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Preserving CAMRA`s National Inventory in Leeds Rebecca

1. 4 1 3 Byaluation adi ra nie ghee Pale Ga eee as 4 2 Second Prototype sa sa foe a dg ek ee a ecg es 4 2 1 Design and Implementation of Changes 4 22 Evaluation iiaii A A Ae ae A 5 Final System SL Database Design 5428 LE e A ed 5 2 User Comments cobos dada rr a de ue oa 37 Pub Search 5 208 eos ae BL Be M a ee Pes Ae e i DAL MAPS in ri yok A AUS yea Dan as SA oP et a ae eee 55 Image Uploads 53 2 85 start nt on mt die der a tn ia be a ART 14 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 20 20 20 23 23 24 24 26 6 Evaluation 6 1 Evaluation Crit ria 22 3 8 a us et ante SG ee ee a eS a ne 6 2 Aims Objectives amp Minimum Requirements 6 3 Evaluation of Methodology 6 4 Evaluation of Project Schedule 6 5 Application Testing oaoa 6 6 Usability Evaluation 6 7 User Eyal ation tuba at Boek Sie e bed aed Me GI bo dd 6 8 Improvements amp Additional Features 0 9 Summary aa a A A O ie eek dat Bibliography Appendix A Project Reflection Appendix B User Manual Appendix C Maintenance Manual Appendix D User Evaluations Appendix E Screenshots of Application 39 39 39 41 41 42 42 42 46 47 48 50 52 54 56 59 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1 Overview The Campaign fo
2. To Leeds LS42H0 UK Add destination e2007 Godlez Map datg e200 Traneferrina data from mt1 nnnals cnm l Or 5 5 Image Upload One suggestion put forward during the meeting with John Thornton was a facility where users can up load their own images of the pubs These could be old photographs of events that occurred in the history of the pub or more recent photographs showing the pub in its current state This functionality was implemented by adding a page which is linked from the pub details page which has a standard HTML form containing a file upload input object as shown in Figure 5 13 Figure 5 13 Image Upload Form Leeds Herit Home NUCA Search Contact No images have been uploaded yet Upload 36 When the user clicks on the browse button a standard file browser is displayed which allows them to lo cate the photograph that they want to upload The use of this browser means that a file type filter can be added to prevent the user uploading files that are not images and also the use of a standard component means that it is likely the user will already be familiar with how to locate their photographs Once they have found the photograph that they want to upload the user clicks on the Upload button and the form is sent to the script imageupload php a section of which can be seen in Figure 5 14 Figure 5 14 Code to upload an image 24 lt php 25 pub id _POST pub id 26 fimage title
3. What did you think of the layout of pages of the website Total 43 60 Name Susan Palmer Age 43 How good were your first impressions of the website How easy was it to find your way around the website How easy was it to add a comment to a pub How easy was it to upload a photograph What did you think of the colour scheme of the website Ion a What did you think of the layout of pages of the website Total 40 60 56 Name Rebecca Gelder Age 21 How good were your first impressions of the website 9 How easy was it to find your way around the website 8 How easy was it to add a comment to a pub 10 How easy was it to upload a photograph 9 What did you think of the colour scheme of the website 9 What did you think of the layout of pages of the website 8 Total 53 60 Name Emily Marlow Age 15 How good were your first impressions of the website 5 How easy was it to find your way around the website 7 How easy was it to add a comment to a pub 9 How easy was it to upload a photograph 5 What did you think of the colour scheme of the website 6 What did you think of the layout of pages of the website 6 Total 38 60 57 Name Margaret Clayton Age 68 How good were your first impressions of the website How easy was it to find your way around the website
4. Preserving CAMRA s National Inventory in Leeds Rebecca Marlow Computing Industry 2006 2007 The candidate confirms that the work submitted is their own and the appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others I understand that failure to attribute material which is obtained from another source may be considered as plagiarism Signature of student Project Summary This project aims to develop a system to store the Regional Inventory of the Leeds Campaign for Real Ale with the main requirement being to make the Inventory available on the World Wide Web After carrying out the required background reading the Rapid Application Development methodology was used to manage the development of two prototypes before the finished system was delivered The end product was a fully functional application which is easy to use no matter how much technical knowledge the user has There is also scope for further improvements to be made to the application in the future Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor Tony Jenkins for his advice and guidance throughout the develop ment of this project I would also like to thank Dr Brandon Bennett my assessor for taking the time to mark my project and for his advice during the progress meeting Special thanks also go to John Thornton and Andy Shaw from Leeds CAMRA Thanks to John for tak ing the time to meet with me to di
5. 2 14 Static Website eos e ea din d dan dep ee done 7 2 1 5 Summary of Possible Solutions 8 252 Technologies r natie 04 2 salad ae tant Sea eld a ge a A thee 9 2 2 1 Programming Languages 9 222 Databases is ste Let s de Rs bee i ae Se es td 10 2 2 3 Summary of Technologies 11 2 3 Methodologies 244 o he M A ge dde an ot bn 11 lil 2 3 1 The Waterfall Model 2 3 2 Rapid Application Development RAD 2 3 3 The Spiral Model oia ye sed Baie bas Rea ts A cat ad aye ke RE 2 3 4 Summary of Methodologies 3 Analysis Sek Simlar Projects 1 448 68 rn a ad A di aa A PUbSCOM aoo neat aye pate Stat gear ht Ae a ae etal ate hae ah 3 1 2 FancyAPint com 3 1 3 BeerInTheEvening com 3 1 4 PubInnGuidecom 3 1 5 PubsNewcastle CO UK ooo ad amp pas a ee A E 3 1 6 Summary of Similar Projects 3 2 CAMRA Requirements 3 3 Functional Requirements 3 4 Non Functional Requirements 4 Prototyping 4 1 First Prototype sn dat dian es ee koh oh ok OR a ite es ede oa he PE sa A sa AL DESIL oats ete eB ee Sin ed hee A See Be ee ee io 4 1 2 Implementation
6. Example pub search query SELECT FROM pub WHERE pub name LIKE cardigant OR address LIKE cardigan OR postcode LIKE cardigan OR description LIKE Scardigan OR pub name LIKE tarmst OR address LIKE tarms OR postcode LIKE tarmst OR description LIKE Sarms This search is more useful than the one implemented in the prototype because it is more flexible and returns more results This means that the user does not need to be as accurate when they are entering their search phrases 5 4 Maps Selection of Provider One major addition to the web application in the second prototype was the integration of maps showing the locations of the different pubs There are several providers of these services which were evaluated before one was selected for use in the application Multimap com provides an API allowing the integra tion of their maps into custom software applications however this service is not free and is almed more 33 at business customers Streetmap co uk offers a similar paid service Google however provide a free API for their Google Maps service which allows their maps to be integrated into any web application The only requirement to access the service is a key which is generated on the Google Maps website that is specific to the website that the maps are to be displayed on Therefore as this is the only service that is free it was chosen for use in the Heritage Pubs application Implementation In orde
7. How easy was it to add a comment to a pub How easy was it to upload a photograph What did you think of the colour scheme of the website What did you think of the layout of pages of the website o OU ow Total 45 60 58 Appendix E Screenshots of Application Figure 6 1 Index 9 Heritage Pubs in Leeds Mozilla Firefox Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help lt a y f fat http focalhost fypfindex php Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE This website contains information about pubs in Leeds and the surroundi area that are of historical significance They could be listed because their exterior interior or both are completely original and will be part of either the CAMRA National Inventory or the Leeds Regional Inventory Each pub has its own section where you can share information about the pubs with other users by leaving comments or uploading your own images and you can also search for pubs by name or postcode Quick Search Enter a pub name below and click search Last Updated 18th April 2007 Copyright Leeds CAMRA 59 Figure 6 2 All Pubs Heritage Pubs in Leeds All Pubs Mozilla Firefox Bie Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help amp gt fat http focalhost fyp alpubs php Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact REAL ALE Click on the pub name to view more details The Adelphi Whit
8. The best advice I could give to students using a similar methodology to the one used in this project would be to keep in regular contact with the users of the system When using methodologies with a lot of user involvement such as Rapid Application Development it is vital that users give feedback on the prototype systems and the sooner this feedback is obtained the better This will mean that the development process is not delayed while waiting for the user feedback It is also helpful when using these methodologies to complete the first prototype as quickly as possible This will begin the user feedback process earlier which will in turn help the development of further prototypes and mean that they are more likely to meet the requirements of the users 51 Appendix B User Manual Pub Details Searching for a Pub 1 Click on the Search link on the toolbar 2 Enter your search keywords into the top text box and click the Search button 3 Click on the name of the pub to view its details Searching with a Postcode 1 Click on the Search link on the toolbar 2 Enter your postcode into the bottom text box and click on the Search button 3 Click on the name of the pub to view its details Commenting on a Pub 1 Click on the Add Comment link at the bottom of the Pub Details page 2 Enter your name and the comment you want to make into the text boxes 3 Click on the Add Comment button Images Viewing a Pub Image Archive
9. _POST image _title 27 targetpath uploads pub_id 28 29 targetpath targetpath basename _FILES uploaded file name 30 5 _FILES uploaded file tmp_name 31 32 print lt table gt lt tr gt 33 34 if move uploaded file 5_FILES uploaded file tmp name targetpath 35 36 mysql_connect localhost root password 37 mysql_select_db fyp 8 39 filename _FILES uploaded file name 40 41 Build the database quer 42 query INSERT INTO image pub id image name image title VALUES 43 Spub id filename fimage title 44 45 Query the database 46 result mysql_query query 47 8 print lt td class bodytext gt The file basename 5 _FILES uploaded file ze name has been uploaded lt br gt 49 print lt a href imagearchive php 2id 5_POST pub id gt Click here lt a gt to return to the image archive lt td gt 50 51 else 52 53 print lt td class bodytext gt There was an error uploading the file please try again lt td gt 54 55 56 print lt tr gt lt table gt SF 2 gt This script moves the uploaded file from a temporary directory to the correct directory depending on which pub the image is related to It does this by first building the path of the target directory using the ID of the pub for example if the pub ID is 3 then the path of the direc
10. 61 REAL ALE REAL ALE Figure 6 6 Pub Details 2 Heritage Pubs in Leeds Pub Details Mozilla Firefox Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help fa http flocalhost fyp pubdetails php id 1 No description has been added for this pub Timeline Image Archive Your Comments No comments have been added yet Add Comment Last Updated 18th April Copyright Leeds CAMRA Figure 6 7 Add Comment Heritage Pubs in Leeds Mozilla Firefox Ele Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help cal a TO mu focalost ypjaddcomment phpnd 1 Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact Name Comment Add Comment Last Updated 18th April 2007 Copyright Leeds CAMRA 62 CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE Figure 6 8 Image Archive Heritage Pubs in Leeds Image Archive Mozilla Firefox Bookmarks Tools Help fat O http focalhost Fyp i Leeds Heritage Pubs CAMPAIGN Home About Search Contact Image Archive Click on an image t Upload a Photo Last Updated 18th April 2007 Co eeds CAMRA Figure 6 9 Image Details Heritage Pubs in Leeds Pub Search Mozilla Firefox Ele Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help REAL ALE 5 a s Ufo A fat http focalhost fyp imagedetails pho id 6 Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE Cardigan Arms 63 Figure 6 10 Upload Image Heritage Pubs in Leeds Pub Search Mozilla F
11. always be provided in the event that the user cannot find what they are looking for through the search mechanism For this reason a page listing all pubs in the database will be provided 21 Figure 4 1 Page Layout Title Banner Navigation Content There are four broad styles which the majority of websites conform to newsprint style magazine style arty style and graphic designer style 5 The newsprint style has four columns with navigation in the two outer columns and content in the two central columns which gives it the look of a newspaper page The magazine style is similar to the newsprint style however does not have any navigation on the right hand side only on the left hand side The arty style is very minimalist with little content and a small number of images on each page and is often used on the websites of institutes such as modern art mu seums The graphic designer style uses a combination of images and text and is more flexible than the other three design styles but the amount of images and content with this style makes for increased page load times The style that will be used for this system is derived from the magazine style with one section of navi gation across the top of the pages and content underneath as shown in Figure 4 1 The newsprint style will not be used as there is not enough navigation to require a column on each side of the page The arty style is also not appropriate for this
12. application as several of the pages will in time have many comments added to them This will mean that the information on the pages will become quite dense and would not conform to the minimalist arty style The graphic design style would be useful to use if it did not create such high page load times As usability is major requirements of this application high load times would frustrate users and make the website more difficult to use Therefore the magazine style has the most appropriate balance of navigation text and images for this application 22 The title banner and navigation bar are the same across all pages to give the web interface a consistent feel and the colours and fonts of the pages are specified in a stylesheet which is then applied to each page again to keep the look and feel of the website consistent The majority of the text on the pages is in basic sans serif fonts such as Tahoma and Arial to make the information as readable as possible and also to ensure that the text will display correctly in all browsers The title banner and navigation bar use Book Antiqua which is a more obscure font therefore the text has been saved as images to ensure that it always displays correctly By keeping the number of fonts used as low as possible the website appears less cluttered and more easy to read to the user 4 1 2 Implementation Database Implementation The database side of the application is implemented using the MySQL tec
13. created which is not a very efficient way of maintaining the system In a web application with dynamic pages only one page is required to display all the pub details as the information will be taken from the database and put into the web page as and when a user requests to view it This approach means that it may take longer to write each page but in the long run will be more efficient 2 2 Technologies There are several technologies which could be used to develop a web application for this project These will be discussed below before a decision is made on which will be used 2 2 1 Programming Languages ASP NET ASP NET is a freely available technology that can be downloaded from the World Wide Web and is used to develop dynamic web applications It is not an open source technology and requires the installation of the Microsoft NET framework before it can be used 1 This means that any of the NET languages for example Visual C or Visual Basic can be used to write the code of the web applications However a major disadvantage of this technology is that it is not as widely compatible as some open source pro gramming languages and only runs on Windows machines CGI The Common Gateway Interface CGI is a web standard used by applications to communicate with HTTP web servers A CGI program allows the web server to take a request made through a client s browser and pass it to an external application and then the output from the ap
14. designing the structure and content of the pages it was important to keep everything as simple and easy to navigate as possible because the users may have limited technical knowledge and may not be computer literate Levene stated that between a third and half of the time that users spend on comput ers is wasted on frustrating experiences 11 Web navigation is the largest cause of this and the most frustrating experiences are said to be dropped connections long download times of web pages web pages that are not found and popup adverts Therefore the number and size of images and the amount of content on each page should be kept to a minimum as it is preferable for the user to navigate through a series of short pages that load very quickly than for them to wait for a large complex web page to load Also all links within the web application should be checked to ensure that they do not generate a web page not found 404 error A usability study carried out by Nielsen 15 found that users had a low tolerance for anything that did not work or was too complicated Due to the number of sites available on the World Wide Web the demands for usability are higher for a web application than for a desktop application making it even more important that the interface for this project is well designed The study also found that users wanted search facilities however were not good at building search strings therefore an alternative navi gation method should
15. page Y User Control Site reflects user s workflow Y Clear exit point is provided on every page x Per page size is less than 50K to accomodate slow connections Language and Content Important information and tasks are given prominence Y Related information or tasks are grouped together on the same menu or page Y Language is simple without jargon Y Links are concise expressive and visible not buried in text Y System and User Feedback It is always clear what is happening on the site x Users can give feedback via email or a feedback form Y Confirmation is provided for form submittal Y Each page includes a last updated date Y Web Accessibility The alt attribute is used for images animations and other objects Y Link labels make sense when read out of context e g not Click here Y Pages are organised well with headings lists and consistent structure Y Site has been validated using W3Cs HTML Validation Service Y Site has been tested on a variety of platforms Y Consistency Link reflects the title of the page to which it refers x Browser page title is meaningful and reflects main page heading Y Error Prevention and Correction Users can rely on recognition not memory for successful use of the site Y Error messages are visible not hidden Y Error messages are in plain language Y Architectural and Visual Clarity Site design and layout is straightforward and concise Y White space is sufficient pages are not too dense Y Colours used for visited
16. software which must be purchased An advantage of Access is that 10 because it is such a ubiquitous application many Microsoft Office users are familiar with the basics of managing a database This will mean that the application that is developed may be easier to maintain through the Query Builder that is provided as part of Access 2 2 3 Summary of Technologies After studying the various technologies available for both the implementation of the web application and the database behind it it has been decided that PHP and MySQL will be used PHP will be used to write the pages of the web application because it is open source software which is free to download but is more widely used than some other open source technologies and therefore more reliable and ro bust Research also showed there is a lot of documentation available for PHP which is an advantage as it is a language that the author has little previous experience with ASP NET will not be used as it is not as widely compatible as PHP and will only run on Windows machines ColdFusion has also been discounted because it is not freely available and with a starting price of 1 299 is outside the budget constraints of this project MySQL has been selected as the database management technology as it is the most appropriate for this project It is another open source technology therefore will not cost anything to use and in the same way as PHP it is extremely popular This means that t
17. the additional features that need to be integrated into the application many more pages need to be added to the application Each feature will be on its own page as it can become difficult for users to find what they are looking for when the pages are too cluttered A site map showing the structure of the application can be seen in Figure 4 3 This structure has been designed to ensure that the user can access all the information that they are looking for in a logical way From the homepage they can access the pub search and the about and contact pages Then from the pub search they can view the pub details page for whatever pub they are looking for and from this page they can access the other features such as the map and image archive The pages flow in a natural way and help the user to navigate their way through the application 4 2 2 Evaluation After the development of the second prototype was completed feedback about the colour scheme and structure was obtained This was done through discussion with a real user and email communica tion with John Thornton The feedback received about the colour scheme was positive as both parties thought that the chosen colours of white text on a black background was easy to read and gave the ap plication a professional look and feel The structure also had good feedback the users both felt that the pages were in a logical order and that the navigation between pages was intuitive 26 Figure 4 3 Sit
18. the analysis and requirements gathering stages as this was the area in which I had the least experience The biggest piece of advice that I would give to future students when undertaking their final year projects would be to keep as close as possible to the project schedule When defining the schedule at the begin ning of the project it is very important to allocate a lot of time for writing the report This will then give you some room to spend longer on the development of the software should any major problems be encountered In order to get the maximum marks possible for the solution produced in the project I would advise future students to meet the minimum requirements as early as possible to allow more time to work on the further enhancements It is also important to define your minimum requirements clearly at the be ginning of the project This is because the development of a solution will take longer if you have to go 50 back and review the minimum requirements When starting a project of this nature I would also advise any future students to not be afraid of using a programming language that they are not familiar with The quality of the final solution should not be sacrificed in order to use a technology that the student is more comfortable with It is always useful to have knowledge of another programming language and with the number of textbooks available as well as online sources it is not difficult to pick up the basics
19. the system to only work on Windows platforms In order for the system to be compatible with all operating systems an open source application such as Open Office could be used 2 1 2 Desktop Application with Database Another potential solution would be to create a database which would hold all of the information about the pubs and then access this using a bespoke desktop application The application could be distributed to CAMRA members to install on their individual computers They could then access the Regional Inventory through the user interface There are several ways in which this type of solution could be implemented An open source programming technology such as Java could be used with a GUI package such as the Swing components being used to implement the user interface Another way of producing this solution would be to use the Microsoft NET framework to develop the application however this is not an open source technology and can be quite costly to purchase Also it would restrict the application to only run on Microsoft Windows machines 2 1 3 Web Application with Database A database similar to that discussed above could also be linked to a web application running on the same server as the existing Leeds CAMRA website This could then be linked from the main Leeds CAMRA website to make it easy for the members to find Members who have administrative rights on the server could also modify the information about the pubs The pages of
20. this type of application would have to be dynamic so that the information from the database could be displayed on each one There are many ways that a web application of this nature could be implemented as there are many different technologies that allow the development of dynamic web pages 2 1 4 Static Website A website could be built up from static web pages which contain the information about the pubs in the Regional Inventory A different page would be required for each pub and these could be linked from a main search page where the user could look for the pub they want information about Images could also be stored in this type of application but would have to be hard coded into each web page This type of solution would be implemented using standard HTML but an Independent Development Environment IDE such as Microsoft Visual Studio or Eclipse could be used to aid the development process 2 1 5 Summary of Possible Solutions After evaluating the possibilities the third solution of a web application with a database was chosen This is because it allows the most user interaction by providing a user interface that can be accessed from any PC connected to the Internet not just a PC with a specific application installed The use of a database for storing the information about the pubs will give scalability and allow an extremely large number of pubs to be added in future if necessary Also a web application can contain many pages of im
21. version of the Regional Inventory However ColdFusion is a licensed software technology which is expensive to purchase and for this reason is more widely used by businesses rather than individual developers 2 2 2 Databases MySQL MySQL is an extremely popular open source database technology and runs on over twenty platforms including Windows Linux and Mac OSX One benefit of MySQL is that it is widely used worldwide in more than ten million installations and therefore is very well tested and documented compared to some open source software 14 It is part of the LAMP stack Linux Apache MySQL PHP Perl Python which is a group of software applications that complement each other and work well when integrated together PostgreSQL PostgreSQL is another open source relational database system which is compatible with all major oper ating system including both Linux and Windows 17 It is released under a BSD license which is a free software license that permits the user to make as many copies of the software as they wish PostgreSQL has many advanced features and is mainly used by large companies who may have up to several ter abytes of data to manage For this reason it may not be the most appropriate technology for this project as the extra features will not be needed Microsoft Access Microsoft Access part of the Microsoft Office suite of applications is available on many but not all Windows computers and is licensed
22. 1 Click on the Image Archive link underneath the pub image 52 2 Click on any image in the archive to view it full size Uploading an Image 1 Click on the Image Archive link underneath the pub image 2 Click on the Upload a Photo link at the bottom of the page 3 Click on Browse and find the file that you want to upload 4 Enter a title for the image in the text box and click on the Upload button Commenting on an Image 1 Click on the image in the archive to view it full size 2 Click on the Add Comment link at the bottom of the page 3 Enter your name and the comment you want to make into the text boxes 4 Click on the Add Comment button Maps Viewing a Pub on a Map 1 Click on the Map button underneath the pub image 2 The marker on the map shows the location of the pub 3 To move around on the map click the left right up and down arrows in the top left corner 4 To zoom in and out on the map click on the plus and minus arrows in the top left corner Getting Directions to a Pub 1 Enter your postcode into the text box underneath the map 2 Click on the Get Directions button 3 You will be redirected to a Google page showing written and map directions to the pub from your postcode 53 Appendix C Maintenance Manual Adding a new Pub To add a new pub to the database the following SQL query should be used INSERT INTO pub pub_name address postcode long lat description web_ad
23. Figure 5 4 Code to save a pub comment 24 lt php 25 nect 26 mysql connect localhost root password 27 Connect t 28 mysql _select_db fyp 29 30 31 2 33 34 35 36 ct 37 38 Query the data 39 mysql_query query 40 41 print lt table gt lt tr gt 42 print lt td class pubdetails php id lt td gt 43 print lt tr gt lt table gt 44 gt Figure 5 5 Your Comments Your Comments Becky 3007 01 03 14 4051 This is a comment about the Cardigan Arms Add Comment 5 3 Pub Search One of the most important features of the application is the pub search as this is the main way in which users will find information about the pubs In the prototype this was implemented by taking keywords entered by the user and using these the build a select query that could then be applied on the database as shown in Figure 5 6 This search returns all pubs where the name address postcode or description that is stored in the 31 Figure 5 6 Code for first pub search lt php Aril the emery query SELECT FROM pub WHERE pub name LIKE keywords 5 OR address LIKE 5 keywords OR postcode LIKE 5 keywords 3 OR description LIKE keywords database matches the search phrase exactly For example if cardigan arms is entered it will only return one match as there is only one pub in the database which contains the ex
24. Once this has been completed it will provide an idea of which features are useful and should be included in this project The disadvantages of the other websites will also help to highlight potential problem areas and features which should not be included when developing a solution to this project The websites chosen for evaluation were all found on the World Wide Web using the Google search engine 3 1 1 Pubs com This is a website which holds information about pubs in the London area which have retained some or all of their original features and design however the pubs listed are not the same as the National Inventory pubs For each pub it stores basic information such as its address telephone number opening times description and a photograph and also has the functionality to allow users to leave comments about each pub There are also pages detailing the History of the English Pub a Brief History of Beer and Ale and the law regarding pubs Pubs com also contains a Pub Finder where the user can perform searches based on location name postcode or landmark 19 14 3 1 2 FancyAPint com This is another website containing information about London pubs however is not restricted to pubs of historical or architectural significance It lists most if not all pubs in central London with information for each including one photograph description address telephone number and the nearest train and un derground stations There are
25. act phrase in its name 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 ze 46 47 46 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 Figure 5 7 Code for revised pub search mysql connect localhost root password mysql select db yp POST keywords keywords for i 0 i lt count keywords array i Add each search word to the a pub name LIKE 3 keywords_array i OR address LIKE 3 keywords_array i OR postcode LIKE 3 keywords_array i 3 OR description LIKE 3 keywords_array i marre if i l lt count Skeywords array query query OR result mysql_query query This search method was revised during the design of the final solution Instead of searching on the exact phrase the search phrase is split into its individual words and each word is searched for separately As shown in Figure 5 7 the split method is used to extract the separate words from the phrase that has been 32 passed to the script in the HTTP post Then the database query is built using a for loop that iterates through the words in order to search for them all individually Therefore if cardigan arms is entered into the modified search page the query shown in Figure 5 8 is generated which returns the following results e The Cardigan Arms e The Kings Arms e The Hanover Arms e The Queen Arms e The Bingley Arms Figure 5 8
26. ages and other media and therefore has more potential to be able to effectively preserve a building in an electronic format The first possible solution was discounted because it is not a user friendly implementation A spread sheet would only be accessible by one member of CAMRA and if anyone else wanted to view the information they would need to be sent a copy of the file The file would have to be sent either via email or put on a disk and given to the user This would lead to data integrity issues if the original copy was updated as the data in the other versions would not be updated Also storing images of the pubs in the local file system is not appropriate as it does not provide an easy way to navigate through the data held The second solution was rejected because in order to access the data CAMRA members would need to install the application on their machine In this implementation the database is stored locally and this would lead to the same problems with data integrity as in the first solution These problems can only be solved by storing the database on a server which is accessible through a web application that is publicly available The fourth solution of a static website will not be taken further as 1t does not allow for as much flexibility compared to a web application with a database This is because for a static website a page is required for each pub that is in the Inventory When a new pub is added a new page must be
27. and unvisited links are easily seen and understood Y Bold and italic text is used sparingly Y 44 Table 6 3 Summary of User Evaluation User 1 User2 User3 User4 User5 Total First Impressions 8 6 9 5 8 36 Navigation 7 8 8 7 6 36 Adding Comments 8 6 10 9 7 40 Uploading Photographs 6 5 9 5 7 32 Colour Scheme 7 8 9 6 9 39 Page Layout 7 7 8 6 8 36 rectified This could be done relatively easily by adding more information to the image upload page A short paragraph at the top of the page briefly explaining the upload process would explain to users what they have to do and what will happen to their photograph and would hopefully make the process easier to use In addition to the aspects that were rated in Table 6 3 the users were also asked to state any changes or improvements that they thought would make the website easier to use The following suggestions were made e Using wildcards in the pub search in case the user does not know the full name of a pub For example Cardigan e Add more information to the pub details e g opening times if the pub serves food if the pub is family friendly etc e Open a new window when getting directions to pubs because it goes to an external website This will mean you can still navigate the Heritage Pubs website at the same time e A feedback form would be easier to use on the Contact page because not many users ha
28. as the minimum requirements the evaluation should also take into account any additional features that have been implemented These evaluations should ascertain whether or not the functional side of the project was successful and if the initial problem was solved The non functional require ments that were identified at the beginning of the project can also be used to evaluate the solution and the project as a whole This will determine the usability of the software that has been produced 6 2 Aims Objectives amp Minimum Requirements The success of the project can to some degree be measured by evaluating whether or not the original aim and objectives specified in the Introduction have been achieved The initial aim of the project as 39 a whole was to develop a system which would make the Regional Inventory available to all CAMRA members This aim has been achieved through the development of an application which is freely avail able on the World Wide Web The first objective was to develop a method of preserving a public house in an electronic format In the Leeds Heritage Pubs website that has been developed it can be seen that this objective has been achieved with the inclusion of the pages showing the details of each pub These pages not only contain basic information such as the address and postcode of the pub but they also allow a history of each pub to be built up through the Image Archive and Timeline As it stands the website
29. ccessed 27th February 2007 21 Andy Shaw Pub heritage group it requirements 2006 22 John Wateridge How can IS IT projects be measured for success International Journal of Project Management 16 1 1998 49 Appendix A Project Reflection One of the largest tasks to overcome was getting to grips with the PHP programming language I had some previous experience of PHP that was gained during my industrial placement however was not familiar with the more advanced concepts such as database access However with the help of textbooks and several tutorials on the World Wide Web I was able to learn the basics and solve any problems I en countered with the more advanced features Knowledge gained from the School of Computing modules discussed in the Introduction also proved very useful throughout the project As most of the develop ment of the software took place on my own machine the Apache web server PHP and the MySQL database server needed to be installed This was made much easier because I already had some experi ence of Apache from the Distributed Systems module In my opinion the most important area of knowledge gained was the project process itself During the industrial placement I had carried out the design and implementation stages of many software projects however had never taken responsibility for the entire project This has given me a greater appreciation of the importance of the other stages of development particularly
30. cessed 20th April 2007 Fancyapint com http www fancyapint com Accessed 27th February 2007 Richard Hall and Patrick Hanna The impact of web page text background colour combinations on readability and retention Aesthetics and Behavioural Intention Behaviour amp Information Tech nology 23 3 2004 Stephen Kan Metrics and Models in Software Quality Engineering Addison Wesley 2002 Rasmus Lerdorf and Kevin Tatroe Programming PHP O Reilly And Associates Inc 2002 Mark Levene An Introduction to Search Engines and Web Navigation Addison Wesley 2006 Hugh Mackay Chris Carne Paul Beynon Davies and Doug Tudhope Reconfiguring the user Using rapid application development Social Studies of Science 30 737 2000 Web usability guidelines http web mit edu is usability usability guidelines html Accessed 4th April 2007 48 14 Mysql http www mysql com Accessed 14th November 2006 15 Jakob Nielsen Report from a 1994 usability study 1994 16 Andrew Greasley Paul Bocij Dave Chaffey and Simon Hickie Business Information Systems Technology Development amp Management for the E Business 3rd Edition Prentice Hall 2006 17 Postgresql http www postgresql org Accessed 20th April 2007 18 Pubinnguide com http www pubinnguide com Accessed 27th February 2007 19 Pubs com http www pubs com Accessed 27th February 2007 20 Pubsnewcastle co uk http www pubsnewcastle co uk A
31. ditional feature that would be a major benefit to the system is a membership system Users would have to register with the system if they wanted to leave comments or upload content onto the web site which would be an improvement on the current application because it would provide a method of monitoring the activities of users if necessary This would be particularly useful if any member posts comments of an inappropriate nature as the website s administrators can take action against that mem ber The requirements that were taken from the document written by the Pub Heritage Group in the analysis section of the project state that any solution should allow the National and or Regional Inventories to be downloaded containing the same content as is displayed on the website In order to meet this requirement another improvement to the application is needed A PDF file could be created which 46 contains all of the information that is stored in the database This could either be viewed on the computer screen or printed as a booklet A link to this file would then be provided on the web application so that any user of the system can download a copy 6 9 Summary Several different factors have been evaluated to determine the success of this project The evaluation of the aim and objectives showed that the software solution that has been developed has solved the basic problem specified in the Introduction The further enhancements were also shown
32. does not contain a lot of information about each pub but as the number of users grows the amount of content stored will increase This is because the users will add their own information in the form of photographs and com ments which in turn gives other users a better view of the pub This is an effective method of preserving each pub because it shows users not only what the pub is currently like but also gives them an insight into its history The second objective was to develop this method of preserving pubs into a fully functional software solution which allows the information to be easily updated When the database and application are in stalled on the server machine a member of Leeds CAMRA will be designated as system administrator The database can be updated through the MySQL Query Browser application however this does require the administrator to have a certain level of knowledge of SQL For this reason a maintenance manual has been produced aimed at the website administrator with examples of how to add new pubs to the system and update existing pubs Overall this objective has been achieved The minimum requirements as specified in the Introduction were to preserve public houses electron ically allow CAMRA members to access this information and to allow the information to be easily updated It can be seen that these requirements have been met in the main area of the website the pub search and pub details pages The majority of th
33. dress national_inventory VALUES lt pub_name gt lt address gt lt postcode gt lt long gt lt lat gt lt description gt lt web_address gt lt national_inventory gt e Pub Name The name of the pub you are adding e Address The postal address of the pub e Postcode The postcode of the pub e Long The longitude value of the pub s location Can be found at Multimap com e Lat The latitude value of the pub s location e Description A paragraph describing the pub e Web Address The URL of the pub s official website e National Inventory True if the pub is part of the National Inventory otherwise false Deleting a Pub To delete a pub that already exists in the database the following SQL query should be used DELET E FROM pub WHER E pub_id lt pub_id gt 54 The pub_id is the unique identifier of the pub and can be seen in the URL of the pub details page when you are viewing it in a web browser 55 Appendix D User Evaluations Please answer each question with a rating from 1 to 10 1 being the worst and 10 being the best Name Paul Motteram Age 22 How good were your first impressions of the website How easy was it to find your way around the website How easy was it to add a comment to a pub How easy was it to upload a photograph What did you think of the colour scheme of the website I Co
34. e Map index php about php contact php pubsearch php allpubs php pubsnearme php searchresults php L pubdetails php pubimage php addcomment php savecomment php imagearchive php uploadimage php imagedetails php E addimagecomment php timeline php E addevent php eventdetails php ll addeventcomment php map php 27 Chapter 5 Final System After the development and evaluation of both prototypes the features that would be in the final system were finalised The design and implementation of these features will now be discussed 5 1 Database Design After the evaluation of the prototypes it was decided that several enhancements should be made to the design of the database in order to support more advanced features It was clear that several tables needed to be added to allow users to add comments and upload photographs of the pubs and the updated database schema can be seen below An diagram showing the relationships between the different tables can be seen in Figure 5 1 Pub pub_id pub_name address postcode long lat description web_address national_inventory Image image id pub_id image_name Image comment comment id user name image id comment text date time User_comment comment _id user name pubid comment text date_time Timeline_event event _id pubid date_time description Timeline_ comment comment _id user name event_id comment text date_time 28 Figure 5 1 Entity Relationship Diagra
35. e application 1 8 Relevance to Degree Programme The project draws on knowledge gained from several modules studied during the course of my degree programme COMP1620 Introduction to Human Computer Interaction taught the theory behind de signing user interfaces and the way humans interact with them which can be applied to the design of the user interface for this project COMP1400 Introduction to Databases and COMP2400 Database Principles and Practice both studied the architecture and design of relational databases This can be applied to the project when implementing the database containing pub information There are also two Level 3 modules which are relevant to the project COMP3410 Technologies for Knowledge Manage ment taught information organisation and retrieval and COMP3640 Personalisation and User Adaptive Systems studied further human computer interaction methodologies This knowledge can also be ap plied to the design of the user interfaces within the project During the industrial placement carried out in 2005 2006 many skills relating to the management of software projects were developed which will obviously be extremely relevant to this project 1 9 Project Schedule A schedule shown in Table 1 1 has been produced to manage the development of the project It shows that the background reading and analysis will take place before two prototype systems are developed and finally the finished system will be produced The ob
36. e further enhancements identified in the Introduction were also completed A keyword search has been implemented as the main pub search and the image archive can be seen as a link from the pub details Any user of the application can currently add their own information through comments or by uploading photographs and a map showing the location of the pub has been implemented with the use of the Google Maps API The only further enhancement that 40 has not been completed is the integration of 3D models showing the locations of pubs as this is a very complex feature and was outside the time constraints of the project 6 3 Evaluation of Methodology The Rapid Application Development RAD methodology was used for this project It involved the implementation of two prototype applications before a final solution was delivered which proved to be an effective approach to the software development process After each prototype was completed an evaluation was carried out and user feedback was obtained This feedback was very useful as it helped to identifiy problems at an early stage before they effected other areas of the project and also gave a further insight into what the users wanted from the software solution The increased involvement of users compared with other methodologies such as the Waterfall Model also meant that the requirements were being met more effectively at all stages of the project because the users were regularly shown areas o
37. e user to an external Google Maps web page and the saddr and daddr variables represent the starting postcode and destination postcode between which the directions are required This 34 Figure 5 10 Google map showing the pub location The marker on the map shows the location of The Cardigan Arms Use the controls in the corner of the map to move around and zoom in and out Py ajun amp The Goit Viaduct Rd Forge in Map data 2007 TeleAtlas Ter el Figure 5 11 Code to generate a Google directions page o lt php pe DO w co Me WD Fe an uw 3 33 333 2 13 0000 web page then displays a map with the journey marked in blue and directions telling the user how to get between the two postcodes See Figure 5 12 The addition of this function adds more value for the user and could prove a very useful service 35 Figure 5 12 Directions to the pub Web Images Video News Maps more Google Lesty 2 stan Maps Search the map Find businesses Get directions Maps Get reverse directions amp Print C2 Email es Link to this page _ Satellite Hybrid From Leeds LS6 1LY Edit Drive 0 9 mi about 3 mins 1 Head northeast on Back Ashville 141 ft Grove toward Cardigan Rd 2 Turn right at Cardigan Rd 0 4 mi 3 Continue on Willow Rd 0 1 mi 4 Turn right at A65 Kirkstall Rd 0 3 mi
38. elos The Cardigan Arms The Rising Sun The Garden Gate The Beech Stalls Bar City Varieties Theatre The Pack Horse The Templar The White Stag The Albion The Highland The Kings Arms The Prospect The Hanover Arms The Swan The Gaping Goose Figure 6 3 Pub Search Ele Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help lt a fa http focalhost fyp pubsearch php Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact REAL ALE Enter keywords below and click Search is could be the name or part of a name of a pub or an area of Leeds To search for pubs near you enter your postcode below and click Search ee E Last Updated 18th April 2007 Copyright Leeds CAMRA 60 Figure 6 4 Search Results Heritage Pubs in Leeds Search Results Mozilla Firefox Bile Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help Q gt g fat http flocelhost fyp searchresuits php Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact Your search for adelphi returned 1 pub s Click on the pub name to view more details The Adelphi ted 18th April 2007 opyright Leeds CAMRA Figure 6 5 Pub Details 1 Heritage Pubs in Leeds Pub Details Mozilla Firefox Bookmarks Tools Help PA nt htip ocahost fyp pubdetails php id 1 Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact The Adelphi 3 4 Hunslet Road Leeds Bridge LS10 139 htty nw theadel National Inventory Pub No description has been added for this pub
39. es and you can also search for pubs by name or postcode d White on Red Leeds Heritag This website contains information about pubs in Leeds and the surrounding area that are of historical significance They could be listed because their exterior interior or both are completely original and will be part of either the CAMRA National Inventory or the Leeds Regional Inventory Each pub has its own section where you can share information about the pubs with other users by leaving comments or uploading your own images and you can also search for pubs by name or postcode e White on Blue 25 According to Hall and Hanna any site that is educational or professional should use black text on a white background or a very close combination of these colours 8 This is because the contrast ratio between black and white and the familiarity of the colour combination improve the readability and re tention of the text They also state that for commercial sites where aesthetic and purchasing behaviour factors are a major concern different text and background colour combinations can be used as they are more likely to make the user view the site as visually pleasing However for this project commercial factors are not of importance and the readability and usability of the site is the most important factor therefore the colour scheme of white text on a black background has been selected Web Interface Structure In order to accomodate
40. f the application and could voice any concerns that they might have had The use of the RAD methodology also had its disadvantages One of the most important aspects of this methodology is keeping the users involved in the development process and the best way of doing this is through meetings after each prototype system is developed However in this project it was quite difficult to arrange these meetings due to the other commitments of both the users and the developers This meant that the meeting to discuss the first prototype was delayed slightly which then had the knock on effect of delaying further stages in the development of the project 6 4 Evaluation of Project Schedule A schedule to manage this project was drawn up in the Introduction and this was adhered to throughout the majority of the development process The first three milestones the Project Preference Form the Aim and Minimum Requirements Form and the Mid Project Report were all delivered by the specified deadlines The project was put on hold over the Christmas holidays and throughout the January exam period and the first prototype was completed by the 7th February slightly after the date specified in the schedule A meeting with John Thornton took place on the 16th February and was an opportunity to get user feedback on the first prototype system However the second prototype system was not completed until the 19th March which was two weeks later than anticipated The prog
41. g a comment on the pub details page The comment system is implemented in a very similar way for both pubs and images and will be detailed below 29 Figure 5 2 No Comments Your Comments No comments have been added yet Add Comment Figure 5 2 shows the bottom of the pub details page as it is displayed before any users have added com ments When the user clicks on the link Add Comment they are taken to the form shown in Figure 5 3 Figure 5 3 Add Comment Form Leeds Heritage Put fo About oa Contact Name Comment Add Comment The user enters their name and the comment they want to make in the text boxes and when they click on the Add Comment button the savecomment php script is executed a section of which is shown in Figure 5 4 This script takes the comment text user name and pub ID from the HTML post and inserts the infor mation into the database then displays a message to the user saying that the comment was successfully added Next time the pub details page for that pub is accessed the comment will be displayed as shown in Figure 5 5 The name of the user is displayed on the left of the title bar and the date and time when the comment was made is displayed on the right The same process has been implemented for the image comments using the same add comment page and save comment script and the image comments are displayed underneath the image when it is viewed full size 30
42. h for pubs within a specific radius of a postcode Directions to pubs e Facility for users to upload their own photographs of pubs Timeline of events in the history of each pub 4 2 Second Prototype A second prototype was developed by building on the software already developed making changes and improvements as stated in the evaluation of the first prototype The development of the second prototype involved deciding on the colour scheme for the application finalising the layout of the pages and the structure of the web interface After these cosmetic changes were made the prototype was evaluated and the outcome of this evaluation was taken into account when developing the final solution 4 2 1 Design and Implementation of Changes Colour Scheme The colours used in a web application are very important as they effect its usability A study carried out in 2004 by Hall and Hanna found that colour combinations with the highest contrast between the font colour and the background colour are the most readable 8 The readability of a web page can be determined by specifying a target word and measuring the amount of time it takes a user to find that word within the text Before the colour scheme for this application was selected several pages were mocked up with different colours as shown in Figure 4 2 24 Figure 4 2 Colour Schemes Leeds Heritag Preserving CA This website contains information about pubs in Leeds and the surround
43. hapter ter 09 03 2007 16 03 2007 Evaluate second prototype sys tem 12 03 2007 16 03 2007 Progress Meeting with supervi sor and assessor 17 03 2007 23 03 2007 Implement final changes to sys Finished System tem Easter Holidays 24 03 2007 24 04 2007 Complete writing up project re port and documentation Project Report Chapter 2 Background Research The background reading discussed in this section has been carried out to help make a number of deci sions The different possible ways of solving the problem will be investigated first in order to determine the best way to produce a solution Then several methodologies for software projects will be discussed before the most appropriate one is selected 2 1 Possible Solutions There are several ways in which this project could be implemented 2 1 1 A Spreadsheet of Pubs with an Archive of Images One potential way of solving the problem would be to store the details of all the pubs in the Regional Inventory including the address and postcode in a spreadsheet Any images of the pubs could also be stored on the local file system in a different directory for each pub When a new pub is added to the In ventory the system administrator could add a new entry to the spreadsheet and add any new photographs into the file system This type of solution would be implemented using a desktop software package such as Microsoft Excel this however would restrict
44. here is more support and documentation available than there is for some licensed software such as Microsoft Access PostgreSQL has a similar level of support however as discussed above it is better suited to enterprise level applications for large companies Microsoft Access provides an easy user interface for the future maintenance of the database however will cause compatibility issues as it will only run on Windows 2 3 Methodologies There are many different methodologies available which can be used to aid the development of soft ware projects Several of these will be discussed in this section before a decision is reached on which will be used for this project Large scale methodologies such as Structured Systems Analysis and De sign SSADM will not be considered This is because they take a very structured and strictly defined approach to development and are better suited to projects where a large team of people are involved 11 2 3 1 The Waterfall Model The Waterfall Model was developed in 1976 as a methodology to break down the growing complexity of development projects It divides the software development process into several clearly defined stages from requirements to design to implementation which must be carried out sequentially This method ology has several advantages in that it enables the project to be very closely monitored which means that any potential problems can be identified at an early stage Its structured app
45. hnology and the database was created using the MySQL Query Browser This is an open source application which is freely available to download from the MySQL website and is used to execute queries and perform database administration actions Webpage Implementation The pages within the user interface of the web application are written in PHP an open source scripting language which can be embedded into HTML pages The code itself was implemented using Rapid PHP a code editor designed for use with PHP HTML CSS and JavaScript which can be downloaded and used for free under a trial software license This editor was very useful during the development of the pages as it includes syntax highlighting and auto complete features which speed up coding During development the website was hosted on the Apache web server another open source technology 4 1 3 Evaluation Shortly after the first prototype system was completed a meeting took place with John Thornton a member of Leeds CAMRA who has a great interest in the Heritage Pubs aspect of the organisation The aims objectives and initial design of the system were discussed and the outcome of the meeting was that several improvements and additions to the system were suggested 23 Improvements to Current Features e Allow users to search on more criteria such as area or pub status Additional Features e Finalise colour scheme for user interface e A pubs near me facility to searc
46. ing area that are of historical significance They could be listed because their exterior interior or both are completely original and will be part of either the CAMRA National Inventory or the Leeds Regional Inventory Each pub has its own section where you can share information about the pubs with other users by leaving comments or uploading your own images and you can also search for pubs by name or postcode a Black on White eeds Herita Preserving C c Blue on Blue Leeds Heritag This website contains information about pubs in Leeds and the surrounding area that are of historical significance They could be listed because their exterior interior or both are completely original and will be part of either the CAMRA National Inventory or the Leeds Regional Inventory Each pub has its own section where you can share information about the pubs with other users by ig comments or uploading your own images and you can also search for pubs by name or postcode b White on Black Leeds Heritag This website contains information about pubs in Leeds and the surrounding area that are of historical significance Tt uld be listed because their exterior interior or both are completely original and will be part of either the CAMRA National Inventory or the Leeds Regional Inventory Each pub has its own section where you can share information about the pubs with other u by leaving comments or uploading your own imag
47. irefox Ele Edt View History Bookmarks Tools Help s fat http locahost fyp uploadimage phpAd 1 Leeds Heritage Pubs CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE ome About Search Contact Last Updated 18th April 2007 Copyright Leeds CAMRA Figure 6 11 Map Heritage Pubs in Leeds Mozilla Firefox Ele Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help amp fat http focalhost fyp map php id 1 Leeds Heritage Pubs Home About Search Contact CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE The marker on the map shows the location of The Adelphi Use the controls in the corner of the map to move around and zoom in and out Victoria Quarter Leeds 5 Shopping Plaza CE 64 Figure 6 12 Directions from WF12 BHA to LS10 1J0 Google Maps Mozilla Firefox File Edit View History Bookmarks Tools Help op amp fat C http maps google com maps saddr WF 12 SHASdaddr LS 10 25 13Q YA Gr Web Images Video News Maps more G le WFI126HA LS10 1J0 et Directions QOS Search the map Search Results My Maps Get reverse directions Erom WF12 8HA UK Dive 12 5 mi about 19 mins 1 Head west on Westfield Ave Wht toward Syke Ln Turn right at Syke Ln Turn right at A638 Go through 1 roundabout B 3 4 At the roundabout take the 1st exit onto the M1 ramp to Leeds 5 Merge onto M1 6 Slight right a
48. jectives in the schedule represent tasks that should be completed by the specified date and the milestones are deliverables that must be completed by the specified date in order to keep the project up to date The evaluation at the end of the project will include an assessment on the effectiveness of this schedule Table 1 1 Project Schedule Date Objective Milestone 20 09 2006 29 09 2006 Choose and submit preferred project ideas Project Preference Form 09 10 2006 19 10 2006 Discuss project with supervisor 15 10 2006 20 10 2006 Write aim amp minimum require ments Aim amp Minimum Requirements Form 21 10 2006 10 11 2006 Carry out background reading 01 11 2006 01 12 2006 Investigate system requirements 11 11 2006 07 12 2006 Write mid project report 08 12 2006 Submit mid project report Mid Project Report 09 12 2006 20 12 2006 Begin first prototype system Christmas Holidays Revision amp January Exams 22 01 2007 24 01 2007 Discuss comments on mid project report with supervisor 23 01 2007 05 02 2007 Complete first prototype system Prototype System 05 02 2007 12 02 2007 Evaluate first prototype system 12 02 2007 08 03 2007 Complete second prototype sys Updated Prototype System tem 09 03 2007 Submit table of contents and Table of Contents amp Draft Chap draft c
49. m Timeline Event 1 Timeline Comment Image Comment The longitude and latitude values of the pub postcode are stored because they are required to display a map of the pub and to generate directions to that pub The web address if any of the pubs own website is stored so that a link to it can be provided for the user The image table holds the details of any photographs that are uploaded by users and contains the ID of the pub that the image is linked to as well as the filename of the image The image comment table contains all comments that have been made by users about the photographs and contains the name of the user who made the comment the ID of the image that the comment is about the main body of the comment text and the date and time at which the comment was entered The user comment table has a similar structure however stores comments made directly about a specific pub and therefore contains the ID of that pub instead of an image ID 5 2 User Comments One enhancement made to the system after the prototype stage was the addition of user comments and image comments During the meeting with John Thornton it was decided that it would be useful to allow users to add comments to both pubs and images so that the members could share any information they have about the history of the pubs For example if a user knows of any significant events in a pubs history they can share this with the other users by leavin
50. ments are the lowest priority but are good finishing touches to improve the quality of the application should there be sufficient time after the must haves and should haves are completed Must Have Requirements e Store the Leeds Regional Inventory electronically e Allow CAMRA members to access the information that is stored e Allow the information to be easily updated Should Have Requirements e Store photographs as well as text for each pub e Allow CAMRA members to add their own information via reviews or comments e Search for pubs with keywords Could Have Requirements e Display pub locations on a map of Leeds e Search for pubs near a certain location 3 4 Non Functional Requirements Non functional requirements are requirements which can be used to assess the overall operation of a system as opposed to functional requirements which specify actions that the system must be able to carry out This project has the following non functional requirements Any solution developed should be e Robust and reliable so that users can access it 24 hours a day 7 days a week e Easy to use from the first time a user accesses it 18 e Able to be maintained by a member of Leeds CAMRA e Compatible with all browser platforms e Well documented via a user manual 19 Chapter 4 Prototyping 4 1 First Prototype After conducting the background research and analysis of the project it has been decided that the solu ti
51. n only be updated once a year This means it may take months for someone to find out about a change that has occurred 1 3 Project Aim The aim of this project is to develop a system which will make the Regional Inventory available to all Internet users 1 4 Objectives This project has several objectives The first is to develop a method of preserving a building in this case a public house in an electronic format so that it can be viewed by users of the system This will then be incorporated into the solution that is designed to form a software application which allows CAMRA members to access the information from anywhere in the country It will also allow the information in 1t to be updated easily when required The system must be fully functional and should be tested and evaluated thoroughly to ensure 1t meets the requirements of its users 1 5 Minimum Requirements e Preserve historical public houses electronically e Allow CAMRA members to access the information e Allow the information to be easily added to and updated 1 6 Further Enhancements e Allow CAMRA members to add their own information in the form of reviews or comments e Image archive for each pub documenting its history e Search for pubs by keyword e Map displaying locations of pubs e 3D virtual reality models of pubs 1 7 Deliverables e An application holding the Regional Inventory e A user manual for the application e A maintenance guide for th
52. on to the problem will be a web application linked to a database The next stage of the development process is to build a first prototype This can then be evaluated and any problem areas or required changes can be made when the second prototype is built 4 1 1 Design Database Design The first stage of the development of the prototype is to produce an initial database design At this stage there is only one entity which needs to be stored which represents the pubs that will be archived in the system therefore only one database table is required A basic intial database schema can be seen below Pub pub_id pub_name address postcode description national inventory 20 The attributes of the pub entity were determined after a document was received from a member of Leeds CAMRA The document is a spreadsheet containing information about all of the pubs in the Leeds Re gional Inventory including the name address postcode a paragraph describing the pub and whether the pub is part of the National Inventory or not This information has been translated directly into the attributes shown in the database schema and the pub_id is simply a numeric primary key which serves as a unique identifier for each pub stored in the database Page Design The first prototype contained just one aspect of the functionality the pub search Therefore the only pages that were required were the index page the search page and the pub details page When
53. plication is passed back through the server to the client A CGI program may be written in any programming language that is permitted to execute on the server which makes it very flexible This also means that no additional technologies need to be installed A disadvantage of CGI is that each script which is excecuted starts a new process on the web server and this can slow down the application PHP PHP PHP Hypertext Processor is a server side scripting language designed to create dynamic HTML pages for web applications It runs on all major operating systems and in most browsers and has sup port for all document formats including images videos PDF files and Flash movies One of the most significant advantages of PHP is its database support which makes generating web pages with content from a database very simple 10 PHP is open source software which can be downloaded free of charge from the World Wide Web however as opposed to ASP NET which is generally more thoroughly tested PHP may not be as reliable ColdFusion ColdFusion is an Internet development technology which runs on Java Enterprise Edition servers and can be integrated with other Java applications It is produced by Adobe who also produce the Adobe Acrobat application for viewing PDF files and therefore allows any web application to generate PDF files of its content 6 This would be an advantage for this project as the application would be able to produce a downloadable
54. r Real Ale CAMRA is an independent organisation made up of over 84 000 mem bers The aims of the organisation are to protect customer rights with regard to pubs and real ale and promote the public house as a part of national culture CAMRA is made up of approximately two hun dred regional branches covering the majority of the UK and each branch runs local events such as beer festivals 4 The Regional Inventory is a list of pubs in Leeds and the surrounding area that are of historical signifi cance and is put together by the Leeds branch of CAMRA The pubs that are part of the list have either an interior or exterior that is completely original or dates back to a significant period in the history of the pub The National Inventory is a nationwide list which contains the pubs from each CAMRA branch that are of the most historical significance 1 2 The Problem The Regional Inventory of the Leeds branch of CAMRA is currently available in two formats It is published anually as a small booklet containing all pubs with detailed information for each and a more concise version is included in the Good Beer Guide which is also published once a year This is not very user friendly as the Inventory is only released in paper form meaning people must read through all of the pubs in order to find one particular pub they may be looking for As both versions are only released anually any changes that are made to the information stored about the pubs ca
55. r the country including those that are also restaurants and those which are owned by chains such as Yates s There is a relatively advanced search facility which allows the user to search either by the pub name town county or facilities on offer This means that any searches carried out can be made extremely accurate due to the fact that different criteria can be specified at the same time PubInnGuide com also has a section aimed at pub landlords where they can register to advertise their own establishment on the website This indicates that some of the information on the website is there for advertising purposes and may mean that it does not give an impartial view of the pubs in relation to the websites discussed above 18 15 Table 3 1 Comparison of Similar Projects Feature Site 1 Site 2 Site 3 Site 4 Site 5 Search Location Location Name loca Name town Basic keyword name postcode name rating tion anything county facili search train station ties Images Several for One for each One small for Only for Several for each pub pub each pub selected pubs each pub Maps Multimap Google map Streetmap Google map No Google map Comments Yes No User reviews No No Other Opening times Ratings WAP Pub crawl gen Landlord Pub crawls current beers version travel erator other section Restaurants travel links links pubs nearby user login system 3 1 5 PubsNewcas
56. r to display a map on a page the JavaScript function shown in Figure 5 9 should be implemented This function extracts the pub name and its longitude and latitude values from the HTTP post which has been sent from the previous page It then creates a new map object and adds a marker at the specified longitude and latitude Please see Figure 5 10 for an example of a map displaying the location of the Cardigan Arms Figure 5 9 Code to display a Google map 10 Function load T if GBrowserIsCompatible 12 var map new GMap2 document getElementByld map 13 var longitude lt php print POST pub long 2 gt 14 var latitude lt php print POST pub lat 2 gt 15 var pub name lt php print POST pub name 2 gt 16 map setCenter new GLatLng latitude longitude 15 17 map addOverlay new SMarker map gerCenter e map addControl new SSmallMapControl 19 map addControl new SMapTypeControl 2 21 This map then has all the functionality of Google Maps and allows the user to zoom in or out to show different levels of detail and to move around in different directions Another function which was added to enhance the map is the facility to generate directions to a pub A form was added underneath the map where the user can enter their postcode and be given directions to the pub from that location This form can be seen in Figure 5 11 The form redirects th
57. ress meeting took place a 41 week later than schedule due to staff commitments Difficulties in coding some of the features in the final solution meant that it was not completed until well into the Easter break however the project report could be begun before the software was completed Several weeks had been allocated for the writing of this report which meant that the delay in software development did not have too bad an effect Overall the schedule was useful as it gave a structure to the project and motivated its development 6 5 Application Testing Any software application that is developed must be tested in a systematic and accurate way in order to detect any bugs or problems in the code A unit testing approach was used to test the application developed for this project which involves testing each section or unit of the software separately This approach has been chosen because a web application can easily be split into units with each unit being a different web page containing a function to be tested Table 6 1 shows the Test Plan that was used when testing the application 6 6 Usability Evaluation As stated in previous chapters the usability of a web application is a very important factor Table 6 2 is taken from the Web Usability Guidelines stated by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 13 and provides a simple test of the usability of the application that has been developed The different factors are divided into sec
58. reviews of the pubs and the functionality to search by name underground station train station location or tourist attraction However the user interface of FancyAPint com is not very user friendly and the website does not behave correctly under all browsers 7 3 1 3 BeerInTheEvening com This website holds information about pubs nationwide and again is not restricted to historical or Inven tory pubs The home page is quite cluttered with lots of links to other pages however this does mean that all of the important sections of the website are easily accessible Many pubs are listed from all over the country and each has a page with a small photograph and some very basic information about the pub including the address telephone number and neareast train stations An interesting feature provided by this website is a list of other pubs nearby with the distance between them so that if you are making a trip to visit one pub you can see what else is nearby Another unique feature which has not been seen on any other websites is a pub crawl generator This function takes different options including the number of pubs you would like to visit and the maximum distance between each pub and generates a list of pubs that can be visited as a pub crawl However this function currently only works for pubs in London 2 3 1 4 PubInnGuide com This website claims to be the most comprehensive Pub Guide in the UK It holds details of pubs all ove
59. roach is very useful for large organisations with complex development projects as the early stages of the process involve the creation of documents which can be used in the later stages to test and evaluate the project 9 While the original Waterfall Model is quite rigid it can also be carried out iteratively with small cycles of the different stages being completed regularly throughout the development 2 3 2 Rapid Application Development RAD RAD was developed after it was seen that traditional methodologies such as SSADM often deliver systems that are not completed on time and therefore fail to meet the original requirements of the client It uses prototyping to increase the amount of user involvement which decreases development time compared to the more traditional methodologies such as the Waterfall Model Users test prototype systems and give feedback making them active participants in the development process 12 However because it is less structured and disciplined than previous approaches it can lead to developers having a more casual approach to the project 16 2 3 3 The Spiral Model The Spiral Model was developed by Barry W Boehm and is a similar iterative approach to Rapid Application Development However it differs because it takes a risk driven approach to software de velopment as opposed to a specification or prototype driven approach It involves several cycles of the development process each completed by a review in
60. s are changed regularly with additions and deletions being made from both Therefore any online versions of the Inventories should be able to be regularly updated to reflect these changes e In addition to a format of one pub per pages both the National and Regional Inventories should be available in different formats such as small downloadable guides containing the same content as shown online e Inventory content will include photographs as well as text e To permit the potential to support a future search facility e g to select pubs based on a variety of criteria including The period and architecture that the bulk of the pub relates to The date of the last major refurbishment of the pub The style and function of the pub Associations with famous people or events or other unusual features These objectives can therefore be combined with the background research and analysis of other similar projects to give a set of functional and non functional requirements for the application 3 3 Functional Requirements The functional requirements of this project can be split into three sections the must haves the should haves and the could haves The must have requirements are the minimum requirements that must be completed for the project to be successful The should have requirements are not as important as the 17 must haves but are still a high priority in the development of the application The could have require
61. scuss the project and the Regional Inventory and thanks to Andy for sending me information that helped greatly with the development of the project I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the people who carried out the user evaluations as their feedback was vital to the evaluation of the project Last but not least I would like to thank my friends and family for their support throughout the course of the project and especially thanks to Paul for the endless proofreading and generally keeping me sane Contents 1 Introduction 1 LA OVERVIEW ints oc he eae eet Se als i Jae es o Gol Ga al and God Ee d 1 152 The Probl me i et ia A Ree ds IGE es a NN EG 2 1 3 Project ATM i Me SA get Bit o me ot es ui As RI A QAR ee dad 2 PA CODI CUVES 3 a chs bod teh os te a oes ay ee tune cg nn Ry ee eee Ge Oe MRA bi 2 1 5 Minimum Requirements 2 1 6 Further Enhancements 3 LW Deliverables ares Lans ba hog Ae park a ns dee Sa we a Es 3 1 8 Relevance to Degree Programme 3 1 9 Project Schedule 22 20 oe oor eee a a a ee a de 4 2 Background Research 6 2 1 Possible Solutions 4 4 444444 da nue da VA dae bee hea ee 6 2 1 1 A Spreadsheet of Pubs with an Archive of Images 6 2 1 2 Desktop Application with Database 7 2 1 3 Web Application with Database 7
62. t M621 signs for M621 Leeds Centre At junction 3 exit toward Holbeck Merge onto A653 ight right to stay on A653 Slight left at Meadow Ln Turn right at Water Ln um left at Hunslet Rd um right to stay on Hunslet Rd 98f L 8 10 u ha 65
63. tions and given a tick if they have been met in the application or a cross if they have not been met It can be seen from the table that almost all of the usability guidelines have been met in the solution that has been produced Therefore the overall usability of the site is good however to study this further an evaluation took place with real users 6 7 User Evaluation Despite the fact that the results of the overall usability evaluation in the previous section were good it is still very useful when evaluating to obtain feedback from real users This was done through a ques tionnaire which was given to five different users Users with a range of ages and abilities were chosen 42 Table 6 1 Test Plan No Description Expected Outcome Successful 1 Search for a pub with Adelphi 1 search result Y 2 View pub details Correct details displayed Y 3 View large pub image Large photo displayed Y 4 Add comment about a pub Comment displayed on pub details Y page 5 View pub image archive Correct photos displayed Y 6 Upload image Photo displayed on image archive page Y 7 Add comment about image Comment displayed on image details Y page 8 View pub timeline Correct timeline events displayed Y 9 Add timeline event Event displayed on pub timeline page Y 10 Add comment about timeline Comment displayed on event details Y event page 11 View map of pub location Google map displa
64. tle co uk This is an online guide to pubs in and around Newcastle Upon Tyne and is not restricted to historically significant establishments The home page contains a menu with links to the different sections of the site which includes a page for each area of the city a complete list of all pubs stored on the site and information about pub crawls and restaurants The individual pages for each pub have the address of the pub two or more photographs and a review This website does not provide maps showing the locations of the pubs or a facility for users to write their own reviews The site is quite easy to use however the banners and menus contain several constantly moving animations which can prove distracting 20 3 1 6 Summary of Similar Projects Table 3 1 lists the different projects that have been studied and compares the features that they provide The results of this comparison will be taken into account when defining the functional requirements of the project 16 3 2 CAMRA Requirements After communicating with members of the Pub Heritage Group PHG which is a division of CAMRA it emerged that a requirements document for a similar project had already been put together in sum mer 2006 however the project itself has not yet been implemented 21 The PHG has the following objectives e Both the National Inventory and all future Regional Inventories should be accessible via the web e The National and Regional Inventorie
65. to have been suc cessful in addding useful functionality to the application These evaluations showed that the functional requirements of the project have been met The non functional requirements were assessed through the usability and user evaluations The usability evaluation showed that the majority of the M I T web usability guidelines have been met therefore in theory the application should be very easy to use This was backed up by the feedback from the user evaluations This illustrated that the test users found most aspects of the system easy to use Overall the project has been successful because a solution has been produced that meets the require ments that were specified in the Analysis The project has also been a huge learning experience for the author as it has given a vital insight into the management of a software development project 47 Bibliography 1 2 Ly 3 4 Ly 5 sy 6 a 7 8 er 9 10 11 12 13 Asp net http www asp net Accessed 4th March 2007 Beerintheevening com http www beerintheevening com Accessed 27th February 2007 Barry M Boehm A sprial model of software development and enhancement TRW Defense Systems Group 1986 The Campaign for Real Ale http www camra org uk Accessed 16th April 2007 John Cato User Centered Web Design Addison Wesley 2001 Coldfusion http www adobe com products coldfusion Ac
66. tory where the image is stored 37 will be uploads 3 The actual movement of the file is implemented using a standard PHP function move_uploaded_file This function takes the current and target locations of the file as parameters but only moves the file if it has been uploaded from a HTTP POST It returns true if the operation was successful and false if it was not so in this situation an error message can be displayed if the file was not successfully moved Lerdorf and Tatroe 2002 Any files that have been uploaded are then displayed as small thumbnails on the image archive page as shown in Figure 5 15 and if the user clicks on the thumbnail they can view the image at full size and leave comments about the image if they wish Figure 5 15 Image Archive Leeds Heritage I Home About Search Contact Click on the image to view it full size Upload 38 Chapter 6 Evaluation 6 1 Evaluation Criteria The evaluation of a project involves more than simply determining whether or not it was delivered on time The major factors which must be considered are whether the project meets its requirements acheives its purpose meets its timescale and budget constraints and satisfies its users 22 For this project the first criterion for evaluation is looking at how the solution produced meets the minimum requirements specified in the Introduction as these are the factors that are essential to the project s suc cess As well
67. ve web based email accounts therefore a mailto link is not appropriate e Clicking on the top banner should go back to the homepage e Add more obvious headings to the different searches on the Pub Search page 45 6 8 Improvements amp Additional Features Improvements There are several improvements that could be made to the application in order to improve both its func tionality and usability The pub search facility could be improved by giving the user the option to search either by the exact phrase that they have entered or to search for all words separately This could be im plemented by adding a radio button onto the search page to select which search method to use Another improvement that could be made to the search function is to rank the results when they are displayed to the user This could be done by determining which pubs are the closest matches to the search string and displaying these at the top of the list of results The pubs near me function could be improved by changing the way that the search is carried out Instead of searching by the postcode s area e g LS4 it could search for all pubs whose location is within a specified radius of the postcode This would be a more accurate way of searching because in the current method pubs which are in a different postcode area are never returned despite the fact that they might be very close to the search postcode Additional Features An ad
68. volving the organisation that the product is being designed for The aim of this review is to make sure that all concerned parties are in agreement about the direction that the project is taking An advantage of the Spiral Model is that it allows developers to go back to earlier stages of the process at any point should more attractive alternatives or new risks be identified 3 12 2 3 4 Summary of Methodologies The methodology that has been selected for use in the project is Rapid Applications Development This is because RAD is a lot more flexible than other methodologies and allows for greater user involvement and user satisfaction is a very important factor in this project The Waterfall Model will not be used as it is a very structured methodology and does not allow the flexibility of RAD The Spiral Model will also not be used because it is based more around the risks involved with a project as opposed to the prototypes developed The prototype based approach will be more appropriate for this project because it allows for users to give direct feedback on what is being developed throughout the project 13 Chapter 3 Analysis 3 1 Similar Projects There are several websites currently available online which are similar to this project however have different alms and meet different requirements These will be discussed below and the features offered by each will be compared in order to ascertain their advantages and disadvantages
69. ying correct loca Y tion 12 Get directions to pub from LS6 Correct details displayed on external Y 1LY Google page because it is important that the application can be used by anyone and not just by users with high tech nical ability Users were asked to rate each aspect of the website from 1 to 10 with 1 being the worst rating and 10 being the best A summary of the results is shown in Table 6 3 The results of the user evaluation show that overall the users responded well to the website because positive scores 1 e 3 or above were given to all aspects by all users The area which received the lowest scores was Uploading Photographs as this aspect was only given 32 out of 50 One reason for this could be that the upload process is not explained enough on the web pages and without referring to the user manual it could be difficult for the user It scored lowest with users 2 and 5 who are the oldest of the users and may not have as much experience with computers as the other users However it is important that all age groups find the application easy to use therefore the problem should still be 43 Table 6 2 Usability Evaluation Navigation Current location within the site is shown clearly Y Link to the sites main page is clearly identified Y Important parts of the site are directly accessible from the main

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