata is stored in a neutral form. The metadata is transformed into <META> elements using a single ASP script. ssi rss default. asp content. ssi resources issue 7 issue 8 metadata. ssi author=“Kelly, B” title=“RSS. . ” metadatatransform. ssi Why This Approach? If you wish to make the metadata available in another form (e. g. XHTML) you need to change a single file A centre of expertise in digital information management 24 <meta name=“DC. creator” content=“Kelly, B” /> www. ukoln. ac. uk

Searching in Cultivate Interactive Use of metadata is illustrated http: //www. cultivate-int. org/search/ A centre of expertise in digital information management 25 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Information Management One we have a technical architecture for our Web site we will need to define the information management processes for creating and managing the content Things to consider: • Authoring Tools • Conversion • Standards • Use of CSS • Workflow A centre of expertise in digital information management 26 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Information Management Authoring Tools Many HTML authoring tools are available: • Front. Page • Dreamweaver • HTML-Kit • … Issues: • Cost • Training • Support for standards • Use with HTML fragments A centre of expertise in digital information management 27 The importance of open standards will be discussed in the third lecture www. ukoln. ac. uk

Information Management Conversion In many cases you will have existing resources which are in formats other than HTML (e. g. MS Word, PDF, etc. ) What can be done with such resources: • Make available in proprietary format: • Bur readers without the viewer can’t access the resource • Convert manually (e. g. HTML Transit): • This can be time-consuming • Conversion may not comply with HTML standards • Convert “on-the-fly” (e. g. Transit Central): • This may be expensive A centre of expertise in digital information management 28 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Information Management CSS Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): • Separation of content from appearance cf. monolithic programming with modular programming and use of subroutines • Allows appearance to be managed independently of content • Allows appearance to be managed sensibly: compare one CSS file defining appearance of all files with appearance included in every file But: • Many HTML authoring tools provide limited support for CSS A centre of expertise in digital information management 29 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Information Management Workflow Issues You may have developed an architecture but have you identified the workflow processes: • How will content for the Web site be submitted? • Who will be responsible for converting files, file markup, etc. ? • Who will be responsible for ensuring content is accurate? • Who will be responsible for ensuring that the appearance is satisfactory? • Who will be providing any metadata? • Who will ensure that the resources work correctly? A centre of expertise in digital information management 30 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Case Study Cultivate Interactive Processes for the Cultivate Interactive e-journal Articles are normally submitted by email in MS Word format EDITOR The editor does not deal with the look-and -feel as standard CSS files and navigational features will be used Proofread Convert (MS Word HTML) Tidy HTML and store as fragment Create metadata Move to Web site A centre of expertise in digital information management 31 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources Resourcing Your Web Site Don’t forget the resources you will need to develop and maintain your Web site! Content Management Design Server Backup Desktop PCs Staffing Hardware Software Networking Security Technical Authoring Graphics Server tools Development tools ISP Bandwidth A centre of expertise in digital information management 32 Cache www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources Software For Free Open Source Software A wide range of open source software is available: • Free – available for no charge • Open – source code available for modification Includes: • Server software: Apache • Authoring tools: HTML-kit • Server-side scripting environments: PHP • Content Management Software: Zope • … Note that you will need technical expertise in order to install and use open source software. Not allofopen source software provides value for money A centre expertise in digital information management www. ukoln. ac. uk 33

Resources Software For Free Externally-Hosted Services Rather than installing software locally another approach is to use remote services such as: • Web statistics • Online surveys • Content • … Useful Resources <http: //www. free-webmaster-resources. net/> <http: //kresch. com/resources/> <http: //www. thefreesite. com/> <http: //www. mycomputer. com/index 2. html> A centre of expertise in digital information management 34 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Case Study Cultivate Interactive http: //www. exploit-lib. org/issue 5/indicators/ Cultivate Interactive (and its predecessor) made use of an externally-hosted service for providing usage statistics http: //www. ariadne. ac. uk/issue 23/web-focus/ An Ariadne article summaries the pros and cons of this approach A centre of expertise in digital information management 35 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Do not forget the legal implications of running Web sites: • • Copyright, protection of IPR, … Data Protection Libel Defamation Contractual issues Accessibility … You will need to think about the dangers of others suing you and the need for you to protect your own intellectual resources A centre of expertise in digital information management 36 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Copyright You find a Web site that you like so you: • Copy the Web site and replaces its logo with yours • Copy its images and use on your Web site • Copy the HTML in order to have a similar lookand-feel • Copy its CSS file • Copy its Java. Script • Copy its words All of these would breach the copyright of the owner! Think about what you would think if you commissioned a design for your Web site and a competitor stole it. A centre of expertise in digital information management 37 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Copyright (2) Some of the major companies will actively protect their copyright: • Images of Disney cartoon characters • “Harry Potter” name, images, etc. Companies such as Disney, AOL Time Warner, etc. will: • Include watermarks in their images, video clips, etc. and use automated tools to find Web sites using them • Use search engine tools to find Web sites using their trade marks without permission A centre of expertise in digital information management 38 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Copyright (3) What should you do? • Develop your own resources, so that you own the copyright • Make use of copyright-free resources: • Copyright-free clip art libraries • Open source scripts • … A centre of expertise in digital information management 39 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Data Protection EU legislation is becoming increasingly strict on data protection issues: • Information held about individuals must be registered under the Data Protection Act • The information must only be used for the registered purpose • The information must be accurate • Individuals have rights to view the information held about them If you run a conference, you must be careful about publishing delegate information on the Web A centre of expertise in digital information management 40 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Link Policies Can you add a link to a Web site without seeking permission? http: //dontlink. com/ Some organisations do not allow links to be made unless permission has been agreed! It is currently unclear as to whether this has any legal standing Linking. You may not link to this site without prior written permission from Exxon. Mobil. http: //www. mobil. com/privacy/ A centre of expertise in digital information management 41 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Link Policies (2) Can you think of any valid reasons for implementing such link policies? • “Deep links” can cause loss of revenue by users missing ads on home page • The <IMG> tag is a kind of link – and you wouldn’t want your logo on someone else’s Web site • You might not want to be linked to from a “World’s Worst Web Sites” page! From a scientific research point of view you should probably treat links as valid forms of citation, and not wish to place restrictions on others linking to you A centre of expertise in digital information management 42 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues Libel And Defamation If your Web site contains: “Dr Smith’s research findings are severely flawed. This is not surprising as the man is an idiot and should be sacked from his post” do not be surprised if Dr Smith takes you to could for defamation of character. Do not be surprised if he wins! A centre of expertise in digital information management 43 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Legal Issues An Acceptable Use Policy You should develop an Acceptable Use Policy for your Web site which covers: • Content of your Web site • Rules for information providers • … http: //www. lboro. ac. uk/ computing/policies/ A Google search for “AUP” or “acceptable use policy” will provide many examples A centre of expertise in digital information management 44 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources Further Information The Institutional Web Management Workshop: • Has been held annually since 1997 • Is aimed at institutional Web managers in UK Universities • Lasts for 3 days • Consists of: • Keynote Presentations: Case studies of best practices • Workshop Sessions: Discussion groups, hands-on sessions, etc. in which participants make active contributions in areas of interest • Social Events: Which help to develop a community spirit A centre of expertise in digital information management 45 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources IWMW 2002 http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/web-focus/ events/workshops/webmaster-2002/ Let us review some of the main themes from the most recent workshop A centre of expertise in digital information management 46 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources QA For The Web Site http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/web-focus/ events/workshops/webmaster-2002/qa/ The QA procedures for the workshop Web site are available In addition materials for a QA Workshop session are available at <http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/web-focus/events/workshops/ webmaster-2002/materials/napier/ > A centre of expertise in digital information management www. ukoln. ac. uk 47

Open Source Debate A debate on “The house believes that the future of Web in UK Higher and Further Education communities lies in the adoption of open source software” took place at the workshop http: //www. ukoln. ac. uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2002/debate/ A centre of expertise in digital information management 48 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Resources Further Information Some useful resources: • WDVL, <http: //www. wdvl. com/> • Web. Reference, <http: //www. webreference. com/> • Webmonkey, <http: //hotwired. lycos. com/webmonkey/> • Web Developers Journal, <http: //www. webdevelopersjournal. com/> • Builder. com, <http: //builder. com/> • Internet. com, <http: //www. internet. com/home. html> • Internet Product. Watch, <http: //ipw. internet. com/> • HTML Goodies, <http: //www. htmlgoodies. com/> A centre of expertise in digital information management 49 www. ukoln. ac. uk

Questions Any questions? A centre of expertise in digital information management 50 www. ukoln. ac. uk