Conceptualization of hybrid web sites

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide a mechanism to characterize web sites, at the conceptualization stage, whose information content can be defined in terms of hybrid conceptual models. Usually in this type of web site, some of the domain information units are modeled in terms of classes/entities while others remain as heterogeneous irregular elements. Web sites built on this type of hybrid conceptual domain are referred to as hybrid web sites in this paper.Design/methodology/approachThe paper characterizes a hybrid web site, at the conceptualization stage – the site of the Virtual Campus of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. For the characterization of this site the Pipe notation, a notation that has proven to be appropriate when characterizing web sites built on irregular domains, was used. In addition, the Pipe notation was combined with entity‐relationship diagrams to characterize the most homogeneous and regular elements of the web site. The paper also analyzed several alternative notations intended for the characterization of web sites.FindingsIt was found that if in hybrid web sites, entity‐relationship diagrams are complemented with other notations able to characterize the most heterogeneous and irregular elements of these web sites, important benefits can be obtained from a modeling point of view. These benefits are later easily translated into an easier evolution and maintenance of the web site.Research limitations/implicationsOnly some web applications can be characterized as hybrid web sites. Therefore, there are many web applications whose conceptual domain is best characterized using classes/entities based models.Practical implicationsPersons in charge of modeling web sites must first identify the nature of the information domain of the web site in order to choose the most appropriate modeling mechanism.Originality/valueThis paper explicitly identifies hybrid web sites and provides a notation, which is able to characterize them at the conceptualization stage.