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Customisation of Web Content for Desktop and Mobile Devices

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Customisation of Web Content for Desktop and Mobile Devices Lincoln University Digital Thesis Copyright Statement The digital copy of this thesis is protected by the Copyright Act 1994 (New Zealand). This thesis may be consulted by you, provided you comply with the provisions of the Act and the following conditions of use: you will use the copy only for the purposes of research or private study you will recognise the author's right to be identified as the author of the thesis and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate you will obtain the author's permission before publishing any material from the thesis. Customisation of Web Content for Desktop and Mobile Devices A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Lincoln University by Nassiriah Shaari Lincoln University 2013 Abstract of a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Abstract Customisation of Web Content for Desktop and Mobile Devices by Nassiriah Shaari Accessing websites from mobile devices has been gaining popularity but may not give the same results and experiences as accessing them from a personal computer. Growth in the use of mobile devices is accelerating and therefore issues with accessing the web from them are becoming increasingly important. To investigate problems users encountered while accessing websites from mobile devices we conducted a series of surveys and conducted a user trial. Results showed that on mobile devices, users get pages with different structure, terminology, content, and location of content than those on the desktops. Each of these differences negatively impact on the user experience for the site. To address these issues, we present a server-side adaptation approach to prioritising adaptive pages to different devices through a prioritisation system. The prioritisation approach allows users to prioritise page items for different devices. The prioritisation engine reorders, shows, and removes items based on its priority set by users or developers. With this approach, the overall web page’s structure (the parent-child relationships) is preserved and the same terminology, content, and similar location of content are delivered to all devices. To evaluate the prioritisation system, we conducted user trials in a controlled lab-experiment evaluating the usability and user experience of adaptive pages developed for desktops and prioritised for mobile devices. We compared adaptive pages of a mock Facebook to the actual Facebook version. We also conducted a performance test analysing the performance of the prioritisation engine. Results demonstrate the usefulness of the Prioritisation engine and the adaptive pages. Participants preferred the Prioritised version and their performance and browsing experience on the Prioritised version is better than that on the Facebook mobile version. Results show ii that adaptive pages and prioritisation provides a consistent web experience across different devices. Keywords: Web adaptation, adaptive page, ‘One Web’, web page, customisation, prioritisation, server-side adaptation, mobile web, mobile devices, web browsing, user studies/trials. iii Acknowledgements In the preparation of this thesis, I am indebted to many people. I would not be able to complete this dissertation without tremendous help from great individuals. Here, I would like to express my deepest respect and sincere gratitude to all those who have helped me during the time of my Ph.D. study. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors – Dr. Clare Churcher & Dr. Stuart Charters for their invaluable advice, untiring support, kind supervision, and continuous encouragement throughout my study at Lincoln University. My gratitude to all academic and staff at Applied Computing Department for their assistance and support. My appreciation to Shirley Gibbs & Caitriona Cameron for their encouragement and assistance. My thanks and appreciation to my Applied Computing friends – Elin, Mohammad, Yanbo for their support and friendships; Suraya Hanim, Sabrina, friends in Lincoln and Malaysia. My appreciation to all my participants for my studies. My deepest love and gratitude to my family in Malaysia for their love, encouragement, and doa. Thank you. iv Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................................. v List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ x List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... xi Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 2 1.2 Proposed Research ........................................................................................................ 2 1.3 Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................ 3 Chapter 2 Literature Review .............................................................................................. 6 2.1 Overview of the Web .................................................................................................... 6 2.1.1 Types of Websites ............................................................................................. 6 2.1.2 Mobile web ....................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Usability and User Experience ...................................................................................... 8 2.2.1 Usability ............................................................................................................ 8 2.2.2 Usability Attributes and Measures ..................................................................... 8 2.2.3 User Experience ................................................................................................ 9 2.3 Mobile Device Technology ........................................................................................... 9 2.3.1 Types of Mobile Devices ................................................................................. 10 2.3.2 Mobile Operating Systems ............................................................................... 10 2.3.3 Mobile Browsers ............................................................................................. 10 2.3.4 Mobile Network Connections .......................................................................... 10 2.3.5 Mobile Emulator ............................................................................................. 11 2.4 Web on Mobile Devices .............................................................................................. 11 2.4.1 Alternative Versions of Sites ........................................................................... 12 2.4.2 Automatic Adaptation...................................................................................... 12 2.5 Web Adaptation for Mobile Devices ........................................................................... 13 2.5.1 Adaptation Types and Mechanism ................................................................... 14 2.5.2 Adaptation Approaches ................................................................................... 15 Client-side Adaptation ..................................................................................... 15 Intermediate/Proxy Side Adaptation ................................................................ 17 Server-side Adaptation .................................................................................... 18 Comparison of Adaptation Approaches............................................................ 19 2.5.3 Customisation and Personalisation ................................................................... 20 Types of Customisation ................................................................................... 21 Examples of Adaptation by Customisation ...................................................... 22 2.6 Summary .................................................................................................................... 24 Chapter 3 Requirements Gathering and Preliminary Studies ......................................... 26 3.1 Use of Mobile Devices and Frequently Accessed Websites Survey – Survey 1............ 26 3.1.1 Questionnaire Design and Validation ............................................................... 27 Pilot test ......................................................................................................... 28 3.1.2 Participants and Procedure of the Survey ......................................................... 28 v 3.1.3 Result and Analysis ......................................................................................... 29 Mobile Phone Usage ........................................................................................ 29 Types of Websites Access from Personal Computers and Mobile
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