Methodologies for web information system design

The Web information space is rapidly growing in the size and the diversity of both its data and its audience. A consequence is that Web information systems (WIS) in many applications replace existing traditional (not Web based) information systems. Since the nature of WIS differs from the nature of traditional information systems there is a strong demand for design methodologies specifically oriented towards WIS design. The complexity of WIS implies the need for an effective design process and a rigorous and systematic design approach. We argue that besides the quality of the navigation that is typical for Web (hypermedia) data also the adaptation of the presented content is a desired feature of a modern WIS. In this paper we briefly describe the navigation and adaptation design in selected WIS design methodologies, RMM, OOHDM, UWE, and particularly Hera.