A case study in systematic hypermedia design

Hypermedia structuring and navigation requires design methodologies different from those developed for standard information systems. This case study details our successful application of relationship management methodology (RMM), a hypermedia systems analysis and design methodology, to ACM SIGLINK's LINKBase. LINKBase is a World Wide Web (WWW) application, which dynamically generates WWW pages from a relational database containing information about hypermedia-related events such as conferences, publications, authors, and sponsoring organizations. We describe our experience applying RMM in this case study, summarize design lessons we learned in the process, present extensions to RMM, discuss human–computer interaction (HCI) aspects of RMM, and ground our work in the hypermedia design and HCI literature. Our experiences should encourage hypermedia and WWW developers to utilize systematic design techniques to build highly usable and useful WWW applications.     

Web2DB：一个通用WWW数据库接口系统

文中介绍了一个ＷＷＷ与数据库系统连接的通用接口系统Ｗｅｂ２ＤＢ的设计和实现。     

Auditory navigation in hyperspace: design and evaluation of a non-visual hypermedia system for blind users

This paper presents the design and evaluation of a hypermedia system for blind users, making use of a nonvisual interface, non-speech sounds, three input devices, and a 37 node hypermedia module. The important components of an effective auditory interface are discussed, together with the design of the auditory interface to hypermedia material. The evaluation, which was conducted over several weeks and used a range of complementary objective and subjective measures to assess users' performance and preferences, is described. The findings from the evaluation with nine visually impaired student participants are presented. The results from this research can be applied to the design and evaluation of other non-visual hypermedia systems, such as auditory World Wide Web (WWW) browsers and digital talking books.     

CRITON: A Hypermedia Design Tool

The WWW has turned into a development and run-time environment for large-scale and complex applications. Such sophisticated applications are being deployed in increasing numbers without having been developed according to appropriate methodologies, tools and quality standards. The reason is not only that the hypermedia industry resists to utilize formal methods, but also that these methods and corresponding tools are very few and of dubious standards. The consequence is that the hypermedia applications being developed are of poor functionality and lack qualities such as modifiability, usability and maintainability. Especially the design phase is one of the phases that lack sufficient support from methods and CASE tools. This paper presents CRITON, a cross platform tool, built to support a hypermedia design method within an integrated environment. CRITON manages all three aspects of hypermedia design: conceptual design, navigational design and graphical user interface design, utilizing well-established theories and practices from software as well as hypermedia engineering. It employs these designs to generate a preliminary, exemplary form of the hypermedia application for the purpose of assessing the designs before the implementation phase.     

Introducing hypermedia composites to WWW

This paper analyses current trends in hypermedia data modelling and suggests that composites are a necessary ingredient for any efficient authoring paradigm. The paper describes the motivations for using composites on an authoring level. It points out that WWW defines the notion of nodes and links, but it does not support composite components. It also examines the interplay between standard navigation and composite navigation. The paper offers a possible strategy for practical use of hypermedia composites on the WWW.     

Using Java applets and CORBA for multi-user distributedapplications

The Java language environment, World Wide Web, and Common Object Request Broker Architecture are complementary software technologies, which when used together provide a powerful set of tools for developing and deploying multi-user distributed applications. We describe an approach to building reasonably sophisticated and easy-to-use client software as WWW-downloadable Java applets, which use CORBA to interact effectively with remote server software and thus coordinate and control access to a set of shared resources. We used this approach to reimplement a portion of an existing multi-user distributed application that had been built using the WWW Common Gateway Interface (CGI), then evaluated the differences between the two approaches. We found our method of combining Java applets and CORBA not only practical but in many ways superior to the widely used CGI approach, as well as to a conventional CORBA approach that does not exploit the WWW     

HotJava浏览器汉化方案的设计与实现

ＨｏｔＪａｖａ是由ＳｕｎＭｉｃｒｏｓｙｓｔｅｍｓ计算机公司推出的ＷＷＷ浏览器．基于一种新的面向对象的语言——Ｊａｖａ，ＨｏｔＪａｖａ浏览器具有与其它同类ＷＷＷ浏览器无法比拟的动态性能，展示了实现真正的动态网络交互的巨大潜力．本文首先对ＨｏｔＪａｖａ浏览器及Ｊａｖａ语言作一简单介绍，然后介绍在Ｓｏｌａｒｉｓ平台上开发ＨｏｔＪａｖａ中文版的具体方案与实现.     

Toward support for hypermedia on the World Wide Web

As organizations rush to embrace the World Wide Web as their primary application infrastructure, they should not bypass the benefit of hypermedia support. The Web's infrastructure can serve as an interface to all interactive applications and, over time, will become the graphical user interface model for new applications. Ubiquitous hypermedia support should become the jewel of the Web environment. Through Web integration, hypermedia could become an integral part of every interactive application. With the proper tools to support hypermedia in Web application development, it will become second nature for developers and individual authors to provide supplemental links and hypermedia navigation. However, as organizations adopt the Web as their primary application infrastructure, designers may use Java and other tools to recreate current application functionality, and not take advantage of the Web's hypermedia-augmented infrastructure. If users, designers, MIS departments and organizations don't demand hypermedia support, hypermedia may get lost in the frenzy of Web integration     

WIRED — World-Wide Web Interactive Remote Event Display

WIRED (World-Wide Web Interactive Remote Event Display) is a framework, written in the Java^™ language, for building High Energy Physics event displays. An event display based on the WIRED framework enables users of a HEP collaboration to visualise and analyse events remotely using ordinary WWW browsers, on any type of machine. In addition, event displays using WIRED may provide the general public with access to the research of high energy physics.The recent introduction of the object-oriented Java^™ language enables the transfer of machine independent code across the Internet, to be safely executed by a Java enhanced WWW browser. We have employed this technology to create a remote event display in WWW. The combined Java—WWW technology hence assures a world wide availability of such an event display, an always up-to-date program and a platform independent implementation, which is easy to use and to install.     

Labyrinth, an abstract model for hypermedia applications. Description of its static components

In information technology, models are abstract devices to represent the components and functions of software applications. When a model is general and consistent, it represents a useful design tool to unambiguously describe the application. Traditional models are not suitable for the design of hypermedia systems and, therefore, specific design models and methodologies are needed. In the present article, the requirements for such models are analysed, an overview of the characteristics of the existing models for hypermedia applications is made and an abstract model fulfilling the analysed requirements is presented. The model, called Labyrinth, allows 1) the design of platform-independent hypermedia applications; 2) the categorisation, generalisation and abstraction of sparse unstructured heterogeneous information in multiple and interconnected levels; 3) the creation of personalisations (personal views) in multiuser hyperdocuments for both groups and individual users and 4) the design of advanced security mechanisms for hypermedia applications.     

Mosaic and the World Wide Web

The World-Wide Web, an information service on the Internet, uses hypertext links to other textual documents or files. Users can click on a highlighted word or words in the text to provide additional information about the selected word(s). Users can also access graphic pictures, images, audio clips, or even full-motion video through hypermedia, an extension of hypertext. One of the most popular graphics-oriented browsers is Mosaic, which was developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) as a way to graphically-navigate the WWW. Mosaic browsers are currently available for Unix workstations running X Windows, PCs running Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh computers. Mosaic can access data in WWW servers, Wide Area Information Servers (WAIS), Gopher servers, Archie servers, and several others. The World-Wide Web is still evolving at a rapid pace. Distributed hypermedia systems on the Internet will continue to be an active area of development in the future. The flexibility of the WWW design, its use of hyperlinks, and the integration of existing WAIS and Gopher information resources, make the WWW ideal for future research and study. Highly interactive multimedia applications will require more sophisticated tools than currently exist. The most significant issue that needs to be resolved is the mismatch between WWW system capabilities and user requirements in the areas of presentation and quality of service     

CORBA与WWW的集成

Internet/Intranet的兴起及蓬勃发展极大地改变了人们的生活、学习和工作方式。网络提供给人们的不仅是大量的信息和娱乐活动,而且也带来了无限商机。为了在WWW上进行实时可伸缩的事务处理,实现电子贸易,Web必须要做到能实现实时的事务处理,具有高度的可缩放性和可扩展性,并且能与已有的C/S     

HyperTree: a structural approach to web authoring

The expansion of the World Wide Web (WWW) has created an increasing need for tools capable of supporting WWW authors in composing documents using the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Currently, most web authors use tools which are basically ordinary text editors and have additional features to facilitate the easy and correct use of HTML tags. This approach places the burden on the web author to design and then create the entire web site in a top-down fashion, without any explicit support for the structural design of the site. In this paper we discuss an alternative structural approach to Web authoring, which is based on the use of the HyperTree hypermedia system as the central authoring tool. The advantages of using HyperTree are two-dimensional. Firstly, web authors can manage a web site as a single complete hypermedia database. For example, HyperTree provides facilities like the automatic creation of indices and the discovery of link inconsistencies. Additionally, it organizes the web pages in an easy to understand hierarchy without using any HTML directly. Secondly, web end-users can benefit from the use of HyperTree, since seeking information in structured web sites is generally less disorientating and develops fewer cognitive overheads. ©1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Internet上信息服务系统的建造、维护和管理

ＷＷＷ（Ｗｏｒｌｄ－ＷｉｄｅＷｅｂ）是Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ上广泛流行的分布式超媒体信息系统。目前,随着Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ热潮席卷全球,越来越多的部门、企业甚至个人基于Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ上的ＷＷＷ设施建造自己的信息系统。但是由于ＷＷＷ系统的固有特点,使得利用现有方法开发的信息系统存在许多问题。该文针对这些问题,提出了建造基于Ｉｎｔｅｒｎｅｔ的分布式超媒体信息系统的一些设想,并给出了实现这一设想的系统模型。     

Designing a document-centric coordination application over the Internet

In this paper we describe an experience in designing a groupware application distributed over the WWW to solve a conference management problem. The system we design coordinates the activities of several people engaged in reviewing and selecting papers submitted for a scientific conference. We discuss why such an application is interesting and describe how we designed it. The architecture we suggest implements what we call an active Web, because it includes entities which we are able to use and provide services offered through WWW infrastructures. Users, agents, and active documents can interoperate using a set of basic services for communication and synchronization. The active Web infrastructure we describe here is based on coordination technology integrated with Java.     

一个动态超媒体映射引擎

文章首先介绍了传统应用软件和超媒体应用软件的差异,指出了超媒体应用系统的特征和对最终用户的吸引力.在此基础上,建立了一个动态超媒体映射引擎的模型,它可以透明地为大多数传统应用系统增加超媒体的界面.文章最后给出了在WWW上实现的一个DHyME(dynamic hypermedia mapping engine)实例.     

Model-based virtual document generation

Virtual documents are hypermedia documents that are generated on demand in response to reader input. This paper describes a virtual document application that generates natural language explanations about the structure and behavior of electromechanical systems. The application, called DME, structures the interaction with the reader as a question–answer dialog. Each page of the hyperdocument is the answer to a question, and each link on each page is a follow-up question that leads to another answer. DME is amodel-basedvirtual document generator; unlike conventional database front-ends that provide views onto data, DME dynamically constructs the document's content (i.e. coherent explanations in English) from underlying mathematical and symbolic models. DME-based virtual documents have been running on the WWW since late 1993. They are used to document engineered systems in support of collaborative design and simulation-based training.In this paper we describe and demonstrate the DME application (with examples that run), and describe how it generates virtual documents on the web. We discuss the impact that model-based virtual documentation can have on the way technical documentation is authored and delivered.     

Automatic generation of instructional hypermedia with APHID

This research investigates the use of patterns in designing adaptable, flexible hypermedia applications. While patterns are particularly applicable to software design, they can also be used to assist designers of other types of applications. We have developed a method (APHID) that guides a hypermedia creator through the analysis and design process. The method ensures that good design principles are followed, both for the hypermedia application and for the interface that presents the hypermedia application. Our method uses a concept map, constraints, and patterns (instructional and presentation) to support partial automation for creating hypermedia applications. We also present a prototype software system that uses the APHID method to create instructional hypermedia applications semi-automatically. The applications created using APHID are tailored to specific types of learners. We conclude with a claim that this approach is applicable not just to instructional hypermedia, but to the larger problem of generating adaptable interfaces.     

Moving the business logic tier to the client. Cost‐effective distributed computing for the WWW

The Internet and the WWW have encouraged the adoption of a three‐tiered architectural style as the general framework for distributed computing. The thin client concept associated with this model is the most suitable for the WWW, because it can be easily mapped to the browser concept. Additionally, the separation of business logic (middle tier) and back‐end services enable further flexibility for the design of this kind of service. Nevertheless, the advent of platform‐independent software models like Java and the availability of common off‐the‐shelf services, like FTP or HTTP, offer new opportunities to more classical distributed computing models. In this paper we revisit the two‐tiered model for Internet environments, and show that the fat client (user interface plus business logic) may still be valid, at least in some environments. We propose two solutions to provide full FTP access from a Java applet. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.