Software Engineering Resources
	Analysis of WebApps The analysis of a potential Web application focuses on three important questions: (1) what information or content is to be presented or manipulated; (2) what functions are to be performed for the end-user, and (3) what behaviors will the WebApp exhibit as it presents content and performs functions? The answers to these questions are represented as part of an analysis model that encompasses a variety of UML representations. The following topic categories are presented: Analysis Concepts for the Web Analysis Methods Books Analysis Concepts for the Web Objections Against Requirements Analysis And why you should not believe them. Web Services Architecture Requirements "This document describes a set of requirements for a standard reference architecture for Web Services developed by the Web Services Architecture Working Group." Requirements Analysis Process: Requirements Elicitation, Analysis And Specification A generic discussion that can provide simple guidance for Web engineers. Analysis Methods User and Task Analysis 20 links that discuss usability and related subjects. General Systems Analysis This site contains many useful links that are relevant to WebApps and conventional software Building a Web Application: Requirements Gathering Basis elements of requirements gathering for webApps. Layout Design Requirements Analysis Key questions to ask in understanding the aesthetic and functional layout for a WebApp Capturing Web Application Requirements A paper that describes "new conceptual tools for effectively supporting the activity of requirements analysis of web applications. Eliciting Requirements through Partial Design A paper that describes a prototyping like approach for requirements gathering. Task-Oriented to Goal-Oriented Web Requirements Analysis The authors of this paper argue "that a shift of paradigm is needed in web engineering from task-oriented to goal-oriented approaches ..." Relationship-Navigation Analysis A paper by Michael Beiber. Data Modeling This paper "shows how the well-known entity-relationship (E-R) modeling technique can be exploited when creating the middle tier in a 3-tier web application." Specification Framework "Both designers and developers need a framework that in all stages of the engineering process allows them to specify the relevant aspects of the application. This paper concentrates on Web applications that automatically generate hypermedia presentations for their output." pdf: The Expressive Power of UML-based Web Engineering A paper that discusses the use of UML in the analysis and design of WebApps. pdf: Capturing Web Application Requirements through Goal-Oriented Analysis "Current approaches and model in Requirements Engineering (RE) can be tailored and extended in order to cope with the following distinctive features of interactive and hypermedia-intensive web applications" pdf: A Web-Based Requirements Analysis Tool "The Goal Based Requirements Analysis Tool GBRAT is designed to support goal-based requirements analysis." pdf: The 2qcv3q Quality Model for The Analysis of Web Site Requirements "In this paper we propose the application of a quality model - the 2QCV3Q meta-model - to the activities related to the requirements engineering process." An activity-theory-based model to analyse Web application requirements "In this paper, we seek to improve on improve on existing methods through the use of cultural-historical activity theory." pdf: Metamodeling the Requirements of Web Systems We present a metamodel, which contains the key concepts needed for the requirements specification of Web systems. pdf: Exploring Alternatives during Requirements Analysis A generic discussion that has applicablility for WebE. pdf: Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering: A Guided Tour A generic discussion that has applicablility for WebE. pdf: Use Case modelling, Requirements Analysis and Requirements Specification for Web Applications A lecture (slides) on the subject. pdf: Requirements Engineering for Web Applications - A Comparative Study "This paper is a comparative study of the requirements handling in Web methodologies showing trends in the use of techniques for capturing, specifying and validating Web requirements." pdf: On Model-Driven Development for Web Applications "The importance of requirements engineering for web systems is increasing today. Only few methodologies provides a systematic approach for the specification of web systems through requirements models." Specification Framework for Engineering Adaptive Web Applications "By separating (1) the conceptual (or semantical) description of data, (2) the navigational aspects of its hypermedia presentation and (3) the rendering of that presentation, the process of designing the application improves significantly. Using new emerging Web technologies like RDF, XML, and XSLT, we have implemented a prototype to illustrate the use of this specification framework." Books Relatively few books have been dedicated to requirements analysis and modeling for WebApps. However, Web Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach by Pressman and Lowe considers the subject in considerable detail. Many books dedicated to analysis modeling for conventional software - with particular emphasis on use cases and UML notation - contain much useful information that can be readily adapted by Web engineers. Use cases form the foundation of analysis modeling for WebApps. The followin books are worth considering: Use Cases: Requirements in Context, second edition Use Case Modeling Writing Effective Use Cases Advanced Use-Case Modeling: Software Systems Use Case Driven Object Modeling with UML Applying Use Cases: A Practical Guide provides worthwhile guidance in the creation and use of this important requirements representation mechanism. Worthwhile discussions of UML are contained in: UML and the Unified Process Teach Yourself UML in 24 Hours UML Distilled The UML User Guide The Unified Modeling Language Reference Manual User Studies for Gathering User Needs and Requirements presents useful guidance for both conventional software and WebApps Books dedicated to Web site design often contain one or two chapters that discuss analysis issues (although these are often cursory discussions). The following books contain one or more aspects of analysis within the context of Web engineering: The Design of Sites Information Architecture for the World Wide Web Information Architecture The Elements of User Experience: User Centered Design for the Web Web Design in a Nutshell Hypermedia and the Web: An Engineering Approach Web Site Engineering Media Engineering: A Guide to Developing Information Products Effective Web Design: Master the Essentials Web Navigation: Designing the User Experience, O'Reilly & Associates, 1998).