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Contents
Authoring and Design for the WWW
About this handbook
This handbook does not provide technical instruction in the creation of Web
pages, which is available from many other sources. Technical examples are only
given to illustrate points of principle. What it aims to do instead is to cover areas
which are inadequately covered elsewhere and to relate these specifically to the
needs of Higher Education. Some of the fundamental principles of the Web are
in flux. Rather than propose ready-made answers, we attempt to present the
issues so that Web authors and designers, managers and information officers,
can make up their own minds.
HTML, the Hypertext Markup Language which is the basis of the original Web,
is based on principles increasingly threatened by recent Web publishing
practices. Will it survive in anything like its original form? What are the merits
and weaknesses of the various rival solutions? Does the Web call into question
some of the ways in which HEIs promulgate and use information? How can
authors of Web documents recast their attitude to information, and even their
writing style, to suit this medium? What do designers need to know in order to
make best use of what the Web offers, and how can non-designers make
informed decisions about the layout and structuring of interactive, electronic
information?
Themes and limits of this handbook
There is considerable interest in the use of the Web as a location for learning,
whether for on-campus students or for distance education. This handbook does
not primarily deal with the pedagogic implications of these networked learning
methods. However, the main focus of this handbook the information which an
HEI publishes about itself cannot be considered separately from attitudes to
teaching and learning. Issues of policy are dealt with, and in order to provide a
foundation, important principles of electronic media are also discussed in some
detail. Attention is given in a series of short case studies to the design (in its
broadest sense) of Web documents. Appendices provide supporting information.
This handbook is not an academic document. Pointers to other works are
provided in cases where they have immediate practical application, but there are
opinions and assertions not supported by references.
The need for this handbook
The Web encourages a multiplicity of authors' and publishers'. In fact such
clear roles are undermined by the Web, authors becoming their own publishers
to a greater extent than in the so-called DTP Revolution. There are few practical
barriers between author and public (though of course the author may still remain
unread). Instead for many in HE the barrier to greater exploitation of the Web is
ignorance of what can be done and how to achieve it. Many academics have not
had the opportunity to try using the tools, and have perhaps been told by
technical staff that the creation of Web pages is best left to them. Above all,
many will have been repelled by the many poor examples of material currently
available on the Web.
This handbook is designed to enable readers to:
- understand some key principles of the Web as a publishing medium
- evaluate its usefulness in their work
- evaluate the claims made for and against various aspects of the Web
- take practical steps to be a Web author, publisher or designer
- make policy for applying the Web in Higher Education
Definitions
Some Web terminology is provided in a glossary (p115). Here we define other
terms as they are used in this handbook.
Publisher
Documents reside on a Server awaiting request from users. Legally, the
publisher of Web documents is probably the owner of the Server, but we
have used the term publisher' to identify the person or organisation which
decides to make a document public. In some cases the publisher will also be
the author of the document.
Author
We have used the term author' for the originator of Web material, whether
the material is textual or in some other form.
Designer
The Web designer's role is changing rapidly: until recently it was confined to
deciding from what textual chunks the document should be constructed, and
where in those chunks graphics were to appear. Now Web design is acquiring
a greater resemblance to conventional graphic design, and at the same time
aims to offer many of the possibilities of interactive multimedia.
User
Using the Browser software, the User requests documents, views and
interacts with them.
We have chosen the term user' in place of reader' since reader' implies
predominantly textual documents and fails to acknowledge the interactive
role of the user.
HEI
We have referred to Universities, Institutes, Academies, Art Schools and so
forth by the generic term HEI, or Higher Education Institution.
Contents
Graphics Multimedia
Virtual Environments Visualisation
Contents