Conceptualization, prototyping and process of hypermedia applications

Latest-generation hypermedia applications represent a new challenge in traditional design and development software engineering techniques. Although there is an impressive array of models to design hypertext applications, these models may not be specially suited for conceptualization-prototyping stages. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive software engineering approach for dealing with the conceptualization, prototyping, and process of hypermedia applications. This-approach uses the Pipe Model to characterize hypermedia applications during the conceptualization stage, while prototyping is accomplished using XML and Java technologies. An XML-based representation of the Pipe structures is the input for a Java application that automatically builds the prototypes of the hypermedia application. This XML representation may reference to Subordinate Processes, i.e. compiled Java classes that implement a predefined interface and can be executed in the hypermedia application without interacting with the navigation. We also present the Plumbing and PlumbingXJ process models, two specializations of a well-known hypermedia process model, which integrate and manage the use of the Pipe model and its associated XML and Java technologies.