Using Partial Designs to elicit requirements in web development – a survey of commercial practice

Dr John Eklund, Usability Analyst and Instructional Technologist Access Testing Centre, Sydney Australia. Email: john@eklund.com

Associate Professor David Lowe, Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney Email: david.lowe@uts.edu.au

Keywords

Web systems, specification, requirements, usability in design, client needs.

Abstract

In this paper we describe our research that examines the activities in the commercial web development lifecycle, particularly in gathering and defining requirements. Often requirements are inadequately documented, or only emerge during development, or change as development proceeds. We offer an iterative model for Web systems development that incorporates the use of partial design prototypes as a crucial tool in resolving requirements. This is derived from an analysis of the results of a survey of commercial Web practice. The results support the increasingly accepted premise that within commercial Web development, design artifacts become a crucial element in supporting client understanding and driving the formulation of requirements.