Web Site Creation: Good Practice Guidelines Standards For Project Web Sites

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Web Site Creation Good Practice Guidelines
Standards For Project Web Sites

• Brian Kelly
• UK Web Focus
• UKOLN
• University of Bath

Email B.Kelly_at_ukoln.ac.uk URL http//www.ukoln.ac.
uk/
UKOLN is supported by
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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
Standards concerned with protocols and file
formats
Which standards are applicable NT / UnixFile
system / database application HTML tools /
content management
Open standards vs. Proprietary HTML / XML vs.
PDF CSS / XSL vs. HTML
Applications software products used to implement
systems
Resources financial and staff costs needed to
implement systems
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
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The Goal

• Before the Web
• Access to resources typically required use of
  software vendors 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!

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Advantages In Use Of Standards
Standardisation process should provide
architectural integrity
Use of open standards formats is free
Standardisation process should provide
interoperability
Standardisation process should avoid ownership /
patent problems
Advantages
Standardisation process should address
accessibility issues
Standardisation process may be informed by a
broader vision (e.g. W3C and Tim Berners-Lees
vision)
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Disadvantages And Problems
The market place may provide a better forum for
driving innovation
Open standards may be slow in arriving due to
length of process
Proprietary formats likely have relevant tools
Disadvantages
Open standards may fail to be adopted
If theres a need for a feature the market place
will provide it
Early adopters of open standards may find that
the standards change or are superseded
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Different Perspectives

• Different groups will have differing views on the
  importance of standards

ContentProviders May be persuaded
FundersLikely to insist on standards
Users Disinterested
Developers Whats in itfor them?
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Nightmare Scenarios

• Too Flash
• A Flash-based Web site is developed which looks
  impressive but
• Doesnt 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 doesnt 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

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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.

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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.

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A Standards Culture

• NOF-digi projects will be expected to
• Develop solutions which are informed by the
  standards-based culture of the programmes
  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

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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

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Further Information

• For further information on standards see
• W3C Web site at lthttp//www.w3.org/gt
• Web Standards Project at lthttp//www.webstandards.
  org/gt
• Diffuse Project Home Page at lthttp//www.diffuse.o
  rg/gt
• WDVL Specifications and Standards at
  lthttp//www.wdvl.com/WebRef/Standards/gt
• Or use Google to search for Web standards
  standards for digitisation projects, standards
  for digitization projects, standards for
  digital library projects, etc.

Any questions?