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10.1 Image Formats used for the Prototype
A study was made of the different formats available for computer storage
of images (see Appendix D).
For the purposes of developing the prototype images have been stored
in JPG format. Two files were created for each image, one being the main
image, the other a thumbnail for use in results pages. Consideration was
given to the creation of TIF archival files but this was decided against
due to the additional time and storage space requirements. Should the
prototype become commercially successful the creation of TIFs for all
images in the collection will be reconsidered.
10.2 Site Metadata
HTML provides the META tags for purposes of storing data about the document.
Keywords and description are often provided to facilitate more accurate
indexing by search engines.
Research by Jansen et al. [54]
found that the most common term in searches for images on the Excite [36]
search engine was pictures, occurring in 11.26% of queries. The next most
common terms were photos, picture, pics and photo, occurring in 3.74%,
1.61% and 1.32% of image queries respectively. It follows that sites consisting
of image collections should therefore include these terms in their meta
data to maximise the likelihood of their appearing in the results of image
queries made to search engines. The prototype includes the above terms
in its metadata.
10.3 The Cross Browser Problem
In view of the overwhelming dominance of Microsoft Internet Explorer (see
appendix A), twinIsles has been developed and tested primarily for
viewing in this browser. However, care has been taken to avoid features
(e.g. DHTML) likely to cause problems when viewed in other browsers. Therefore
it is anticipated that the site will be fully usable if viewed in Netscape.
Server logs will be consulted to ascertain the range of browsers and platforms
used to access the site and this information will be used in future additions
and amendments.
10.4 Marketing
A common measure for the success of a website is the number of visitors
it attracts, and in order for a site to attract visitors they must be
aware of its existence. This awareness will be sought in a number of ways:
- twinIsles will be submitted to all the major search engines. The front
page and inner pages contain meta tags to facilitate the accurate indexing
of the site.
- twinIsles will be promoted on relevant USENET newsgroups.
- Press releases will be e-mailed to relevant publications and organisations
(both online and traditional).
- The use of banner exchange schemes, such as PhotoExchange [82]
operated by the British Journal of Photography, will be considered.
- Since the provision of a link to twinIsles is a condition for the
use of free images it is hoped that every free image published will
act as an advertisement for the site.
- A mailing list has been provided to keep users informed of developments
to the site, which it is hoped will encourage repeat visits. This has
been started with those survey respondents who indicated they wished
to be kept informed of developments to the proposed site.
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