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If I Could Start All Over Again:Lessons To be Learnt

From The HE Community

Brian Kelly

UK Web Focus

UKOLN

University of Bath

Bath, BA2 7AY

UKOLN is funded by the Library and Information Commission, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher 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.

EmailB.Kelly@ukoln.ac.ukURLhttp://www.ukoln.ac.uk/

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Contents

• Introduction• Scale of the Challenges• What's the Web Site For?• Before Authoring: Web Site Structure• Case Studies:

• Home Pages • Search engines• 404 error pages • Web Gateways

• Need for a More Sophisticated Approach?• Conclusions

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UK Web Focus

UK Web Focus:• JISC-funded post• Advises UK HE community on web

developments• Represents JISC on World Wide Web

Consortium (W3C)• Organises events (e.g. national web

managers workshop)• Dissemination of information: e.g. columns in

Ariadne <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/> and Exploit Interactive <http://www.exploit-lib.org/>

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About You

How many:• Will be responsible for developing a new

library web site from scratch (or from small beginnings)?

• Are responsible for managing a mature web service and are looking to develop the service further?

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Scale of the Challenges

How big is your web site?

How big might it be in 2 year's time?

How many pages, images, links, etc will you have to manage?

Will your web site evolve from "brochureware" to having a functional role in your organisation?

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Leeds Web Site

Analysis of Leeds Library web site

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Nottinghamshire Library web site

Analysis of Nottinghamshire CC Library web site

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What's Your Web Site For?

University web sites:• Originally developed by enthusiasts• Often made use of innovative new

technologies• Deteriorated in quality as:

– Information management became more important that software development

– Enthusiasts left or responsibilities transferred

Remember a web site is for life, not just for Christmas

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Need for a Web Strategy

Is a need for strategic planning to address:• What is the purpose of the web site?• Who will manage it?• What resources are available?

Who Will Rid Me Of This Troublesome Beast?• Talk by John Slater (PVC at Kent)• Web sites are becoming a drain on University

resources• Promised benefits aren't being delivered• Web site editors need to understand University's

strategies and priorities

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Before You Start AuthoringDomain NamesCan you get a short domain name (e.g. www.pub-lib.rutland.org.uk) rather than being deep in the Council hierarchy (e.g. www.rutland-cc.org.uk/departments/library/)Short domain names are:

• More memorable• More likely to be indexed by search engines

(typically only index 500 pages per domain)

Is this possible in Council environment?

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Before You Start Authoring

Directory Structure

Define the directory structure for the web site• "Shallow" web sites are more memorable

and more likely to be indexed• "Deep" web sites may be more maintainable• Use of directories for grouping related files

is useful (e.g. keep all automatically generated files together)

Note this refers to the underlying directory structure – not the surface menu structure

Note this refers to the underlying directory structure – not the surface menu structure

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Directory Structure

Need to have provide a balance

File

…..

File

File

…..

…..

File

File

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Internal LinkingUse DirectoriesTo keep URLs short and unambiguous link to directories and use default filenames<a href="docs/annual-report-99/"> rather than<a href="docs/annual-report-99/rep.htm">Keep File Extensions SimpleAvoid links to "strange" file extensions for key areas (foo.asp, foo.cgi, foo.pl?ann-rep%7Eyear=99)As these:

• May not be indexed• Are not particularly memorable

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Case Studies

Case studies based on looking at relevant communities can be very useful:

• Am I being left behind?• Am I at the leading edge – and do I want to be?

It's often better to criticise external examples

UKOLN's WebWatch project (1997-9) used automated tools to monitor web communities

The WebWatch column in Ariadne continues to survey communities such as UK HE

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Case Study: Home Pages

Look at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/pub-lib-nov1999/web-tour/>

What do the sites have in common?

Do you have any comments?

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Case Study: 404 Errors

Look at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/pub-lib-nov1999/web-tour-404/>

What do the sites have in common?

Do you have any comments?

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Comments on 404 Pages

Ariadne article surveyed 404 pages in UK HE:• Many sites have forgotten about this page• A number have provided innovative features:

– Well-designed, using corporate look-and-feel– Links to site maps– Embedded search interfaces

• See <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue20/404/>

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Case Study: Search Engines

Look at <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/pub-lib-nov1999/web-tour-search/>

What do the sites have in common?

Do you have any comments?

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Comments on Search Pages

Ariadne article surveyed searching services pages in UK HE:

• Many sites have forgotten about this page• A number have provided innovative features:

– Well-designed, using corporate look-and-feel– Links to site maps– Embedded search interfaces

• See <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue21/webwatch/>

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Not Just For Humans

Web sites were originally designed for viewing by humans

Now web sites have a role in business to business (B2B) communication:

• Automated news feeds• Automated transfer of resources• …

Structured information is needed to support such automation

XML is the key data format

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Example – Museum Portal

The 24 Hour Museum is an example of a portal to UK Museums which processed structured information (opening time, news, etc.)

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/

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What About HTML?

HTML is:• Easy to use• Successful

But:• Can't be used for arbitrary document structures (e.g.

<ISBN>)• Difficult to develop new applications - e.g. display

total of fines: <FINE>5.15</FINE> <P>5.25</P>

• XML likely to be important in the future

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Content Management

In the future we will need more than HTML authoring tools

We will need tools that:• Enable fragments to be managed (e.g. SSIs for

standard navigation elements)• Enable collections of related resources to be

managed• Store resources in a richer format than HTML can

provide (i.e. XML)• Enable web resources to be re-purposed

Should we forget about HTML authoring tools and move to other technologies?

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What About Dynamic Web Sites?What are dynamic web sites / DHTML?

• Animated web pages• Interactive web pages (filling in forms, chat facilities,

games)• Links with legacy systems (e.g. OPACS, maybe

with book reservations)• Use of backend databases for web site

management

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Conclusions

To conclude:• Creating web pages is easy• Managing a corporate web site is difficult• The costs can easily escalate• You should have a web strategy to help with

planning and resourcing• Planning is important• You should consider options of scaling up from

simple tools versus use of corporate publishing systems

• Collaborate!