Combining available standards and tools to build a compliance oriented website management system

Neeraj Arora, School of Computer Science and Information Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001. Email: narora@narora.net or nearora@cs.rmit.edu.au

Linda Pannan, Teaching Fellow (Online Learning), Teaching and Learning Portfolio, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001. Email: linda.pannan@rmit.edu.au

ASSETT Research Group, Advancing Scholarship and Science Education through Technology, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001.

Keywords

website management, website management system, content management system, standards compliance, accessibility, usability, organisational websites, XML, XSLT, GNU Make

Abstract

Analyses of representative organisational structures and their implications for management of organisations' websites reveals that the various roles of developers and users of the system and content are of prime importance. Typically, policy and mandated procedures are used within organisations to enforce standards that deliver compliance, usability, and accessibility. A poorly presented organisational website resulting from any shortfalls in implementing the required processes and possible misinterpretations of the procedures not only reflects badly on the organisation and its ability to manage other business activity well, but also creates a lot of additional work for the system administrators.

This paper describes the design of a system to manage organisational websites created by using a combination of tools available in the public domain. The system facilitates standards compliance, and by providing for the enforcement of good design it also addresses usability and accessibility. An example implementation is discussed as it assists in understanding the design. We conclude by identifying the work needed to further improve the proposed system design and increase its functionality.