The book proposes a conceptual framework and a method for analyzing, comparing, designing and evaluating multimedia web sites. It is addressed to students and teachers in the field of hypermedia and web design as well as project leaders, designers, and practitioners involved in web development.
The design approach we have adopted is communication based. According to this approach, a web site is viewed as a ‘mediator’ between the intentions of a sender (including the site designer but also other stakeholders) and the interpretation of a receiver (the final user). The web site is modeled as a semiotic entity constituted by content and expression. Content refers to ‘What’ the site is intended to communicate in terms of information (e.g. ideas, knowledge, points of view) and services (e.g. operations, functionalities). The book addresses the problem of content design by discussing several issues related to: i) content identification and characterization ii) content classification ii) content organization and iv) content representation. Expression refers to ‘How’ the intended content is actually manifested by means of concrete multimedia components such as texts, images, sound objects, videos, animations, audiovisuals and their space and time organization. Design expression tackles several problems ranging from the selection of the more appropriate representation medium to express a given content, to the distribution of content within the available presentation units (e.g. windows, pages) on one or more visual or auditory displays, to the design of space and time layouts, navigation structure, interaction behavior and presentation style. A particular attention is devoted to the analysis of representation modalities and multimedia qualities and to the pragmatic and persuasive effects that a specific combination of modalities may have in the intended user. Two chapters of the book are devoted to usability and accessibility issues respectively. A detailed analysis of the development process of a web site – from the initial specification phase, to conceptual design, implementation, publication, monitoring and management – concludes the book.
