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Article
Publication date: 28 September 2007

Joaquim Gabarró, Isabel Vallejo and Fatos Xhafa

This paper aims to deal with some design issues of web applications using partial orders to enhance their navigability and extensibility.

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to deal with some design issues of web applications using partial orders to enhance their navigability and extensibility.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses a static web applications model as a deterministic labelled transition system in which states are html pages and transitions are urls.

Findings

By using this model it is possible, on the one hand, to characterize the temporal evolution of a web application and, on the other, to classify web applications into several types according to the way the information is organized over the web application. This classification captures interesting properties related to the navigability and extensibility of web applications.

Practical implications

These ideas are applied to develop a simple web application, namely, a small virtual museum based on approximations of original paintings. Moreover, based on the extensibility characterization, the virtual museum is extended with different paintings approximations, while preserving navigability properties as well as browsing of paintings' approximations of higher quality resolution.

Originality/value

The results of this work provide useful and practical insights into the design of web applications that ensure navigability and extensibility properties.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 3 no. 1/2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Abstract

Purpose

Ubiquitous web applications (UWA) are a new type of web applications which are accessed in various contexts, i.e. through different devices, by users with various interests, at anytime from anyplace around the globe. For such full‐fledged, complex software systems, a methodologically sound engineering approach in terms of model‐driven engineering (MDE) is crucial. Several modeling approaches have already been proposed that capture the ubiquitous nature of web applications, each of them having different origins, pursuing different goals and providing a pantheon of concepts. This paper aims to give an in‐depth comparison of seven modeling approaches supporting the development of UWAs.

Design/methodology/approach

This methodology is conducted by applying a detailed set of evaluation criteria and by demonstrating its applicability on basis of an exemplary tourism web application. In particular, five commonly found ubiquitous scenarios are investigated, thus providing initial insight into the modeling concepts of each approach as well as to facilitate their comparability.

Findings

The results gained indicate that many modeling approaches lack a proper MDE foundation in terms of meta‐models and tool support. The proposed modeling mechanisms for ubiquity are often limited, since they neither cover all relevant context factors in an explicit, self‐contained, and extensible way, nor allow for a wide spectrum of extensible adaptation operations. The provided modeling concepts frequently do not allow dealing with all different parts of a web application in terms of its content, hypertext, and presentation levels as well as their structural and behavioral features. Finally, current modeling approaches do not reflect the crosscutting nature of ubiquity but rather intermingle context and adaptation issues with the core parts of a web application, thus hampering maintainability and extensibility.

Originality/value

Different from other surveys in the area of modeling web applications, this paper specifically considers modeling concepts for their ubiquitous nature, together with an investigation of available support for MDD in a comprehensive way, using a well‐defined as well as fine‐grained catalogue of more than 30 evaluation criteria.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 4 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 31 December 2006

Cecilia Challiol, Gustavo Rossi, Silvia Gordillo and Valeria De CristÓfolo

In this paper we present a model‐based approach for the development of physical hypermedia applications, i.e. those mobile (Web) applications in which physical and digital objects…

Abstract

In this paper we present a model‐based approach for the development of physical hypermedia applications, i.e. those mobile (Web) applications in which physical and digital objects are related and explored using the hypermedia paradigm. We describe an extension of the Object‐Oriented Hypermedia Design Method (OOHDM) and present an improvement of the popular Model‐View‐Controller (MVC) metaphor to incorporate the concept of located object we illustrate the idea with a framework implementation using Jakarta Struts. We first review the state of the art of this kind of software systems, stressing the need of a systematic design and implementation approach we briefly present a light extension to the OOHDM design approach, incorporating physical objects and “walkable” links. We next present a Web application framework for deploying physical hypermedia software and show an example of use. We evaluate our approach and finally we discuss some further work we are pursuing.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 2 no. 3/4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 November 2016

Devis Bianchini, Valeria De Antonellis and Michele Melchiori

Modern Enterprise Web Application development can exploit third-party software components, both internal and external to the enterprise, that provide access to huge and valuable…

Abstract

Purpose

Modern Enterprise Web Application development can exploit third-party software components, both internal and external to the enterprise, that provide access to huge and valuable data sets, tested by millions of users and often available as Web application programming interfaces (APIs). In this context, the developers have to select the right data services and might rely, to this purpose, on advanced techniques, based on functional and non-functional data service descriptive features. This paper focuses on this selection task where data service selection may be difficult because the developer has no control on services, and source reputation could be only partially known.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed framework and methodology are apt to provide advanced search and ranking techniques by considering: lightweight data service descriptions, in terms of (semantic) tags and technical aspects; previously developed aggregations of data services, to use in the selection process of a service the past experiences with the services when used in similar applications; social relationships between developers (social network) and their credibility evaluations. This paper also discusses some experimental results regarding the plan to expand other experiments to check how developers feel using the approach.

Findings

In this paper, a data service selection framework that extends and specializes an existing one for Web APIs selection is presented. The revised multi-layered model for data services is discussed and proper metrics relying on it, meant for supporting the selection of data services in a context of Web application design, are introduced. Model and metrics take into account the network of social relationships between developers, to exploit them for estimating the importance that a developer assigns to other developers’ experience.

Originality/value

This research, with respect to the state of the art, focuses attention on developers’ social networks in an enterprise context, integrating the developers’ credibility assessment and implementing the social network-based data service selection on top of a rich framework based on a multi-perspective model for data services.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 12 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 November 2014

Muhammad Nazrul Islam and Franck Tétard

The purpose of this empirical study was to address two important concerns of Web usability: how user-intuitive interface signs affect Web usability and how applying semiotics…

1286

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this empirical study was to address two important concerns of Web usability: how user-intuitive interface signs affect Web usability and how applying semiotics (i.e. the doctrine of signs) in user interface (UI) design and evaluation helps to improve usability.

Design/methodology/approach

An empirical research approach is followed here to conduct three user tests. These tests were conducted on a Web application with 17 test participants. Data were gathered through laboratory-based think-aloud usability test, questionnaires and interviews. Following an empirical research approach, statistics and user behavior analysis were used to analyze the data.

Findings

This study explores two important concerns of UI design and evaluation. First, users’ interpretation accuracy of interface signs impact on Web usability. The study found that users’ interpretation of signs might be accurate, moderate, conflicting, erroneous or incapable; user-intuitive interface signs led participants to interpret signs’ meaning accurately; and users’ inaccurate interpretation of one or a few task-related interface sign(s) led users to usability problems, resulting in participants performing tasks with lower task-completion performance. Second, considering semiotics perception in UI design and evaluation is important to improve Web usability. This study showed that interface signs, when re-designed considering the semiotics guidelines, have increased the end-users’ interpretation accuracy and the interface signs’ intuitiveness. This study also provides a small set of semiotics guidelines for sign design and evaluation.

Originality/value

This study empirically demonstrated that signs’ intuitiveness impact on Web usability and that considering the semiotics perception in sign design and evaluation is important to improve Web usability. These outcomes are valuable in a number of ways to HCI researchers and practitioners: the results provide awareness of the importance of user-intuitive interface signs in UI design; practitioners can easily adopt the concept of interpretation accuracy classification to conduct a sign test to obtain an “overall impression of interface signs’ intuitiveness”; practitioners can easily adopt the methodological approach followed in this study to conduct usability test without additional resources; and the results raised important fundamental questions for future research such as “what does a practitioner need to be aware of when designing or evaluating interface signs?”

Details

Journal of Systems and Information Technology, vol. 16 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1328-7265

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 May 2006

Andreas Langegger, Jürgen Palkoska and Roland Wagner

The World Wide Web has undergone a rapid transition from the originally static hypertext to an ubiquitous hypermedia system. Today, the Web is not only used as a basis for…

Abstract

The World Wide Web has undergone a rapid transition from the originally static hypertext to an ubiquitous hypermedia system. Today, the Web is not only used as a basis for distributed applications (Web applications), moreover it serves as a generic architecture for autonomous applications and services. Many research work has been done regarding the modeling and engineering process of Web applications and various platforms, frameworks and development kits exist for the efficient implementation of such systems. Concerning the modeling process, many of the published concepts try to merge traditional hypermedia modeling with techniques from the software engineering domain. Unfortunately, those concepts which capture all facets of the Web’s architecture become rather bulky and are eventually not applicable for a model‐driven Web application development. Moreover, there is a need for frameworks which address both, the modeling process and the implementation task and allow a model driven, semi‐automatic engineering process using CASE tools. This paper outlines the DaVinci Web Engineering Framework which supports the modeling as well as the semi‐automated implementation of Web applications. The DaVinci Architectural Layer specifies a persistent, hierarchical GUI model and a generic interaction scheme. This allows the elimination of the hypermedia paradigm, which turned out to be rather practical when building Web applications.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 2 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2017

Saqib Ali, Taiseera AlBalushi and Ali AlBadi

The purpose of this research is to facilitate the full potential of the web for the people with disabilities. People with disabilities may fail to make full use of the potentials…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to facilitate the full potential of the web for the people with disabilities. People with disabilities may fail to make full use of the potentials offered by the web even if they have the right hardware (computer and assistive technologies) as well as access to the internet because of the lack of accessibility.

Design/methodology/approach

This research outlines the guidelines that provide the foundation for building an accessibility-aware framework approach, where people with disabilities can access most of the electronic contents based on their disability levels.

Findings

The framework helps web engineers in developing accessible web pages for all types of users. Disability profile examples (blindness, low vision, deafness and hard of hearing) were taken to determine the performance of the framework approach.

Research limitations/implications

The validation and testing was carried out on the Sultan Qaboos University website. The framework approach could be further validated by performing the tests on various other public and private websites.

Practical implications

The guidelines can be used as a road map to overcome accessibility challenges during any web application development life cycle. A proper testing and evaluation is carried out on the framework to test its usability.

Social implications

Although people with disabilities are perhaps the segment of society which are expected to gain the most from these technologies, they are facing barriers to access the contents of the web because of the way it is presented. This proposed framework could assist all the people with the disability of blindness and hearing impairment to have a better experience with the internet, making the technology more beneficial and usable to them. In the future, this approach can be extended for the people with other disabilities.

Originality/value

This research provides a pioneering concept for accessibility-aware framework approach. This approach could be utilized for developing accessible web applications and electronic services for people with disabilities. The proposed framework can be used as a road map to overcome accessibility challenges during any web application development life cycle.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 June 2008

Mohamad Noorman Masrek, Norhayati Hussin and Norashimawati Tarmuchi

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the status of systems development methodologies (SDM) usage for developing web‐based application in Malaysian organizations. In…

1617

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the status of systems development methodologies (SDM) usage for developing web‐based application in Malaysian organizations. In addition, it also seeks to investigate the use of techniques and tools for web‐based application development.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed the use of a cross‐sectional survey method with 200 questionnaires sent to information systems managers. A total of 66 usable questionnaires were returned.

Findings

The use of SDM that are meant for web‐based applications is still very low among Malaysian organizations. The majority of respondents indicated that the SDM being used were adapted on a project basis. Malaysian systems developers were more inclined to use techniques that were much suited for traditional applications. Nevertheless, the use of systems development tools was quite overwhelming. Despite acknowledging the merits of using SDM, respondents also indicated problems associated with their usage.

Research limitations/implications

The number of respondents participated in the study was low and furthermore data were collected employing a cross‐sectional design instead of longitudinal design.

Originality/value

The paper provides empirical evidence regarding the use of SDM, techniques and tools for developing web‐based applications.

Details

Information Management & Computer Security, vol. 16 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-5227

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2006

Kinh Nguyen, Tharam S. Dillon and Erik Danielsen

This article proposes the concept of web clientserver event together with its associated taxonomy which yields a formal specification for such an event. The concept, in…

Abstract

This article proposes the concept of web clientserver event together with its associated taxonomy which yields a formal specification for such an event. The concept, in conjunction with the concept of atomic use case (reviewed in the article), is then used as a key element for a model‐driven approach to web information system development. The outcome is a new method for web information systems development that reduces the complex web‐based hypermedia navigation behaviour to a much simpler event‐driven behaviour. On the strength of that realized simplicity, the method provides (i) a set of platform‐independent models that completely characterizes the application, and (ii) a well‐defined process to map the combined model to any chosen platform‐dependent implementation.

Details

International Journal of Web Information Systems, vol. 2 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-0084

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 April 2007

Antonio Navarro and Alfredo Fernández‐Valmayor

The purpose of this paper is to provide a mechanism to characterize web sites, at the conceptualization stage, whose information content can be defined in terms of hybrid…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a mechanism to characterize web sites, at the conceptualization stage, whose information content can be defined in terms of hybrid conceptual models. Usually in this type of web site, some of the domain information units are modeled in terms of classes/entities while others remain as heterogeneous irregular elements. Web sites built on this type of hybrid conceptual domain are referred to as hybrid web sites in this paper.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper characterizes a hybrid web site, at the conceptualization stage – the site of the Virtual Campus of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. For the characterization of this site the Pipe notation, a notation that has proven to be appropriate when characterizing web sites built on irregular domains, was used. In addition, the Pipe notation was combined with entity‐relationship diagrams to characterize the most homogeneous and regular elements of the web site. The paper also analyzed several alternative notations intended for the characterization of web sites.

Findings

It was found that if in hybrid web sites, entity‐relationship diagrams are complemented with other notations able to characterize the most heterogeneous and irregular elements of these web sites, important benefits can be obtained from a modeling point of view. These benefits are later easily translated into an easier evolution and maintenance of the web site.

Research limitations/implications

Only some web applications can be characterized as hybrid web sites. Therefore, there are many web applications whose conceptual domain is best characterized using classes/entities based models.

Practical implications

Persons in charge of modeling web sites must first identify the nature of the information domain of the web site in order to choose the most appropriate modeling mechanism.

Originality/value

This paper explicitly identifies hybrid web sites and provides a notation, which is able to characterize them at the conceptualization stage.

Details

Internet Research, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1066-2243

Keywords

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