M M Interactive Applications0708 Assignment A 2

Politecnico Di Milano

ASSIGNMENT ‘A’ - ANALYSIS

MULTIMEDIA INTERACTIVE APPLICATIONS FOR THE WEB AND MOBILE
DEVICES

2006-2007

Analysis and comparison among three different websites on Museum
using different dimension

Instructor: Prof. Paolini Paolo

Submission Date: 5/11/2007

Submitted By

ID: 707241
Ferdous Mohammad Jannatul
Master of Science in Computer Engineering

Table of Contents
Executive summery ..........................................................................................................................2
1. Introduction ..................................................................................................................................3
2. Design Analysis of Hermitage Museum Website ........................................................................4
2.1 Content of the site..........................................................................................................4
2.2 Information architecture ................................................................................................4
2.2.1 Home page and Top level pages....................................................................4
2.2.2 Navigational Structure ...................................................................................4
2.2.3 Search and Search Engine .............................................................................5
2.2.4 Landmarks .....................................................................................................5
2.3 General interface ...........................................................................................................5
2.3 Multimedia features.......................................................................................................5
2.4 Interaction......................................................................................................................7
3. Design Analysis of Vatican Museums Website ...........................................................................6
3.2.3 Landmarks .....................................................................................................7
3.4 Interaction......................................................................................................................8
4. Design Analysis of Guggenheim Museums Website ...................................................................8
4.2.3 Search and Search Engine .............................................................................9
4.2.4 Landmarks .....................................................................................................9
4.4 Interaction......................................................................................................................9
5. Comparison among the websites................................................................................................10
6. Conclusion..................................................................................................................................11

Multimedia interactive applications for the Web and Mobile devices -1-

Executive Summery
The Museums Association definition (adopted 1998) is: “Museums enable people to explore
collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard
and make accessible artifacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society.” and my analysis
is on museum websites regarding design analysis (benchmarking) using different dimension. The
main four dimensions are content of the website, information architecture, interface, multimedia
feature and interaction. The following three websites have been analyzed and comprised using
different dimensions.

The famous St Petersburg Hermitage Museum website provides virtual viewings, excursions, 3D
images and digital collections which give importance on both artworks and information about the
museums. Homepage contains both index and introduction and it has six sections of landmarks.
The information architectures are tree, linear and also hyper-textual structure which is called
mixed architecture. Interface template is same for all pages except hermitage shop section
containing header, graphical image, landmarks, quick links & search option. Multimedia features
are still images with zooming, 3d-view image, animation and interactive map. The main
interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging (part of the images), traversing interactive map and
navigation.

The famous Vatican Museum website provides online tour and online digital huge art collection
of the museum which emphasis mostly on the collection and artworks. Homepage contains both
index and introduction and two landmarks are dedicated to online collection. The information
architectures are tree, linear and also hyper-textual structure which is called mixed architecture
like Hermitage Museum website. Interface template is almost for all pages except sub-index is
organized in different way in some sections like beside a sketch image or without image. Interface
contains header graphical image and landmarks. Multimedia features are images, maps (without
interaction) and pictures. The interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging the part of the images,
traversing inside the image and navigation.

The Guggenheim Museum website of New York provides general information, history of the
building, calendar and events about the museum, educational resources, current exhibitions,
membership etc. The most highlighted part of this site is information about the museum and on the
visit. Home page is index type and contains more landmarks. The information architecture is tree
(hierarchical) info-architecture. The interface template is same for most of the pages and includes a
header with the landmarks and a table of contents of the current section. Multimedia features are
only images and pictures with no interactive option except enlarging some images which is
interaction.

Hermitage Museum website
(Index & introduction, mixed info-
architecture, advance and QBIC
search, 3d-view image &animation,
interactive map)

Museum

Vatican Museum website Guggenheim Museum website
(Index & introduction, mixed info-arch, (Introduction, tree hierarchical, no
quick search, image, still map) search, image & pictures)

Figure 1: A brief graphical comparison among websites

The content of the websites are very similar where every website has information on the museum
and an online collection section with some selected pieces from the museum collection. What the
changes from one website to another website is where they emphasis and how they represent the
content.

1. Introduction
This report is generated to design analysis (benchmarking) and a brief comparison using different
dimension regarding content, information architecture, interface, multimedia & interaction for
three museum websites and those are the Hermitage Museum, the Vatican Museums and the
Guggenheim Museum of New York. The resulting report can be used to make the design for a new
website in the small museums of Fine Arts filed. The design part has been analyzed according to
the following dimensions and after that a brief comparison has been shown into table.

First the content of each museum website has been described. The content of the website
undoubtedly the most important part of the website, which is the king and it is not only informs the
reader about the subject but also educate readers.

The second dimension is the information architecture which makes the content attractive,
effective, accessible and so on. It has been split in to Homepage and Top level page, Navigational
structure, search & search engine and Landmarks to better understanding. Home page or Top level
is the first page to access the site and also the first impression of the site, which make the decision
for most of the users (visitors) to enter in to entire site or not. Navigational structure or
organization is the most crucial part of Info-architecture which indicates the way how is navigation
organized across the site. Three types of organizations of information units are linear, tree
(hierarchical) and hyper-textual (network). Search & Search Engine is useful for the user to find
some related information from the website quickly by putting keywords. Landmarks are the
simple links which are present in every page during navigation and it usually represent in the
different section of the website.

Figure 2: An example of a Tree (hierarchical) with nonhierarchical connections

Thirdly, interface analysis is another dimension which defines how the content is represented and
structured in the page and what is the general style of the site. This issue also concern about labels,
graphics and grouping etc.

And multimedia feature is the fourth analysis that is beside text and data such as photos, images,
panoramic photos, audio or video, 3D constructions and animation. It basically enriches the
websites content.

Finally, the interaction feature is the last dimension which is related to navigation links including
image or audio-video control or any kind of media interaction like zooming, interactive maps etc.
Basically, it provides the functionality of the website and response with the user request.


2. Design Analysis of Hermitage Museum Website

2.1 Content of the site:
Hermitage Museum Website (www.hermitagemuseum.org) is a small-medium size website which
starts with the cover home page and contains the general introduction about the museum for the
visitor in the main home page. There is lots of content about the museum are present such as
general information, description about exhibition complex and center structure, visitor
information and so on in the information section. Visitors can learn about the collections of
different categories such as antique, oriental art etc and know about the future, current or past
exhibitions. This site offers huge digital collection, different educational programs and
continuously refreshing news and updated information of the site. They can also know about the
ticket cost, look at the museum’s map, what the services are and how to buy something in the
shop or to write a feedback.

Visitors can visit a virtual gallery, look at exhibits of the museum in high resolution, or choose a
section with the selected masterpieces of the collections. A big on-line collection is available, and
search mechanisms are provided to explore it. It is also possible to learn about the museum
treasures by reading detailed descriptions and watching pictures. For any kind of works a brief
introduction is available, with images as well.

2.2 Information architecture

2.2.1 Home page and Top level pages:

Users get the Cover page as home page with a nice image and language option when they first hit
on this site. We can also call it as a type of appetizer home page. User gets the actual home page
(top level) after selecting the language witch is combination of index and introduction. It offers
the main menu and brief introduction about the museum. There are also sub top level page are
present for buying ticket and hermitage shopping. There are also some quick links are present
with an interactive image and alternative hypertext such as virtual visit, ticket booking etc.

2.2.2 Navigational Structure

Basically, navigation structure of this site is organized using mixed architecture. The main
structure of this site is tree (hierarchical) structure. There are three different menus use for
navigation: the section landmarks of the website, index of the selected section and the list of
quick links. This site uses the linear information unit in some sections such as artwork inside the
digital collection. Here images are shown linearly one after another according to browsing result.

The tree structure is not strict here because of connection between different level elements such
as general information is connected with the information node and also with site map node. So
the hyper-textual (network) structure is also present in this site to establish arbitrary connection
between elements.


Figure 3: An example of navigation structure of this site with additional nonheirarchical connction

2.2.4 Search and Search Engine

This museum website provides quick search functionality from every page. Visitor can search any
content of this site by putting “keyword” or related word to get the related topic. It also offers
advanced search in the digital collection and QBIC search by selecting colors from a palette or by
sketching shapes on a canvas. Moreover, all searches are done across this museum website.

2.2.5 Landmarks

Two groups of landmarks are present in Hermitage Museum Website. Both groups are presented
in every page and maintain its position constantly. First contains quick links to practical
information, such as museum services, calendar, feedback etc. Another group of landmarks is
situated below the header image and appears when a visitor chooses a section from the index
menu in the homepage; it represents the list of the sections of the website.

2.3 General interface

The interface of this site uses the same template for all pages except hermitage shop section (uses
another template and top level page). Each page normally contains header graphics image with
section name, group of landmark, quick links including image link, navigation link, sub index and
body content of the page. Search option is available in every page with an attractive background
image.

2.3 Multimedia features

Multimedia is an important part for this web site to enrich the information. This website uses
relevant media features such as still images, 3d-views and animations. Still images are present
beside the link text like “SHOP ONLINE”, “Virtual visit” in the Top level Page. 3D-views
images of the room & gallery are available in the “Virtual visit” and “Virtual viewings” sections.
Each section contains separate header image with the title and main index. There are also
Artworks are described as images with zooming option using a special tool in the “Virtual
academy”.


2.4 Interaction

The interaction of this website starts from the cover home page of this website by choosing site
language. There are lot of interaction are present in the home page after choosing the language it
appears. Two groups of Landmarks and quick links are the first level interaction of the tree
(hierarchical) structure. Quick links contain both hypertext label and graphical image link
interaction to redirect in to same destination node. One group of landmarks top menu is divided in
to section and each section has left index menu to interaction details. There are some other
interaction is also present when user visit virtually into digital collection or virtual academy to
navigation material’s image and text or large image of that.

3. Design Analysis of Vatican Museum Website

Vatican Museum website (http://mv.vatican.va/StartNew_EN.html) offers an online exhibit of a
part of the huge art collection of the museum. Only a relatively small amount of pieces of the
collection is available as content in the site. It includes images and descriptions of the paintings
and frescos contained in some selected rooms of the museum. The website also allows the user to
access some general information, including a brief history of the museum, the forthcoming
related events, and practical information like opening hours, transportation and visitor services.

The most part of the website is dedicated to the navigation and browsing of the selected art
collection, including artwork index and details, sorted by building and room in which they are
contained. For every piece of the online collection, images and detailed description are available.
The description includes historical context, brief author information, and depiction of the art
technique used by the author. It is possible to navigate through the online collection, to have a
virtual visit of the museum and to access to a small list of the most important pieces.



The homepage contains a brief introduction of the museum, and Landmarks links of the sections
of the website which define an introduction and index homepage. For every section, the
homepage offers a list of the subsections, as an index of its contents. It is not much appetizing for
the user but it is easily understandable for the user about the inside content immediately what the
user can find.


The navigational structure starts from the home page and then chooses the various sections and
subsections until the desired page is reached which follows the tree (hierarchical) structure of the
pages but also from other pages that have a related content, even if they are in a different section
or subsection. So, hyper-textual (network) structure is also present here. For example, in the
museum history page, quick links to the online collection allow the user to reach the page with
images and description of paintings or rooms mentioned in the paragraphs about history. It also


uses linear info-architecture for simple group of view such as viewing ”Sistine Chapel” in the
virtual tour in the online tour section.

Vatican museum

Vatican Museums
Virtual Tours Info Museums Help
Online

Gregorian History of the
Etruscan Museum Vatican Museums

Brief History

Etruscan Museum

Figure 1: An example of navigation structure of this site with additional nonhierarchical connection

3.2.3 Landmarks

There are three landmarks, and therefore three sections, one for the online collection, one for the
online visit, and one for all the other information about the museum. The links to the sections,
present in the homepage, are replicated in every page as landmark; they do not change their
position in the screen during the navigation. The online collection landmark includes also the
highlighted selection of artworks. As there are just three landmarks, every section includes many
pages.


The interface of this site uses the same template for all pages except sub-index in the body
section. Every page contains header graphics image with landmarks name, sub index (without
homepage) and body content of the page. Sub-indexes are placed beside still images in the
Vatican Museums Online and Online Tour and others are only text links. Search option is not
available in any page of this site.


The multimedia content of the website, which helps presenting the museum collection, consists
basically in photos and images of painting, frescos and artworks, and in panoramic photos of the
rooms, that allow the user to experience a virtual visit of the museum. The visitor has the
possibility to select single parts of a painting or fresco to obtain detailed description of that part.
There are also maps of the buildings of the museum, but they are not interactive.


3.4 Interaction

The interaction of this site basically starts from the home page after introductory animation.
Home page only contains hypertext links of landmarks and no image link is presents through out
all pages except image interaction. Most of the images are interactive in the Museums online and
online tour sections. The interactions are zooming, rotating, enlarging the part of the images,
traversing inside the image etc.

4. Design Analysis of Guggenheim Museum Website

Guggenheim Museum website (http://www.guggenheim.org/new_york_index.shtml) of New
York allows the user to get different types of information about the museum. This Museum site
offers general information, history of the building, calendar and events about the museum;
separate sections are dedicated to educational resources available for the users, current
exhibitions, and practical information on the visit to the museum.

Another section contains all the information about the museum collection, both the artworks, with
descriptions and images, and the authors, with biography and related books. Online collection
covers a major part of the actual collection of the museum. For every work, the description
includes year of creation and acquisition, physical dimension and artistic technique, and a short
review, regarding main themes and styles, artistic movement and emotional content of the work.



The homepage of the Guggenheim Museum website of New York is composed by a header with
the list of landmarks, represented by a small picture, and a content area. This website synthesizes
the content into list of titles and images (landmarks) and provides to access them which is called
index type home page. Inside it there are quick links that allow the user to reach immediately
some pages that are particularly relevant or frequently accessed, and other pages that are not
included in any section. The page contains a small amount of text, and the attention is focused on
the pictures in the header.


The structure of the site is composed by few levels: sections are made up by subsections and
every subsection consists often of a single page; this implies a great number of subsections. The
organization of the pages is represented by a simple tree (hierarchical), and there are no
“transversal” links that connect pages belonging to different parts of the site.

During the navigation, the current section and subsection are highlighted; this makes the “history”
unnecessary, as the user can always reach the home page, the sections and the subsections from
the header and no other information is needed to reconstruct his path in the site.


4.2.3 Search and Search Engine

The websites allows the user to search the online collection by artist, title, date and artistic
movement, and there is also the possibility to try a quick search by keyword from the homepage.
It returns the list of search result heading with little description which matches with the keywords.

4.2.4 Landmarks

The landmarks of this website are presented in the header of all the pages including the quick
search form and links to all the sections of the site. One landmark is used only to reach the online
collection, and all the other regard information about the museum, for example practical
information on the visit, membership and exhibitions.


The template of this site is constant for most of the pages and includes a header with the
landmarks and a table of contents of the current section; the contents are in the lower part of the
page. The disposition of the landmarks in the header changes a little from one page to another, as
sometimes they are in the centre of the header section and sometimes they are on the left.

For most of the sections the content is mainly textual, with some pictures to catch the attention of
the user. In the online collection section, the interest is focused on the images, and the textual
content is less highlighted.


The multimedia content is made up by images (of different sizes) of the artworks, and other
pictures of activities related to the museum used in the mainly textual pages. Pictures are also
used to represent the sections and subsections of the website in the table of contents header. There
is no an interactive image or picture except enlarging some images in some sections.

4.4 Interaction

The interaction of this site starts from the home page which contains hypertext and image links of
landmarks. Most of the images are interactive in the collection sections basically to get details
and enlarge image. The interactions are only enlarging the images here.


5. Comparison among the websites
Table 1: A brief comparison among three websites
Hermitage Museum Vatican Museums Guggenheim Museum
Website Website Website

Content This site gives almost This site emphasis mostly The most highlighted part
equal importance to on the collection and of this site is information
highlight both artworks artworks. about the museum and on
and information about the the visit.
museums.

Digital Online collection Two landmarks provide Online collection is less
is more than others two. online collection and only in evidence.
one landmark dedicated
to all other information.

It uses enough interactive Multimedia content Multimedia content is less
multimedia content to image is used more. than others two.
visit virtually such as
interactive map.

Information The first page is like The home page of this The home page of this
Architecture cover homepage which is site is simpler and works site is index type
too simple but the top basically as an index and homepage with some
level home page is more introduction homepage. It image and quick links. It
complex which is like does not contain images, does not contain any
index and introduction quick links or any introduction or animation.
type home page. highlighted selections.

The navigation structure The navigation structure The navigation structure
of this site basically used of this site basically used of this site is a simple tree
mixed info-architecture mixed info-architecture (hierarchical) info-
tree, linear and hyper- tree, linear and hyper- architecture.
textual. textual.

Quick, Advanced and No search engine is Simple search option is
also QBIC search is available in this site. available here.
available across the
content of this site

Hermitage site has six It has just three It has more landmarks but
section landmarks and landmarks and two of one of them about
also have some other them about collection. collections.
relevant pages landmarks.

Interface The template is same for The template is same for The template is same for
all pages except all pages except sub- most of the pages and
hermitage shop section index in the body section includes a header with the
containing header, containing header landmarks and a table of
graphical image, graphical image, contents of the current
landmarks, quick links & landmarks. The Sketch section
search option. drawing Image is given
with sub-index in some
sections.

Multimedia interactive applications for the Web and Mobile devices - 10 -

Multimedia It uses still images with Multimedia content are Multimedia content is
zooming, 3d-view image, photos and images is used only image and picture
animation and interactive more. The maps of the with no interactive option
map. buildings of the museum, except enlarging some
but they are not images.
interactive.

Interaction The interactions are The interactions are The interactions are only
zooming, rotating, zooming, rotating, enlarging the images and
enlarging the part of the enlarging the part of the navigation here
images, traversing images, traversing inside
interactive map and the image and navigation.
navigation.

6. Conclusion
At the end of my analysis, it is easier to understand that the content of the websites are more or
less similar on museum domain. All websites have information about the museum and an online or
digital collection section with some selected pieces from the museum collection. Most of the cases,
digital collection are interactive at least zooming. Every website uses basic tree structure for the
main navigation structure. What the changes from one website to another website is where they
emphasis on which content and how the content is represent.

Multimedia interactive applications for the Web and Mobile devices - 11 -

M M Interactive Applications0708 Assignment A 2

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