Executive Summary: Network Computing Services
By Steve Whan
Introduction
With over 5,000 employees spanning the entire province of British Columbia, the task of organizing
BC Hydro's Intranet effort is both massive and critical. As part of meeting that challenge, Steve
Whan, Corporate Webmaster, Network Computing Services, produced several documents to help
guide the process. Below, he shares the company's key guidelines and standards for the design
and subsequent creation of Intranet Web pages.
Executive Summary
The internal Enterprise Web service was established as an alternative means for providing access
to and distribution of business information. The Web service utilizes the Enterprise Data Network.
All workstations in the company that have standard connectivity to the Enterprise Data Network can
access Intranet web services. An Intranet web server will also be used as a prototyping tool for
information and web content that may eventually reside on the External web server(s).
When web content will be appearing on both Intranet (internal) and Internet (external) pages, the
Intranet policies and guidelines will take precedence. For example, large images and many
graphical elements may be acceptable on our Internet pages, but they would not be acceptable for
pages accessed over our Enterprise Data Network.
Approval Process
The Web can potentially be utilized for many types of applications at a minimum of cost to the
content provider. It is important to complete the approval process so that the cost and benefits of
deploying the application or web page can be accumulated. These benefits will be used to support
future expansions of the infrastructure.
No web page or application can be implemented without appropriate approval as outlined in the
Web Content Creation Policies and Guidelines document.
Content Guidelines
The following content guidelines will apply to all Intranet web content providers and web based
application developers. These guidelines will allow for efficient use of our network resources so that
everyone can take advantage of these services. In addition, using a standard template and
following the approved Style Guide will ensure that users will view consistently designed Web
pages.
Data Constraints
Users connect to the Enterprise Data Network at BC Hydro which runs at a minimum of 14.4K bits
per second. While network bandwidth can be upgraded to meet demand, there are upper limits.
Many sites cannot be upgraded beyond 56Kbps due to site locations. Large files of data moving
through this network will negatively impact all users (every application from e-mail through to
mainframe access shares the same pipe). Because of this, there will initially be a number of data
constraints placed on content providers and application developers.
The design goal at this time is for the user to be reading the page within 10 seconds using
a 14.4K line, therefore:
No audio or video clips unless they are loaded directly from the local workstation
Client-side image maps should be used instead of server-side image maps (and only if there
is a business justification for using a map in the first place)
Graphics and images should be set-up as a thumbnail sketch in the source (max. 2000 bytes)
with a link to the larger file (max. 30k bytes). The size of the larger image should be specified
so that the user can make a decision to view it or not.
The maximum recommended number of thumbnails or images is seven per page. The total
page size including thumbnails and images should not exceed 30K.
Any image or graphic element must have a business purpose for being in the document (e.g.
a flow chart or process diagram). Graphics used to add colour or additional design elements
to a page are not acceptable because they will directly impact network performance.
Graphics and images should be produced using the following preferential order:
1..GIF (89A interlaced)
2..GIF (89A non-interlaced)
3..JPG
4..GIF (87 standard)
Textual information in documents should be limited to 7K (equals about six pages on the
screen) in order to speed loading and minimize the impact on the network. Whenever
possible, pages and documents should be broken up into chapters or sections accessible
from a menu or index screen. Studies have shown that users will only go beyond two screens
of information 10% of the time anyway.
Images from the /images sub-directory should be used for logos, buttons etc. instead of
creating personal versions. This will take advantage of images stored in the browser's cache.
Information > 6 months old will be considered "stale" and the owner will be contacted to verify
the validity of the application or information.
Information that is found to be out of date or inaccurate will be removed from access until it is
updated. "No information is better than wrong information". The content provider is
responsible for guaranteeing the currency and accuracy of the information.
Standard Template
1.The first web page will contain the following information in the <ADDRESS> area:
primary contact/owner (phone number & a 'mailto:' if they have e-mail and
department/SBU name)
date last revised or updated (full date format should be used e.g. May 12, 1996)
a standard link back to the InfoPage home page
2.The approved Style Guide is the one created by Rick Levine of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
(http://www.sun.com/styleguide/). Content providers and application developers should use
this as their basis for design decisions until a BC Hydro Style Guide is available.
3.All web pages should have the same look and feel wherever possible, so sample templates
and style guide files will be available on-line.
About the author:
Steve Whan is Corporate WebMaster at Network Computing Services, and can be reached at BC Hydro (604) 891-8674.
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