Emerging Practices and Standards for Designing Business Web Sites: Recommendations for Developers

Abstract

A well-designed and implemented Web site can give a business the edge in the online environment. In part this can be achieved by utilizing the appropriate encoding language, incorporating metadata into Web pages and addressing accessibility issues for the disabled. These aspects of Web site implementation tend to be technically tangible and thus relatively easily definable. However, some of the subjective aspects of Web site development associated with information design, such as information quality, effective information visualization and presentation also contribute to a successful Web site strategy. In this chapter we report on some of the emerging technical and information design practices that a developer should consider in the implementation of business Web sites.