Do you have any thoughts to share with regard to content optimisation?

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Chapter 12 Implementation and maintenance

with an ordinary text editor such as the Windows Notepad program or the specialist tools described in a later section. The operation of HTML is based on a web browser interpreting HTML tags or codes on a web page when it is loaded into the browser as explained in Chapter 3 see the example in Figure 3.14. Reviewers of previous editions have rightly indicated that a more detailed treat- ment isn’t required in a text focusing on the management issues of e-business systems. However, we will stress some aspects of HTML development that managers need to be aware of: 1 Standards compliance. The World Wide Web Consortium www.w3.org has been promi- nent in defining web standards. However, its primary role is not to promote standards. This role has been taken up by other advocacy groups such as the WaSP, the Web Standards Project www.webstandards.orgaboutmission and the many web design agencies that are passionate about web standards implementation. The use of web standards affects the quality of service and accessibility levels of sites. It enhances accessibility for the visually impaired and increases the range of previous and future browser versions and access devices supported. The range of browsers, platforms and visual disabilities supported by a site translates to satisfied customers who will return to it. In his seminal reference on web standards, Jeffrey Zeldman says that the best way to view web standards is as ‘a continuum, not a set of inflexible rules’. In practice a combination of the standards shown in Box 12.1 will be required. In particular the use of plug-ins and Ajax should be carefully discussed prior to implementation since according to how widely adopted the type or version of plug-in or the Ajax application this may exclude some site users or force them to use another plug-in. Box 12.1 Which web standards should the site support? The main standards typically followed with current versions are: 1 Structural and semantic standards: HTML www.w3.orgTRhtml401 XHTML www.w3.orgTRxhtml1 XML www.w3.orgTR2000REC-xml-20001006 2 Presentation languages: Cascading style sheets CSS www.w3.orgTRcss21 3 Object models: The Document Object Model DOM, which describes the structural relationship between objects within an HTML or XML document enabling them to be accessed and updated, for example for form validation www.w3.orgDOMDOMTRdom2 4 Scripting languages: ECMA Script the standard to which Javascript has evolved which is used for form validation, for example www.ecma-international.orgpublicationsstandards Ecma-262.htm 5 Plug-in technology for rich Internet applications: Adobe Flash and Shockwave a proprietary standard for building interactive applications and displaying video http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiMacromedia_Flash Adobe Acrobot www.adobe.comacrobat the de facto document display standard. Adobe Flex www.adobe.comproductsflex and Microsoft Silverlight www. microsoft.comsilverlight for building rich Internet applications RIA Streaming media proprietary standards for audio and video such as Real Networks .rm and Microsoft .wma Java for rich Internet applications www.java.com. 688 Part 3 Implementation Cascading style sheets CSS A simple mechanism for adding style e.g. fonts, colours, spacing to web documents. CSS enables different style elements to be controlled across an entire site or section of site. Style elements that are commonly controlled include Typography, Background colour and images borders and margins Web accessibility An approach to web site design that enables sites and web applications to be used by people with visual impairment or other disabilities such as motor impairment. Accessibility also demands that web users should be able to use web sites and applications effectively regardless of the browser or access platform they use and its settings. 2 Cross-browser support. Dependent on the standards used and how they are implemented, the site may appear different in different browsers since they may have interpreted some of the W3.org standards differently. This can result in a site rendering appearing differ- ently in different browsers. Sometimes different browsers, such as Internet Explorer 6, may require special coding to support them. So, prior to implementation a list of browsers and versions should be targeted and then subsequently tested using tools such as BrowserShots Figure 3.9. Increases accessibility – users can more readily configure the way a site looks or sounds using browsers and other accessibility support tools. Site is more likely to render on a range of access platforms like PDAs and smartphones. 3 Use of stylesheets for different platforms. We introduced Cascading Style Sheets CSS in Chapter 11 as a mechanism for enabling different style elements such as typography and layout to be controlled across an entire site or section of site. Managers need to check with designers that the CSS will be designed to be flexible for making minor changes to presentation for example in the case of a re-branding and that it supports different platforms such as mobile access or print output. 4 Accessibility support. We saw in the section on user-centred design in Chapter 11 that web accessibility is about allowing all users of a web site to interact with it regardless of disabil- ities they may have or the web browser or platform they are using to access the site. The level of accessibility support provided Level A, AA and AAA should be defined before imple- mentation and then validated as part of implementation. Since each level has many require- ments, individual requirements should be specified, e.g. ‘text of the main document will resize when the option is selected via the browser or from the site option’ many designs do not support text resizing despite this being essential for visually impaired users. 5 SEO support. We saw in Chapter 9 that different on-page optimization techniques are important to indicate to search engine algorithms the context of the page. Box 12.2 high- lights some of the main standards. Unless SEO support is strictly defined as part of a site redesign it may be difficult to change these attributes of a page through a content manage- ment system. The on-page factors should be uniquely defined for each page within the site to avoid a ‘duplicate content penalty’ meaning that the search engine does not index a page since it is considered similar to another page. It is also important that staff creating and reviewing content are aware of these factors and can then modify the way their site is described through the content management system. So SEO markup needs to be part of a page creation and review process. Box 12.2 Key search engine optimization SEO requirements This compilation of the main factors that affect the position of a site within the search engines is taken from SEOMoz www.seomoz.org a resource created for webmasters and online marketers to help them achieve better rankings in the search engines. This compilation shows an assessment of the most important ranking success factors by 30 experts in SEO where they rate each factor out of 5 and then the average is presented. Terms such as title and meta description are described in more detail in Chapter 9. 6 Ajax: Ajax is based on other standards, notably Javascript and XML supported by the DOM and CSS. A key feature of Ajax is that the XMLHttpRequest object is used to exchange data asynchronously with the web server without requiring new browser page loads. http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiAJAX.