Approaches To Web Site Development

For The 21st CenturyBrian Kelly

UK Web FocusUKOLN

University of Bath

Bath, BA2 7AY

UKOLN is supported by:

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

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Why Am I Here?

Why have you invited me to Leeds?

What do you want to get out of today’s seminar?

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Contents

• Where Are We Now?• Standards and the Web• The Original Web Architecture• Architectural Developments• Deployment Issues• Discussion

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About Me

Brian Kelly:• UK Web Focus – a JISC-funded post to advise HE

and FE communities on Web developments• Based in UKOLN - a national focus of expertise in

digital information management based at the University of Bath

• Involved in Web since 1993, while working in Computing Service at University of Leeds

• Close links with Computing Service and Library communities

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The Web At Leeds

History

9 Dec 1992Half-day SIG on network tools (e.g. Gopher, WAIS, etc.) introduced Web (Viola!) to University

Jan 1993UCS installs institutional Web service

1 Mar 1993Robert Cailliau visits Leeds(see How the Web Was Born)

1993Early adopters of Web include Admin, Music, Fine Art, Physics, CBL Unit and Computer ScienceWeb used to announce Open Day on 8 May 93

May 1994WWW 1 conf at CERN

By the end of 1994:• Web services provided by Arts depts• Web used by research community (preprints

by Chemistry dept)• Web used in teaching & learning (initially in

Chemistry, then Web wins TLTP shootout)• Web used for admin and marketing • Involvement in Web research (Andrew Cole

et al)• Central support from UCS• Political support from PVC-IT

By the end of 1994:• Web services provided by Arts depts• Web used by research community (preprints

by Chemistry dept)• Web used in teaching & learning (initially in

Chemistry, then Web wins TLTP shootout)• Web used for admin and marketing • Involvement in Web research (Andrew Cole

et al)• Central support from UCS• Political support from PVC-IT

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What Happened?

Exploitation

By the mid 1990s Leeds University was in a position to exploit the potential of the Web

• Did it?• If not, why not?

The UCS

The PVCs

The SLAs & the funding model

Failure of communications

Lack of strategic thinking

Personalities involved

Are you likely to make the same mistakes again?Are you likely to make the same mistakes again?

Other reasons

Who Was To Blame?Who Was To Blame?

The users

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The Web At Leeds Today

Exercise ResultNos. of Web servers 115Nos. of pages indexed by AV 34,932Size of entry point 30.93 Kb (Bobby)

70,309 b (NetMechanic)Nos. of links to main Web site 21,561Nos. of links to all sites 431,172Site accessibility Accessibility issues…

Benchmarking Results For Leeds

Numbers may be interesting, but are more useful when (a) measured over time and (b) compared with peers (e.g. other Yorkshire Univs).

See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/webwatch/articles/#latest> for comparisons

See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/seminars/leeds-jul-2001/> for above results

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Look Back at Web Conferences

W3C Advisory Committee Meeting – June 1998• Held at CERN, Switzerland• W3C staff and AC Reps (from computing

companies) using mobile phone and laptop for Internet access during talks

WWW9 Conference – May 2000• Laptop and mobile, digital cameras are mainstream

(e.g. Weblogs for realtime trip reports)WWW10 Conference – May 2001

• Wireless LANs and laptops• Web access pervasive (free 5 mins at Heathrow,

unlimited access throughout Hong Kong – shopping malls, cafes, etc)

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About Our Community

Shared Concerns

XML File formats

What’s happening to HTML?

MaintenanceWhen is it going to stabilise?

Content Management Systems

Performance

Resources

Authoring Tools

Web browsers

Netscape or Microsoft?Web Standards Web Applications

Web Services

Open source vs licensed apps

Database Integration

Leeds University is not alone – as can be seen from the themes addressed at annual Web Management workshop

Leeds University is not alone – as can be seen from the themes addressed at annual Web Management workshop

Strategies

Intranets

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Where Are We Now?

Current position:• Awareness that resource management is critical?• Integration with legacy systems?• E-learning and e-business seen as important?

But:• Have we yet grasped importance of pervasive

networking?• Is our institutional decision-making processes

hindering developments? Will we lose out to: Microsoft .net (or Sun’s ONE) and Web services Harvard-online, MIT-online, etc. Student Web sites, or Web services aimed at students

• Are we still too institution-centric, and missing out on distributed “Web services”?

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Standards, Architectures, Applications, Resources

This talk touches on several areas

Architectures: models for implementing systemsArchitectures: models for implementing systems

Applications: software products used to implement systems

Applications: software products used to implement systems

Standards: concerned with protocols and file formatsStandards: concerned with protocols and file formats

Open standards vs. Proprietary HTML / XML vs. PDFCSS / XSL vs. HTML

Which standards are applicableNT / UnixFile system / database applicationHTML tools / content management

Apache / IISFrontPage / DreamweaverOracle / SQLServerColdFusion vs ASP

Development vs. Migration costsUse of in-house expertiseIn-house vs. out-sourced Licensed vs. open source

Resources and Strategies: financial & staff costs, prioritisation

Resources and Strategies: financial & staff costs, prioritisation

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How Does The Web Work?The Web has 3 fundamental concepts:

• URLs: addresses of resources• HTTP: dialogue between client and server• HTML: format of resources

The Netsoft home page

1 User clicks on link to the address (URL)http://www.netsoft.com/hello.html

2 Browser converts link to HTTP command (METHOD):Connect to computer at www.netsoft.com

GET /hello.html3 Remote computer sends file

<HTML><TITLE>Welcome</TITLE>..<P>Welcome to <B>Netsoft</B>

Welcome toNetsoft

4 Local computer displays HTML file

Web Browser (client)

Web server

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Acronym SoupThe W3C acronym factory is very productive!The W3C acronym factory is very productive!

XML

XML Schemas RDF

RDF Schemas

SVG

SMIL

PNG

WSDL

UDDISOAP

DOI

URI

CC/PP

CSS

XSLT

DOM

XLink

XPointer

HTML

XHTML

RSS

WML

ECMAScript

XML Family

Rendering HTML/XML

WebCGM

Metadata Framework XML Apps

MathML

Graphics Family

Identifiers

Web Services

• Oversimplified• Not all are W3C• Will not cover all!

• Oversimplified• Not all are W3C• Will not cover all!

URL

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Approaches To HTML

Emphasis on managing HTML resources inappropriate:• HTML is an output format, which cannot easily be

reused (e.g. WAP, e-Books, etc.)• Need to manage HTML fragments (only partly

achievable with SSIs)• Need to manage collections of resources• Need to have single master source of data• Need to support new developments such as

personalisation• Difficult to integrate with new formats

Issues• Should we stop giving HTML courses?• Should we stop buying HTML authoring tools?

Issues• Should we stop giving HTML courses?• Should we stop buying HTML authoring tools?

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The CMS To The Rescue

A CMS (Content Management System):• Allows fragments to be managed• Allows collections to be managed• Allows resources to be stored in a neutral format

(backend database)• Allows resources to be reused• Often provides access control• Often provides workflow processes and project

management

Issues• CMS can be expensive• CMS can be free but have support implications• Which one to choose?

Issues• CMS can be expensive• CMS can be free but have support implications• Which one to choose?

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Standards

Need for standards to provide:• Platform independence• Application independence• Avoidance of patented technologies • Flexibility ("evolvability" - Tim Berners-Lee)• Architectural integrity• Long-term access to data

Ideally look at standards first, then find applications which support the standards

Difficult to achieve this ideal!

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XML

XML:• Extensible Markup Language• A lightweight SGML designed for network use• Addresses HTML's lack of evolvability• Arbitrary elements can be defined (<STUDENT-NUMBER>, <PART-NO>, etc)

• Agreement achieved quickly - XML 1.0 became W3C Recommendation in Feb 1998

• Support from industry (SGML vendors, Microsoft, etc.)

• Support in latest versions of Web browsers

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XML Concepts

Well-formed XML resources:Make end-tags explicit: <li>...</li>

Make empty elements explicit: <img ... />

Quote attributes <img src="logo.gif" height="20"

Use consistent upper/lower case

XML Namespaces:Mechanism for ensuring unique XML elements:

<?xml:namespace ns="http://foo.org/1998-001" prefix="i">

<p>Insert <i:PART>M-471</i:PART></p>

There are several other XML goodies, such as XLink, XPointer, XSLT, etc which aren’t covered in this talk

There are several other XML goodies, such as XLink, XPointer, XSLT, etc which aren’t covered in this talk

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XHTML

XHTML:• Extensible Hypertext Markup Language• HTML represented in XML• Some small changes to HTML:

– Elements in lowercase (<p> not <P>)– Attributes must be quoted (<img src="logo" height="50">– Elements must be closed (< p >..</ p >)– Empty elements must be closed (<img src="logo" . />)

• Gain benefits from XML• Tools available (e.g. HTML-Kit from http://www.chami.com/html-kit/)

• See <http://www.webreference.com/xml/column6/>, <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/XHTML-L/> and <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue27/web-focus/>

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Position Today

What should we be doing today?• Move away from creating new content in HTML• Move to XHTML as part of the migration• Deploying XML applications• Storing structured information in a neutral database• Using a CMS to manage our content• Deploying B2B applications to avoid human

bottleneck (such as RSS, …)

Note that these are aspirations. We will, of course, be constrained by existing systems, resource implications, vested interests, inertia, etc.

Note that these are aspirations. We will, of course, be constrained by existing systems, resource implications, vested interests, inertia, etc.

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RSS – Automated News FeedsRSS (Rich / RDF Site Summary):

• Now an RDF application

• Used for news feeds• Lightweight

approach we should be investigating

UKOLN RSS tool at <http://rssxpress.ukoln.ac.uk/>. Note this service uses CGI – a JavaScript solution is also being developed.See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2001/sessions.html#b5> for exercises.

UKOLN RSS tool at <http://rssxpress.ukoln.ac.uk/>. Note this service uses CGI – a JavaScript solution is also being developed.See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/webmaster-2001/sessions.html#b5> for exercises.

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Model For News Feeds

Good For UserThe end user can choose her news feeds, including local news, news from JISC services and news from third partiesGood For ServiceThe service can chose its own informationflow model. Its news is disseminated automatically.

Good For UserThe end user can choose her news feeds, including local news, news from JISC services and news from third partiesGood For ServiceThe service can chose its own informationflow model. Its news is disseminated automatically.

RSS Institution (e.g. Bath)

RSSCommunity(e.g. MIDAS)

RSSExternal

(e.g. BBC)

Local News..JISC News..National News

XHTML converted to RSS

Structured database converted to RSS

Zope CMS outputs to RSS & XHTML

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What About Tomorrow?

Two interesting areas:

The Semantic Web• Will allow intelligent agents to know about

resources • AI and ontologists meet the Web• Uses RDF (Resource Description Framework) –

W3C’s framework for metadata• Some concerns over scale of problem• See <http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/>

Web Services• One of the highlights of the recent WWW10

conference

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Web Services

The Web:• Initially used for viewing static resources• Then interactive services built (e.g. e-learning)

We now want:• Programmable Web services which can be used by

other Web services using standards Web protocols

We have experience of the first generation of externally-hosted Web services (stats services, voting systems, etc.) - see <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/>.

The next generation will be programmable and machine-understandable

Note that concerns over outsourcing may be an issue

We have experience of the first generation of externally-hosted Web services (stats services, voting systems, etc.) - see <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue23/web-focus/>.

The next generation will be programmable and machine-understandable

Note that concerns over outsourcing may be an issue

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Example

Some examples at gotdotnet.com:

• Mailsender• Thumbnail

Generator

Concepts been around for some time (see Auditing & Evaluating Web Sites workshop)

Now being standardised (UDDI, WSDL, …) http://www.gotdotnet.com/playground/

services/thumbnailgen.aspx

http://www.gotdotnet.com/playground/services/thumbnailgen.aspx

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We’ve Been Here Before

Reusable components available on the network:• Sounds like COM/DCOM, CORBA, etc. for reusable

program components

Reusable network services:• Sounds like JISCmail, RDN, EDINA, MIMAS, BIDS,

Mirror Service and other JISC Services

Web Services And UK HE / FE CommunitiesSounds like a great idea:

• We’ve the organisational framework to develop national services (JISC, etc.)

• We’ve got the network• We’ve a community which is willing to exploit centrally-provided

services and wants to avoid reinventing the wheel (haven’t we?)

Web Services And UK HE / FE CommunitiesSounds like a great idea:

• We’ve the organisational framework to develop national services (JISC, etc.)

• We’ve got the network• We’ve a community which is willing to exploit centrally-provided

services and wants to avoid reinventing the wheel (haven’t we?)

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Currently...

End user

Local content National content International content

Web Web Web Web Web Web

We should be moving away from providing separate Web services with their own interfaces …

We should be moving away from providing separate Web services with their own interfaces …

How many local Web servers?

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Currently...

End user

Collection Description(e.g. Agora)

User Profile(e.g. Headline)

Authentication(Athens)

Local content National content International content

Web Web Web Web Web Web

… and separate metadata repositories and access services (which are sometimes centralised) …

… and separate metadata repositories and access services (which are sometimes centralised) …

Agora and headline are eLib Hybrid libraries

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Future...

Content

End user

User profile

Collectiondescription

Authentication

Metadata Services /Access Services

Application Services

Bookmarks

Spell-checker

.. and move to Web-accessible, machine-understandable Web services as well as seamless access to content

.. and move to Web-accessible, machine-understandable Web services as well as seamless access to content

Brokered access provide by

institutional portal(MLE, …)

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Thoughts on Applications

Today:• Dreamveaver vs

FrontPage vs …

Another Approach:

• Web-based authoring / CMS tools (e.g. Manilla, etc.)

http://manila.userland.com/http://manila.userland.com/

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Thoughts on Architectures

XML

RDBMS

XSLT

ScriptsExport functions

• XHTML• WML• Open-Ebooks

• PDF• …

• RSS• RDF• HERO DTD• SVG• IMS• SMIL• …

Formats for devices used by end users

Formats for reuse by other applications

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Thoughts On Collaboration

Some thoughts on collaboration:• You can’t do it all on your own• Attendance at Institutional Web Management

Workshop may be useful• Are there regional meetings for Web Managers?• Benchmarking exercise and followup discussions

might be useful in a regional context

Some thoughts on national initiatives:• Make sure you exploit deliverables from JISC and

other national initiatives• Look to participate in national initiatives

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Conclusions

To conclude:• HTML won’t do the job• XHTML is a useful transition• We’ll need a CMS to manage richly functional

institutional Web services• Web services should be important – and we

shouldn’t be too concerned about using remote services

• Standards are important• You can’t do it all yourself!

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Discussion

Time for questions and general discussion