StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

Web Sites. The Web development methods - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
As Taylor writes, "Over the years, web sites have become quite a phenomenal and developers are developing web sites using an ad hoc approach, which is causing problems. Developing efficient web sites requires meeting user needs by producing high quality web sites…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER92.4% of users find it useful
Web Sites. The Web development methods
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Web Sites. The Web development methods"

Introduction As Taylor writes, "Over the years, web sites have become quite a phenomenal and developers are developing web sites using an ad hoc approach, which is causing problems. Developing efficient web sites requires meeting user needs by producing high quality web sites. One way of solving the problems developers are having is by developing a web development process for developers to use." (Taylor, n.d.) The web development methods include a process that describes the steps to follow during development of web sites. The web site development process is driven by use cases that are created based on user requirements, that's why it's so important to build up comprehensive user requirements. As Tran writes, "Requirements and specifications are very important components in the development of any embedded system. Requirements analysis is the first step in the system design process, where a user's requirements should be clarified and documented to generate the corresponding specifications." (Tran, 1999) According to Kaner et al. cited in Sisson (2002), "A requirement is an objective that must be met. Planners cast most requirements in functional terms, leaving design and implementation details to the developers. They may specify price, performance, and reliability objectives in fine detail, along with some aspects of the user interface. Sometimes, they describe their objectives more precisely than realistically." Website projects are usually done on tight schedules, with limited resources, and without a well-defined approach for achieving usability. For many developers it's easy to dismiss usability methods as an unnecessary overhead cost. But usability methods can be integrated efficiently and effectively into each stage of the website design process. Employing this process, and by using forms, checklists, and other tools to improve communication and workflow, website projects can be managed successfully achieving a highly-usable product. (Gergle, Brinck, Wood 1999) One very useful technique for implementing usable website requirements described by Rhodes (2006) is Pareto Principle. He writes, "Usability provides another benefit to product teams. It is very likely that you have one or more people on the team who live and die by the Pareto Principle. Everything is defined in terms of the 80/20 rule, where the majority of issues seem to stem from a small fraction of items. Similarly, most of the value seems to come from just a few features or functions." Various literature (Bolchini and Randazzo 2005; Tran, 1999; Cockburn, 2000; Courage, Baxter, 2004; Lauesen, 2002) mention 3 phases of user requirements life-cycle in web site development: Requirements Identification, Requirements Analysis and Requirements Definition/Specification. Requirements Identification Requirements Identification is the requirements engineering task during which raw new potential requirements are identified. The typical responsibilities of Requirements Identification are to: Identify the desires, potential needs, and expectations of the application's stakeholders. Transform these desires, potential needs and expectations into potential new raw (unanalyzed) requirements. (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Requirements identification typically involves the requirements team performing the following steps: Identify possible sources of requirements, such as stakeholders, experts, reusable requirements and requirements specifications, documentation, etc. Interview customer representatives, user representatives, domain experts, marketing personnel, and user support agents. Observe representative users at work. Informally identify and capture the resulting potential requirements. (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Requirements identification for website development can typically be performed using the following techniques: Website Studies. Reverse engineer requirements from legacy websites, competing websites, similar websites, and website databases. Textual analysis of websites (e.g., noun/verb for object/operation, shall/must/will for requirements). Incremental Development. Incrementally develop the lists of potential stakeholders, other sources of requirements, and requirements. Iteration. Iterate the lists of potential stakeholders, other sources of requirements, and requirements. Brainstorming. Brainstorm informal lists of potential stakeholders, other sources of requirements, and requirements. Questionnaires. Have the stakeholders and subject-matter experts fill out questionnaires regarding the requirements. Observation. Observe the users while they are using the current or related website. Prototyping. Prototype the human interface of the website and derive requirements from the prototypes (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Requirements identification should be performed iteratively, incrementally, and in parallel with other tasks (e.g., requirements management, the development of a human interface prototype). The requirements team must understand the user's work in order to properly elicit requirements from them and understand the requirements that they elicit because the website or component to be specified exists in order to help the users perform their work or else perform the work for the users. Requirements Analysis Current requirements analysis methodologies for web applications fail to capture important elements of the requirements picture. On the one hand, there is the need for modelling the assumptions of a stakeholder which dictate his vision on the design. From properly eliciting stakeholder visions, important goals and requirements for the design may arise. On the other hand, the emotional, psychological, social or individual elements which can trigger a person to use an interactive application should be understood. User motivations - properly combined with stakeholder visions - are keys to derive a sound set of user requirements. (Bolchini, Randazzo 2005). Requirements Analysis is phase of website development when the development team analyzes the requirements and specifications document for completeness and feasibility. The purpose of the analysis is to determine the scope of the effort. To help identify what is required for the project, it is necessary to answer to the following questions: What are the software tools necessary What developer skills are required for the project (Taylor, n.d.) During the Requirements Analysis the requirements team study, refine, and understand the raw and reusable requirements, categorize, organize, and determine relationships between the raw and reusable requirements. Also at this phase the team builds related models and diagrams and informally determines the quality of the analyzed requirements, models and diagrams. Requirements analysis of the website can typically be performed using the following techniques: Categorization. Use a classification scheme to categorize and thereby organize and analyze the requirements. Cost Benefit Analysis. Produce a cost/benefit analysis for requirements that may be cost-prohibitive to implement. (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Requirements may be informal, semiformal, or formal. Requirements analysis is when formal requirements models (if any) would be produced. Requirements Definition/Specification During the Requirements Definition/Specification a functional design document should be generated. This document consists of the information, figures and charts so that, when combined with the specification, someone new to the project can understand what the project does and how it does it. The project specification must be in writing; a verbal agreement is not acceptable. That way, when the customer changes their mind, you can renegotiate the work. Requirements definition is the process by which the needs of the customer are translated into a clear, detailed specification of what the web site must do and achieve. The output from this phase is the specification document. The specification defines what the project does, not how the project does it. Requirements Specification is the requirements engineering task during which the analyzed requirements for a website are published in requirements specifications (and related requirements documents). "A specification document describes how something is supposed to be done. The specifications may describe the steps of any functional interaction, and the order in which they should be followed by the user. A requirements document, on the other hand, would state that the software must handle error states reasonably and effectively, and provide explicit feedback to the users. The specifications show how to meet this requirement." (Sisson, 2002) The requirements specification task can typically be performed using the following techniques: Content and Format Standards Documentation Templates Inspection Checklists Standard documents, or documents in electronic formats such as XML, HTML, or MS Word or other (Cockburn, 2000; Lauesen, 2002) Each individual requirement should be mandatory, correct, cohesive, consistent with other requirements and higher-level goals, unambiguous and not redundant with other requirements. Requirements can be specified as traditional paper documents or electronically. Requirements can be specified in the form of traditional paper formats (e.g., MS Word or Adobe Acrobat PDF documents), spreadsheets (e.g., MS Excel), database reports, or output screens from a requirements management tool. All types of requirements should be addressed. Too often, all of the requirements engineering training and effort go into the functional requirements, leaving the other requirements underanalyzed and underspecified Appendix A Reliable, useful, and valid websites: Rhodes, J. (2006). 'How Product Teams Benefit from Usability.' (online). Available http://www.apogeehk.com/articles/How_Product_Teams_Benefit_from_Usability.html (23 May 2006). I think the website is usable because Rhodes clearly states importance of usability in website development. Taylor, C. (n.d.). 'Applying Software Engineering Principles to a Web Site Development Process.' DePaul University, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Chicago, IL (online). Available http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/ctiphd/ctirs99/online/taylor.html (23 May 2006) I think the website is reliable, useful, and valid because DePaul University is known for various publications on website development. Tran, E. (1999). Requirements & Specifications. Carnegie Mellon University, 18-849b Dependable Embedded Systems. (online). Available http://www.ece.cmu.edu/koopman/des_s99/requirements_specs/ (23 May 2006) I think the website is reliable, useful, and valid because Carnegie Mellon University is known as one of the leading institutions. Sisson, D. (2002). Requirements and Specifications. (online). Available http://www.philosophe.com/design/requirements.html (23 May 2006) I think the website is usable because Sisson cite known experts in requirements development, analysis and documentation. References Bolchini, D., Randazzo, G. (2005). 'Capturing visions and goals to inform communication design'. ACM Special Interest Group for Design of Communications, pp.131-137, NY: ACM Press Cockburn, A. (2000). Writing Effective Use Cases. M: Addison-Wesley Professional Courage, C., Baxter, K. (2004). Understanding Your Users: A Practical Guide to User Requirements Methods, Tools, and Techniques. L: Morgan Kaufmann Gergle, D., Brinck, T., Wood, S. (1999). 'Practical usability methods in website design.' Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp.120-121. NY: ACM Press Lauesen, S. (2002). Software Requirements: Styles and Techniques. M: Addison-Wesley Professional Rhodes, J. (2006). 'How Product Teams Benefit from Usability.' (online). Available http://www.apogeehk.com/articles/How_Product_Teams_Benefit_from_Usability.html (23 May 2006) Taylor, C. (n.d.). 'Applying Software Engineering Principles to a Web Site Development Process.' DePaul University, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, Chicago, IL (online). Available http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/ctiphd/ctirs99/online/taylor.html (23 May 2006) Tran, E. (1999). Requirements & Specifications. Carnegie Mellon University, 18-849b Dependable Embedded Systems. (online). Available http://www.ece.cmu.edu/koopman/des_s99/requirements_specs/ (23 May 2006) Sisson, D. (2002). Requirements and Specifications. (online). Available http://www.philosophe.com/design/requirements.html (23 May 2006) Wood, L. E. (1997). User Interface Design: Bridging the Gap from User Requirements to Design. NY: CRC Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Web Sites. The Web development methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words”, n.d.)
Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/e-commerce/1499633-web-sites-the-web-development-methods
(Web Sites. The Web Development Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words)
https://studentshare.org/e-commerce/1499633-web-sites-the-web-development-methods.
“Web Sites. The Web Development Methods Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 Words”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/e-commerce/1499633-web-sites-the-web-development-methods.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Web Sites. The Web development methods

Testing Usability of Web Page

Horton, Lynch (2002) (Web style guide 2nd edition)The content of the web page should meet the needs of the users to be assessed.... Logs for the web site can be analyzed for development of quantitative data for the site's... hellip; When a user is satisfied by a product he uses it profusely for its effective functionality and the business flourishes with the use of the item of purchase on a web page.... Consequently usage of web page and in formation given on that page is made durable every time a user uses the same page for his own advantage. There is interaction between the user of a computer and computer as a machine that transmits information across when it is used by the user....
9 Pages (2250 words) Essay

Web Development and Emerging Standards

The paper "web development and Emerging Standards" states that advancement in communication and IT has significantly enabled the business to use the platform to perform the task in quite a significant manner.... The concept of web development includes a broader range of activities including simple too complex web applications development.... Correspondingly, the concept of RWD is providing optimal visible experience in readability and navigation of the contents, images and graphics based on the device in which they access the web page....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Web Site of the British Pharmacological Society

hellip; the web 2.... the web site can have an idea about the other activities of BPS like assisting, promoting, and encouraging research and thereby providing a forum for the presentation of pharmacology; publishing the results of research; promoting and encouraging the education and training of pharmacologists; publishing material in various forms; promoting and arranging conferences and meetings etc.... Web pages have been designed in ASP environment and it's worth mentioning that the web pages are platform-independent, i....
9 Pages (2250 words) Case Study

Mobile Web Development Versus Desktop Web Development

This essay "Mobile web development Versus Desktop web development" focuses on outlining the similarities and differences between mobile web development and computer web development.... nbsp; … Both the mobile web development and desktop web development appear to be a little bit different areas however the technology, skills and development ideas required for these both areas of development appear to be similar....
5 Pages (1250 words) Essay

Web Application Development

This coursework "Web Application development" describes features of the model view controller and responsive Web design.... This paper outlines the benefits and limitations of MVC, the use of CSS Media Query instead of JavaScript-driven solutions, Flexible Font Units, adaptive images....
8 Pages (2000 words) Coursework

A Human-Computer Interaction Guide for the Implementation of a Mobile Web

hen these students would access the web service application from their mobile devices, they would use a range of different devices with different hardware and software specifications, e.... So, the students would want the mobile application to:To implement the mobile web application prototype, access to the existing site's code would be required as the web pages of the current site will be studied and will eventually form the basis of the proposed mobile application....
10 Pages (2500 words) Term Paper

Secure Web Development and Marketing

This coursework called "Secure web development and Marketing" describes key aspects of secure web development and marketing.... he above criteria, if employed, would result in a secure web development process as it uses various software engineering techniques.... he network hosting the web application needs to be secure.... he criterion would make use of demilitarized zones (DMZ) in the design of the system hosting the web application....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework

Weaknesses of the Web Content of Senegal-Tourism Com Compared with Its Rivals' Sites

The paper "Weaknesses of the web Content of Senegal-Tourism Com Compared with Its Rivals' Sites" demonstrates the results of a survey regarding the relevance and overall design of the site promoting the services of a travel firm, the adequacy of the visual and textual content of this data platform.... the web page of Senegal-Tourism could be categorized as an example of ICT since it is a technology heavily employed for a certain purpose (i.... In general, heuristic evaluation has ten basic heuristics, which are applicable to any type of software technology; three of the heuristic evaluation methods, to give few examples, are pluralistic walkthroughs, cognitive walkthroughs, and formal design analysis....
6 Pages (1500 words) Research Paper
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us