Welcome to Internetworking 2.2!
As the new Editor of Internetworking, I would first like to wish Scott Isensee a very fond farewell. His contributions to creating and shaping this publication have been enormous, and we will miss him. Good luck Scott in your new and exciting endeavors.
In this issue, we consider many of the technologies that are leading the future of the web. Accessibility, creativity for marketing your site, and exploiting existing technologies to capture user experience data. We have a new workshop on XML, and reviews of books on audio technology and E-Commerce.
Linda Tauscher shows that accessibility is becoming a mainstream consideration in web design and development. Linda summarizes several papers that were presented at the 8th International WWW conference. These demonstrate how designing with accessibility in mind producing important improvements in accessing information, and improves the quality of more conventional software. There are new techniques, new software, and a listing of related links and topics.
We also have an article by Lawrence J. Najjar on "Beyond Web Usability", that emphasizes the notion that good web sites require creativity along with their usability. Lawrence provides some handy tip on how to design a website that is both easy-to-use, and compelling to experience.
Mike Etgen and I report on another way in which data about the user experience can be captured quickly and easily. As product cycles increase, and funding for individual activities decrease, we are finding more and creative ways to exploit technology. We describe a small study in which we were able to use "event Logging" to show that our new UI design, aimed at improving usability, can be implemented without impacting the time it takes to load the pages to the user. I hope that this will encourage our ITG readers to submit more articles on easy usability methods and metrics.
In this issue, Pawan Vora begins a workshop series on Extensible Markup Language (XML). He will explaining what it is, how it can be used, what can be done with it, and what it promises for the future of the Internet. It the first workshop, Pawan explains why XML makes sense by examining the code. This series should not be missed!
In our Book review section, Roger Tilson reviews "Cutting Edge Audio" by Ron Simpson. The book gets rave reviews for its writing, organization, and format. Roger also reviews "Audio on the Web: the Official IUMA Guide" by Jeff Patterson and Ryan Melcher. Roger is less enthusiastic about recommending this book. He considers it more of a basic primer. Read Roger’s reviews to see which book best fits your needs. Pawan Vora reviews "Cyber Rules: Strategies for Excelling at E-Business" by Thomas M. Siebel and Pat House. In this book, the authors set a roadmap for successful E-Business, describing the advantages and pitfalls along the way.
Please take note of the Call for Papers: Empirical Studies of WWW Usability, a Special Issue of the International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction. This issue will examine what makes an effective web site by looking at the "mechanisms for sharing information, conducting business, and collaborating with colleagues." For more information, contact Andrew Sears, asears@umbc.edu.
We hope that you enjoy this latest issue, and please continue to send articles, summaries, book reviews, and commentaries.
Judy Cantor
AT&T Labs
jcantor@att.com
(732) 420-2876
© Internet Technical Group
Last update: August 15, 1999
URL: http://www.sandia.gov/itg/newsletter/jun99/from_the_editor.html
hosted by Sandia National Labs
Disclaimer: Neither Sandia Corporation, the United States Government, nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately-owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by Sandia Corporation, the United States Government, or any agency thereof. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Sandia Corporation, the United States Government or any agency thereof.