Customising Interfaces to Service-Oriented Digital Library Systems

Suleman, Hussein, Kevin Feng and Gary Marsden (2006) Customising Interfaces to Service-Oriented Digital Library Systems. In Proceedings 9th International Conference on the Asian Digital Library, Kyoto, Japan.

Abstract

Digital library systems that once were mostly monolithic in construction are slowly making the transition to component-based models. However, it is not clear how best to design or construct the user interfaces to such systems - one alternative would be to create associated interface elements while another would be to create a separable interface layer. This paper discusses an attempt to do the latter by using current browser-based tools - recently named Ajax - in order to visually design the layouts, work°ows and service connections of a user experience layer. Expert evaluators provided feedback during this process and the eventual level of functionality and usability of the proof-of-concept system demonstrate the inherent possibilities and relevance of the emerging Ajax technologies for not only the rendering or execution but also the design of browser-based Web applicatons, and digital library systems in particular.