Web modeling

Web modeling (aka model-driven Web development) is a branch of Web engineering which addresses the specific issues related to design and development of large-scale Web applications. In particular, it focuses on the design notations and visual languages that can be used for the realization of robust, well-structured, usable and maintainable Web applications. Designing a data-intensive Web site amounts to specifying its characteristics in terms of various orthogonal abstractions. The main orthogonal models that are involved in complex Web application design are: data structure, content composition, navigation paths, and presentation model.

In the beginning of web development, it was normal to access Web applications by creating something with no attention to the developmental stage. In the past years, web design firms had many issues with managing their Web sites as the developmental process grew and complicated other applications. Web development tools have helped with simplifying data-intensive Web applications by using page generators. Microsoft's Active Server Pages and JavaSoft's Java Server Pages have helped by bringing out content and using user-programmed templates.

Several languages and notations have been devised for Web application modeling. Among them, we can cite:

• HDM - W2000
• RMM
• OOHDM
• the Interaction Flow Modeling Language (IFML), adopted by the Object Management Group (OMG) in March 2013
• ARANEUS
• STRUDEL
• TIRAMISU
• WebML
• Hera
• UML Web Application Extension
• UML-based Web Engineering (UWE)
• ACE
• WebArchitect
• OO-H

One of the main discussion venues for this discipline is the Model-Driven Web Engineering Workshop (MDWE) held yearly in conjunction with the International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE) conference.