IMS5401 Web-based Systems Development Topic 3: Development for the web 3(e) Evaluation and site maintenance

2 Agenda 1.Designing for site maintainability 2.Site maintenance 3.Maintaining content and CMS

Designing for site maintainability Any collection of information usually loses currency and value if not regularly up-dated Rate of declining information value will vary according to site purpose - one day out of date? one month out of date? ten years out-of-date? (Contrast with typical IS; remember the Y2K problem?) Design of all sites must take account of up- dating needs

4 Types of up-dating requirements Common problems: Out-of-date (incorrect) information Out-of-date (incomplete) information Out-dated site style Out-dated technology Falling behind web and organisational ‘standards’ ‘Dead’ site links All of these may severely reduce the ability of the site to serve its information purpose

5 Implications for design Any responsible site developer must include consideration of up-dating needs in their site design ‘Elegance’ and sophistication of design may have to be compromised to cater for up-dating considerations In particular, take account of expertise of people available to do the up-dating work

Web site maintenance Several possible types of maintenance need: Maintaining content Maintaining design Maintaining technology Distinguish between routine (on-going maintenance) and major reviews Need for and frequency of maintenance should be assessed at the time of site design Design may have to be modified to keep in line with maintenance capabilities

7 Maintaining site content ALL web sites run the risk of their content becoming out-of-date or incorrect Likelihood, frequency and extent of content change is an important design issue If not planned properly, up-dating content may become a new web development project in its own right Up-dated content (modify existing) - relatively simple issue Adding new types of content - may be much more complex

8 Maintaining site design Fashion and its importance - look and feel; their impact on site usability and appeal Changing web ‘standards’ User expectations Compatibility with changing organisational standards (logos, publication standards, etc)

9 Maintaining site technology Hardware considerations User computers - monitors, capabilities Access speeds - bandwidth Software considerations Browsers Plug-ins Standards Mark-up languages Scripting languages

10 Site maintenance tasks Site design and content should be regularly reviewed and evaluated against user needs Frequency of site reviews should be determined by the nature of the information need it meets Reviews should include input from relevant groups such as: Users Graphic designers Content experts Technical experts Should provide a clear picture of what has to be done and by when

11 Site evaluation User response is harder to gauge than in ‘normal’ systems Hit rates and other useless statistics Evaluating site usability AND user satisfaction Serious site evaluation Audiences and their needs Focus groups Market research See people like Jakob Nielsen for ideas and methods for evaluation

12 Site evaluation outcome Measure objective features of site usability (eg WWW guidelines, etc) Get a picture of subjective user response to site content and site usability Provides basis for extension, enhancement and amendment of site and site content (or perhaps abandonment of site?!)

13 Who manages site and content maintenance? The team which creates a site will probably cease to be responsible for it after site installation So who is responsible for maintaining the site and its content? Can the site design enable users to ensure that site content remains suitable (see CMS below)? For how long will the site design remain suitable? Note that post-installation problems should be a major factor in initial analysis and design!

Maintaining content and Content Management Systems (CMS) Promises to automate processes for up-grading web site content (and design) Can also provide editorial control over content management Some key possible features (uses): Make authoring easier Enable faster up-dating (maintain currency) Enforce standards/consistency Enforce approval process Monitor; audit trails/roll back

15 Content Management Systems (diagram adapted from Ellis, 2002 at Content Management Software Designer Content provider Design templates Content templates Up-graded Content Web server Editorial control

16 CMS Industry Has become a multi-billion dollar industry Huge range of products, prices, features and claimed capabilities Examples include Vignette Interwoven Microsoft Content Management Server Macromedia Contribute etc

17 CMS Products Have a look at Note: Quantity of products (>1000) Price of products ($0-300,000+) Monash example: TeamSite (Interwoven) 129,000 files (expect increase to 500,000 files) 337 changes per day (April 2005) 68,000 changes since Sept 2004

18 How well do CMS work? They promise … the world They deliver: … something? … at what cost? (money, time, effort, expertise) … and it works … how well? Anecdotally, much dissatisfaction for many users … but maybe some happy users? Still developing; will improve; will it ever deliver what it has promised? Base your expectations on what it actually does, not on what it claims