Web Specification

This is a refinement of the objective statement, and describes those objectives in a web/HTML-specific manner.

Specification

The ability to find information about any degree programme.

After the user has followed the appropriate link, they are presented with all the degree programme possibilities. I believe that this set will be small enough to be presented as a list. Each element in the list will be the title of the degree and will be a hyper link to a page describing that degree. This page will include;

• the degree title
• a description of the degree
• the duration of the degree
• a list of all available modules contained within the degree
• entrance requirements for the degree
• a 'questions to' link

The main list of degrees page will include a warm, introductory message from the Department of Informatics, and will also include a 'questions to' link.

The ability to find information about any course module

Similar to the degree information, the user is presented with a list of all modules, in a logical order, which represents a hyperlink to a page describing that module. This page will include;

• the module title
• a description of the module
• a link to the teacher or 'questions to'
• a link to the timetable for the module
• a link to any web-based components for the module
  this link will then be under the jurisdiction of the module teacher
• links to past exam papers if they are available

The noticeboard and calendar facilities for a particular module will be taken care of by the existing 1st Class system.

Information on how to contact the department

Upon entering this page, the user will be presented with the following;

• General Office
  • telephone number
  • fax number
  • email address
  • postal address
  • a link to a page containing directions on how to get here, including a map as necessary
• Questions concerning degrees to (e.g.) Bertil Harriman, bertil.harriman@ics.lu.se, including a link to his homepage
• Questions concerning enrolling etc., to...

The ability to access past and current research

This page will comprise of a list of all projects done within the department. Each row will contain;

• the field of study, e.g. "Web development"
• the name of the author
• a brief description of the project
• the URL of the project report. If the project is not on-line, then this will be a link to details of how to obtain the project report.

The facility to search for a member of the department

• The user will be presented with a form, which prompts them to fill in the members first name and/or surname. The system will then reply with all matching members of the department, and will show the following information;
  • full name
  • student or staff and their job title
  • email address
  • telephone extension if available
  • link to homepage if available

A general noticeboard

I think this facility will best be taken care of by the existing 1st Class system, and will therefore not feature in the web.

A general calendar

Again, I believe this will best be taken care of by the announcements facilities of the 1st Class system. Although having a web based calendar may be a good idea, I think it would be under used, as people are used to using the 1st Class system for this purpose.

Various internal and external news reports

The user will be presented with a page containing a list of news reports. The list will be comprised of a link, a date and a brief description of that news report. The link will take the user to a page of that news report.

Job information and industrial placements

I think this will be best taken care of in the appropriate group of the 1st Class system, as this is the method most members of the department are accustomed to reading and writing to. If this was going to be implemented on the web, then the user would be presented with a list. The top elements of the list would be links to fixed resources, such as the SYO service, or the VHS Asken service. The other elements of the list would be links to instances of available jobs or industrial placements.

Erasmus exchange information

This will consist of a page containing the following elements;

• A link to "What is the Erasmus exchange scheme?"
• A link to "What places are available at present"
• A set of links to the appropriate department of host universities

The ability to explore the Internet

The user will be presented with a page containing useful Internet facilities. This will include;

• A link to the Yahoo! search engine
• A link to the Alta Vista search engine
• A link to more search engines
• A link to a set of Frequently Asked Questions about the Internet
• A link to information on how staff and students can author their own web pages and publish them
• A link to good places to start surfing

Life at the department

The user will be presented with a page containing thumbnails of pictures of the department, as well as brief description of them and their file size. This page will also contain links to writing by staff or students, concerning life at the department of Informatics or Lund in general. There will also be a link asking staff or students to contribute writings.

User feedback

As mentioned in the analysis, this feature is to enable maintainers to maintain an accurate impression on whether the web is satisfying the user needs or now. The user will be presented with a form, asking for comments on the following elements;

• Use of icons
• Use of background textures, colours etc.
• How it appeared in their browser
• A text box asking for further comments

Other factors, such as, "which part of the web do you access the most", can be derived from the access logs.

ICS web index

This will be a page containing links to every major page in the ICS web. By major, I mean every page except those leaf pages which are repeated. These are represented by the '…page n' notation in the detailed link diagram. A program to automatically generate this page would be the best method of maintaining this page.