Screenography - Systematic and Adaptive Layout Development

Currently, the development of the visual design of Web Information Systems is mainly based on developers’ experiences. Late considerations of graphical issues during the development of WISs often result in visually inflexible solutions and cause problems for extension and change management. This article discusses screenography, attempts to systematise WIS layout and thus to complement existing development methods. This amounts to guidelines for partitioning pages and using layout objects, colour, light and texture to obtain rhythm, contrast and perspective as the carriers for web page comprehension. Further, it aims at an adaptive and flexible presentation of information that takes into consideration users and providers needs and preferences as well as equipment and application demands.