Description

Users of Web-based software encounter growing complexity of the software resulting from the increasing amount of information and service offering. As a consequence, the likelihood that users employ the software in a manner compatible with the provider's interest decreases. An approach at addressing this problem is to adapt the software's behavior during operation to the context in which it is being used. This dissertation addresses the question of how context-awareness can be applied in a systematic process for Web application development: that is, in a Web Engineering process. A model for representing an application's context factors in ontologies is presented. A corresponding Web software architecture for context is discussed; in particular, the CATWALK software framework, an implementation based on an XML stack is described, that provides mechanisms for interpreting application and context models to generate an adaptive application.