Element 4: Domain Information

In this context, "Domain Information" refers to all online and offline knowledge about the subject area of the web. This domain information includes not only what the user will eventually see, but all relavent knowledge the developers need to know in order to create a sucessful web.

Planners are advised to plan for domain information by following these steps;

• Define the domain information developers must know. What kind of background knowledge must developers have? What other material is required, by developers or by end users? Is there an existing store of this information? Are there any specialised databases for which access must be gained? What images are needed?
• Plan for domain information acquisition. Once the information store has been defined, how will it be obtained? Is there a collection of information files already available? Are there any offline information sources that developers should read? Is there a course developers should take?
• Plan for maintaining the information. Even though an accurate store of information may have been acquired, this may loose its value as it becomes out of date. Therefore planners must consider how it will be updated and what the cost of this will be.

In short, planners must specify what information they need, how to get it and how to maintain it. Developers should also have an understanding of this information. For a site devoted to vegetarian cooking, developers should know something about cooking, as this knowledge helps them make effective choices about what information to provide to the users and how to format it.