Guillermo Javier Lafuente

Specifying Quality Characteristics and Attributes for Websites

In this work, we outline more than a hundred characteristics and attributes for the domain of academic sites in order to analyze the quality requirement tree and a way to specify them. These elements are used in a quantitative methodology for assessment, comparison, and ranking processes. The proposed Web-site Quality Evaluation Methodology (QEM) can be a useful approach to assess the quality in different phases of a Web product life cycle. In the academic study, we have observed three different evaluation audiences regarding visitor users: current and prospective students, academic personnel, and research sponsors. Besides, the aim of this work is to show a hierarchical and descriptive specification framework for characteristics, subcharacteristics and attributes. This framework is a key underlying piece in the construction of a hyperdocumented evaluation tool. Finally, some results are presented and concluding remarks are discussed.

Assessing the Quality of Academic Websites: a Case Study

Abstract In this paper, a quantitative evaluation approach to assess the quality of sites called Website Quality Evaluation Method (QEM) is proposed. This prescriptive and descriptive approach might be useful to evaluate and compare quality characteristics and attributes in different phases of a Web product lifecycle. Particularly, to discuss this methodology, we evaluate the level of accomplishment of required quality characteristics (like usability, functionality, reliability, efficiency, and derived subcharacteristics) in six typical academic sites. At the end of the evaluation process, a ranking for each selected site is obtained. Specifically, the evaluation process generates elemental, partial, and global indicators or quality preferences that can be easily analyzed, backward and forward traced, justified, and efficiently employed in decision-making activities. Hence, conclusions about the state-of-the-art of the quality in the operative phase of these sites can be drawn. In addition, recommendation...

E-commerce Site Evaluation: a Case Study

Recent surveys on e-commerce sites confirm the increased use of the Web for shopping. The reasons of these trends have been attributed to different factors such as convenience, saving time, absence of sales pressure, among others. However, an essential site characteristic that should also be taken into account is the quality in use. In this paper, we present a case study on five e-bookstores in order to assess characteristics and attributes that influence quality in use utilizing for such an end the Web-site Quality Evaluation Methodology (QEM). The main goal of this work is to show the level of accomplishment of required quality characteristic like usability, functionality, reliability, efficiency and derived sub-characteristics and attributes, regarding the user standpoint. In addition, we focus on sub-characteristics and attributes concerning e-commerce site functionality.