Specifying Quality Characteristics and Attributes for Websites

In this paper, we outline more than a hundred characteristics and attributes for the domain of academic sites in order to show the quality requirement tree and a descriptive framework to specify them. These elements are used in a quantitative evaluation, comparison, and ranking process. The proposed Web-site Quality Evaluation Method (QEM) is a useful approach to assess the artifact quality in the operational phase of a Web Information System (WIS) lifecycle. Hence, we have analyzed three different audiences regarding academic visitor profiles: current and prospective students, academic personnel, and research sponsors. Particularly, the aim of this work is to show a hierarchical and descriptive specification framework for characteristics, sub-characteristics and attributes regarding the student’s viewpoint. Finally, partial results are presented and concluding remarks are discussed.