Future Web Trends Brian Kelly UK Web Focus UKOLN University of Bath [email protected]UKOLN is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath The Web is great! Or is it? This seminar will investigate limitations of the Web and possible solutions
Transcript
Future Web Trends
Brian Kelly
UK Web Focus
UKOLN
University of Bath
[email protected] is funded by Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Councils, as well as by project funding from the JISC and the European Union. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.
The Web is great!
Or is it?
This seminar will investigate limitations of the Web and possible solutions
The Web is great!
Or is it?
This seminar will investigate limitations of the Web and possible solutions
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How Does The Web Work?
The web is based on 3 protocols:• URLs: addresses of resources• HTTP: dialogue between client and server• HTML: format of resources
The Netsoft home page
1 User clicks on link to the address (URL)http://www.netsoft.com/hello.html
2 Browser converts link to HTTP command (METHOD):Connect to computer at www.netsoft.com
GET /hello.html3 Remote computer sends file
<HTML><TITLE>Welcome</TITLE>..<P>Welcome to <B>Netsoft</B>
Welcome toNetsoft
4 Local computer displays HTML file
Web Browser (client)
Web server
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What's It Used For?
The simplicity of the Web has resulted in little-used academic tool (50 servers in early 1994) now being widely used in a wide range of applications.
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Web Problem Areas
What difficulties have you encountered when using the Web?
What other problem areas can you envisage?
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Hands-On Exercise
Now spend some time accessing Web resources.
Make notes of any problem areas you come across.
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Review
What were the problems?
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1. Searching
• How many hits did you get for the term Digital Library using AltaVista?
• How useful is this result?
• Was Google any better?
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1. Searching - Comments
Results• AltaVista gives over
132,000 hits• Which ones are
important?• Google gives better
relevance
Developments• Google uses "citation
analysis" • Use of metadata, such
as Dublin Core, will also improve things in the future
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2. Web Technologies - Comments
The Flash file format:• Is proprietary• Requires a Flash
plugin• May not be visible in
old browsers• Text can't be copied
The W3C are developing an open format known as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
See http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/See http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/
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3. PDFAdobe's PDF (Page Description Format):
• Provides control over appearance of document
• Is easily created• Viewers are freely
availableBut:
• Proprietary• Describes
appearance not document structure
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3. Comments on File Formats
CSS:• Cascading Style Sheets• An open standard
developed by W3C• Separates document
structure (defined in HTML/XML) from the appearance
