Chapter 8 – Data Design

Publisher Summary This chapter shows that the data schema of a Web application generally presents a regular structure, in which some recurrent inter-connected sub-schemas can be recognized. In particular, objects in the data schema can be characterized as core, access, inter-connection, and personalization objects, depending on the role they play in the application. Taking into account this characterization, the data schema naturally decomposes into well-identified sub-schemas, centered on core objects. This regularity facilitates building and maintaining the data schema, as well as designing hypertexts on top of it. The last step of the data design adds the needed elements of the personalization subschema. The Acer-Euro application makes a limited use of personalized features. External users are not registered, and thus no profile data about them are collected, and no personal content can be addressed to them. Conversely, internal users must be registered and assigned to one or more groups. When they log into the application, the list of site views they are entitled to access must be determined.