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MWeb uses its own database, optimized for maximum search performance, to provide integrated searching. The MWeb Preprocessor builds this database from your data. MWeb can load data from any databases or systems.
Using a separate database implements the "data warehouse" concept common in industry in which a second database is used for queries and the live database is used only by those who need to add or modify records. Why let the whole world into your critical live database?
This approach is also a fast and easy way for a consortium to provide integrated access to its members' data and images. Members can use different internal systems and need not provide Z39.50 access. Our Large Systems page highlights other MWeb features of interest to consortia.
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We want MWeb to look like part of your existing website. MWeb has templates that will match most websites, and visual elements are customizable as part of the normal implementation process. We will work with your designer if necessary as we implement the design.
Here are a few of the hundreds of options we can build into your MWeb Website:
Please note that the layouts of some existing sites have features that are not part of the standard product. In particular, because of compatibility issues we no longer offer the option to allow parts of a page to scroll separately.
If MWeb's built-in customization does not meet your needs, we can add funtionality through Special Features. These are priced on a fee basis; we are happy to prepare written estimates from your written requirements at no cost or obligation.
Special Features that would be of value to other MWeb sites are done at reduced cost or even at no cost.
Special Features (in fact, any modifications you require as well as bug fixes) are delivered immediately. You do not have to wait for the next general release of the software.
MWeb has built-in support for a multilingual interface, which can be in any Unicode characters including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Arabic, Tibetan, etc. (However, we have not tested right-to-left scripts.) Note that the potential users must have the required fonts on their computers -- but people that read those languages usually do.
We do not provide the foreign-language messages, graphics, or translation services; we ask you to supply these. We provide lists of messages and buttons for you to have translated.
System error messages are in English only, but each one has a unique number for easy reporting of problems.
MWeb Enterprise is an open system. By this is meant that MWeb integrates well with other software. You may call MWeb from other applications, or have MWeb call other applications. Documents and media in any format may be linked to your database so the user can just click to view them. Furthermore, the MWeb XML Server provides another way to use your data with other applications.
MWeb can handle very large databases. Our largest implementation is approaching 400,000 records with no problems at all, and two others have around a quarter-million records. Using SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, or DB2, millions of records are possible.
There is no limit to the number of fields in a record, and fields can be any size up to 2 gigabytes in length. Any number of images or other media may be attached to a record. Any number of records can be linked to each other. The use of Unicode means there is no limit to the languages that can be added to the MWeb database.
You may feel confident you will not outgrow MWeb!
Each type of material -- such as museum records, library records, images, media, and documents -- is represented in MWeb by a distinct "Content Type". In addition, each controlled vocabulary (or authority file) -- subjects, persons, etc. -- is a distinct Content Type. This permits any record to be linked to any number of records of any type. All reciprocal links are made, so your users can navigate throughout the database freely.
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Any record of any type can be linked to any number of other records of any type. Each link has a role (not shown here), such as "maker", "owner", etc.
All links are two-way. Each direction has a different role.
Each Content Type has its own record structure and fieldnames so no compromises are required.
Any Content Type can be displayed as a hierarchy, if you supply the necessary structure. Hierarchies enable the user to click their way to specific search terms without having to know your terminology (see Hierarchy Search below).
| Subjects | Objects | |
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| United States | Clothing and costume | |
| - Western United States | - Military uniforms (see also Weapons) | |
| - - Geography | - - United States | |
| - - History | - - - Army | |
| - - - Settlement of the West | - - - - Uniform of General George A. Custer | |
| - - - - Jewish Life in the American West | - - - - - Tunic | |
| - - - - Wars with Native Americans | - - - - - Hat | |
| - - - - - Battle of Little Bighorn | ||
| - - - - - Wounded Knee |
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Data records may contain links to any number of images. Likewise, images may be linked to any number of records. You provide two sizes of each image, a thumbnail and a full-size image.
Formats supported are JPEGs, GIFs, and PNGs; other formats could be added if required.
MWeb Enterprise includes our famous Image Viewer. Whenever the user clicks on a thumbnail image anywhere in MWeb, the corresponding full-size image opens in the Image Viewer (IV). Each image is added to those already in the IV, to permit detailed study and comparison. The user may enlarge, reduce, drag to a new position, or remove images from the IV. The user can choose whether to display brief or full data under each image.
For those whose focus is primarily the image, the Image Viewer provides a clean, uncluttered worksurface for study and comparison, with the additional ability to resize the images to view detail or to see more images at once than would be possible otherwise.
We have recently added a Slide Sorter feature that makes each image small and "tiles" them so there are no overlaps. The user can then change their order by dragging them and the other images are repositioned. This new layout can be saved like any other layout.
MWeb provides three levels of image restriction based on the location of the user's computer:
For more on restricting images and data to specific users, see MWeb Security Model.
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Data records may include fields that contain HTML text. These fields will display using the characters, fonts, and formats coded in the HTML. (One way to create these files is by using Microsoft Word to convert Word documents.) This is a good way to add Unicode characters to records, so you may include all the world's languages in your website even if they are not in your database.
Another use for HTML within field is to include tabular data in records, as in this example. These fields are completely indexed on every word, like all other fields.
Alternatively, HTML files may be loaded as their own "Content Type" which can be linked to one or more objects. One use for separate files would be to include background information on techniques, materials, styles, etc. that pertain to more than one object. When they are a separate Content Type, the HTML files display by themselves rather than as part of another record. (For use in electronic exhibits, see Online Exhibits/Experiences).
A third way to incorporate HTML documents is simply to add URLs to data records in MWeb, referring to documents elsewhere on your website (or any website). The URLs are turned into clickable links in the MWeb display.
Finally, HTML documents can be indexed, yet NOT loaded into the MWeb database. This works well for large documents such as finding aids. (See next section.)
Data records may contain links to media, such as sound files, movies, Word documents, Acrobat documents, or any computer file. Records may have any number of media links, and media may be linked to any number of records. You may provide icons to be displayed for media links (analogous to thumbnails for images).
When the user clicks on a media icon, the media plays.
HTML documents can be treated like media in that they "play" or display when the user clicks an icon for them. However, although they need not be loaded into MWeb, they still can be keyword indexed. This means that the rich content of curatorial notes, conservation records, finding aids, and other large documents can be indexed and still preserved as independent documents outside of MWeb.
We can accept your existing authority files or controlled vocabularies (such as artist names, placenames, style names, periods, or subjects). Or we can create authority files from your collection records. In either case, they provide a way for users to explore the database by navigating through the links.
In order to display records in all languages, MWeb uses the Unicode character set, an international standard that comprises all languages currently in use worldwide. See the Unicode website for more information.
Data to be loaded into MWeb can use either UTF-8 or Latin-1 character encodings. MARC library records may use UTF-8 or MARC-8. We can develop specialized conversions if necessary.
Currently only latin characters are indexed.
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Keyword Search provides the well-known search box in which the user types keywords or phrases. One or more keywords and/or phrases may be entered; these are automatically "ANDed" but the user can separate terms with OR to override this. Keywords may be truncated.
The user may select which Content Types to search using a dropdown list. The user may elect to search all records, or just those with images.
Every word in every field can be indexed, or you may choose not to index some fields. At your option, we can apply a "stopword" list so that common words are not indexed. You may identify a classification field in which singular words are indexed on their plurals also; this is because users often enter plural terms like "bottles" but most catalogs use singular classification terms like "bottle".
HTML documents that are linked to your data can be indexed as well. This means that the rich content of curatorial notes, conservation records, finding aids, and other large documents can be indexed and still preserved as independent documents outside of MWeb.
The Timeline feature lets users limit searches visually by date.
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Advanced Search lets the user specify where in the records the search terms (keywords or phrases) should be found. Fields in your MWeb database are mapped to Search Categories, based on the Dublin Core approach, using a derivative of the CIMI mappings. Using Search Categories means the user doesn't have to figure out your data model, or decide what fields might contain the search terms. This is especially useful if you have multiple fields for the same kind of data, such as multiple title fields -- instead all titles are searched at once.
The Search Category mappings mean that users can search on all types of records in a single search, such as museum data and library data. Exact-match, truncated, and keyword searches are supported, and Advanced Search lets the user decide how to sort search results.
Users may quickly filter Advanced Searches if you include Filter Fields, such as the record type (museum record, library record, etc.), source, department, collection, location, whether the object is on view, and whether the record has images. These Filter Fields can be displayed in Advanced Search as dropdowns, listboxes, radio buttons, or checkboxes. Multiple selections may be made from a given Filter Field.
Finally, Advanced Search supports searches of numeric values as ranges, such as date-ranges. Date-range searching permits searching for objects or records that fall between two dates, or searching for "earlier than" and "later than" records. We can accept your existing date ranges or create them for you by converting text dates into numeric values. Date-ranges may be specified as year only, year and month, or year, month, and day; MWeb ensures that however much of the date the user enters, meaningful results are returned.
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It is a frequent complaint that the search boxes do not help a new user know what kind of objects are available, or what terms to use to find items of interest. MWeb's Click-&-Search provides clickable access and avoids the dreaded search box.
Using Click-&-Search, users can search on any data just by clicking -- with no typing. Data values in your MWeb database are presented in groups of 200, with intermediate groupings if a section of your index has more than 200 distinct data values. Building the index for Click-&-Search is fully automated, and based simply on the values in the Advanced Search index.
Using Click-&-Search, the user can see the exact data-values recorded in your database and search on them without typing. Any record is only 2 or 3 mouse clicks away, depending on the size of your database -- with zero keystrokes and no search box.
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You may supply a hierarchy of terms -- object types, genres, subjects, locations, styles, or anything else you wish. MWeb provides a clickable interface so the users can search the hierarchy without typing. When user clicks on a term in the hierarchy, a database search is performed.
Here are three of the many possible interfaces for a hierarchical search (some of these required billable customization). For large hierarchies, MWeb has an "expanding tree-view" in which terms display their sub-terms when clicked.
The interface that uses buttons may include mini-thumbnails of representative objects from the collection.
There are two methods of linking the terms in the hierarchy to the records to be searched when the user clicks. One way is for the click to perform a Keyword or Advanced Search; if multiple words or fields are required to specify the records you want retrieved by the click, it will have the same performance penalties and imprecision of any other search based on natural language. The other way is for you to indicate the specific records you wish to be retrieved when the user clicks; this is faster and more precise, but more work on your part.
Hierarchies may be developed for several purposes:
Vocabulary Views provide users with a way to search using your controlled vocabulary, such as artists names. Typically there would be a button in the Main Menu that would bring up a clickable alphabet (A to Z). Clicking on a letter would display the terms for that letter, and clicking on a term would display all the records linked to that term.
You may have Vocabulary Views on any or all of your controlled vocabularies, even those that MWeb creates from your object records.
The Random Search is the most popular MWeb search at those sites that have implemented it. Many visitors just want to see the variety of records or images in your collection. They can do this with a single click on the Random Search button. Whenever they click the button, a new set of random records or images appears.
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It is very disconcerting to a user to enter a search term and get a message saying no records were retrieved. When this happens in MWeb, the user is presented with a list of similar terms which can be clicked to perform a search. The terms are chosen on the basis of their similarity in spelling to the words the user entered. These "Search Suggestions" go a long way toward making users more comfortable with MWeb.
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| Mixed display | Paragraph display |
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You determine which fields are shown in each type of search result. Each record includes a link to the full record. Thumbnails can be clicked on to see the full-size images.
Some displays look better if the thumbnails can be resized by MWeb. You have this option if one of these conditions is met:
When the user clicks on a link in a Search Results screen, the full record is displayed. For very complex records MWeb can display the record in Slices that are subsets of fields (the image below under Alternative Layout shows two tabs for Slices, "Artwork Label" and "Artwork Info").
MWeb offers two Full Record layouts. Both show all images and media icons associated with the record. The Alterative Layout shows the primary image larger.
Whichever layout you choose, you determine what fields are shown, the order of fields, the labels for fields, or whether certain fields do not need labels.
| Traditional Layout | Alternative Layout |
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With either layout, Full Records can link to other information in a dense network of discovery. At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, certain artwork records have been linked to hundreds of documents containing background, artist information, exhibition history, provenance history, and other "deep data".
When records contain so much information, you may decide to break the Full Records into Slices to avoid overwhelming the user. Slices are subsets of the record's fields. You determine what the slices are, and what they are called, such as "Core data", "Provenance", "Related works", etc. You may have tabs, dropdowns, or any other mechanism to show the user the list of slices, and allow selection of the slice to view.
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MWeb provides a way to display Online Exhibits that allow you to link object records and HTML documents to sections of the exhibit. As the user clicks on an exhibit topic in the left pane, the HTML document in the center pane and the images in the right pane change to reflect the new topic. The user can study the documents and the images at the same time, and retrieve full data when desired. (The live Online Exhibit shown here has been greatly expanded to include all objects in the three-part onsite exhibition -- try it!)
MWeb can manage sequences, such as the "tours" of New Orleans neighborhoods in the Historic New Orleans Collections site. This project was converted from a multi-media exhibit, and MWeb replicated the functionality of moving back and forth in a sequence programmed by the museum. The user can also click the images to enlarge them.
MWeb could also be used to link a gallery guide to MWeb data and images. See the concept paper MWeb Guide to Prague for a potential implementation. Instead of a map, a gallery floorplan would show where objects were displayed matching the user's search; rolling the mouse over the object would show brief information; clicking would show the related records and images.
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Flash and Ajax are ways to present users with interactive multimedia experiences beyond what can be done with an HTML interface such as MWeb Enterprise. (These are often called Rich Internet Applications, or RIAs.) For example, Flash is excellent for displaying animations, movies, sound, visual effects, and other dynamic displays, and these can use the live data in your MWeb Enterprise Database by using the MWeb Enterprise XML Server (priced separately). Another plus is that Rich Internet Applications look the same in all browsers.
The MWeb Enterprise XML Server (MEXS) delivers data from your MWeb Enterprise Database in XML form. This means you can use your MWeb data in any application that can handle XML data; the application can be written in HTML, Flash, Ajax, ASP, etc. For example, you can build Online Exhibits using Flash or Ajax, or even replace the entire MWeb interface with your own (see sidebar). By using the XML Server for the data retrieval, your application does not need a search engine, but can focus on display and interaction.
MEXS queries have the identical syntax to MWeb's Direct Access requests that return HTML pages, including Boolean operators, truncation, subsets, etc. Here are the queries currently supported; others will be added as required:
The XML Server is fully supported like the rest of MWeb Enterprise.
MWeb has a sophisticated security model that you can use to protect any records, any data fields, any data values, or any images -- independently of each other. Each of these can be restricted from being used or seen by unauthorized users.
The default is for all records, fields, values, and images to be viewable to any visitor to your MWeb site, so if this is what you want, you need do nothing. However, if you wish to hide some data or images from certain users, you may use either or both of the following techniques:
IP Restrictions and Security Levels are completely independent and either or both can be assigned to any record, field, value, or image.
A site has three options for logon: no logon required, everyone must logon, or no logon for the public but certain people may logon to access special functions, data, or images. Logons are controlled by a unique User ID and an encrypted password. There are also several kinds of administrator logon for adding and deleting users, changing messages, etc.
MWeb protects data by using passwords. This provides only an average level of security, so we do not recommend MWeb for financial or medical data or data that would be of interest to criminals.
The Favorites feature (called My Lists on some sites) allows users to save objects for future reference. They may have any number of lists, containing any number of objects. Depending on your goals, they can export these lists or email them to the museum or elsewhere.
If your users wish to send their lists to social websites such as Flickr or Facebook, this can be achieved by building your own application in HTML, ASP, Ajax, Flash, PHP, or anything you wish, using the MWeb Enterprise XML Server (MEXS) to retrieve data from your MWeb database. Since MEXS handles all the same requests as MWeb Enterprise, you can retrieve any data, images, media, Favorites, etc. MEXS returns the data in a documented XML format that can be uploaded to a social site.
A quick way to start such a project would be to build upon our MWeb Flash source code (described above). Since MWeb Enterprise and MWeb Flash use the same Favorites, users can develop their lists using either interface. MWeb Flash would also be a good starting point to developing tools for users to build presentations with, or to interact with Pachyderm for this purpose.
Google has just announced their Open Social protocol. If this becomes important, MWeb Enterprise may be enhanced to work with social sites that use this protocol. We are also considering linking Pachyderm to MWeb Enterprise for authoring presentations.
If you wish, you can link directly to most MWeb displays -- such as Search Results, Full Records, and Online Exhibits -- from other pages in your main website. This means the user does not have to go through the MWeb Start Page and perform a search. For example, you may be describing a new gift on your website: you could include a link which would display the donated objects in an MWeb display. Or in a discussion of an object you could include a link to the object's Full Record display. Or take the user directly to an Online Exhibit or Flash Experience from a curatorial page.
At your option, MWeb can record every search performed on your site and the number of records retrieved, as well as the time and date and user ID. This information can be studied using MWeb Reporter, a free application that reads this data and prepares monthly and annual summaries.
MWeb Reporter will not run on shared hosting servers. However, the statistical information can be captured if you have some other way to analyze the data.
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Here are the categories of information in the report:
"Accessibility" is the term used by web designers to indicate the availability of a site to the handicapped, especially the visually impaired. There are generally two major concerns: the ability of the partially sighted to override font sizes and colors for better visibility, and the use of the site by "screen-readers," software that reads the site out loud to the blind. Users of screen-readers are best served by having elements on the page in a meaningful order, by having alternative text for graphical elements, and by having alternatives to Flash and other visual components.
Our policy is to enable accessibility by removing barriers, such as the elimination of frames (since frames confuse screen-readers). However, we do not prescribe any specific fonts, colors, or navigation. This is a decision each client must make, depending on their policies and requirements.
For more details on MWeb and accessibility, see MWeb and Accessibility.
Updates to the MWeb database are done at your site by running the MWeb Preprocessor (a Windows application) which we send you configured for your data. To update, you export data from your internal databases, run the Preprocessor, and then copy the MWeb Database to your web server. The Preprocessor is customized for each client, so there are no decisions to make or options to worry about.
On a fee basis, we can adapt the Preprocessor to make sure that all the images to be incorporated into the database are actually present in both sizes. This is a double-check for one of the most common load problems.
MWeb is under continuous development -- we make dozens of improvements each year. However, we do not issue periodic upgrades of the software. Instead, we deliver new software to each site when required (such as when a new browser requires changes), or when the site requests changes or new features. We test each new or changed feature for each site before delivery. We feel that this approach allows you to upgrade at your convenience, instead of at ours.
MWeb is a standard CGI program, written in Perl, and delivered as a compiled EXE (so you do not need to buy or install Perl to use MWeb). Database services are written in compiled C and C++, for optimum performance. CGI accelerators may be used if your situation warrants. MWeb runs on Windows servers only.
The MWeb Preprocessor, which builds the MWeb Enterprise Database, is written in Perl and uses the open-source SQLite database for its working files. The working files are then exported to the SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, DB2, or Foxpro database for deployment to the server. Database services used by the Preprocessor are written in compiled C and C++, for optimum performance. The Preprocessor runs on your Windows desktop computer.
MWeb Enterprise does not access your internal databases, but uses its own in order to provide integrated searching, faster searching, and for security. You continue to use whatever internal systems and databases you wish; MWeb can use data from any system.
MWeb can use your choice of database technologies for its database, currently Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, DB2, or FoxPro. MWeb has the same functions and uses the same software regardless of what database technology is used.
For smaller sites we recommend FoxPro tables because they are fast, reliable, and free. Because they are accessed using ODBC* they require no database software and there is nothing to manage. You do not need to purchase FoxPro. For sites with high traffic, one of the other database systems is preferable.
* ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity, a universal standard method for accessing databases.
FoxPro tables provide excellent performance, not to be compared with desktop tools such as Access and Filemaker. Although not in the class of the other options, they are fully adequate for the demands of most museum websites. The FoxPro ODBC driver is installed automatically with Windows Server, and requires absolutely no administration. Some of our largest installations use FoxPro, and one of them, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is now serving ONE MILLION searches per year using this technology.
Microsoft announced in April 2007 that they will stop developing FoxPro. This should not cause you concern. The FoxPro database format has not changed since 1993 and will continue to function. Furthermore, Microsoft will be supporting FoxPro through 2015.
MWeb emits standard HTML controlled by CSS, so all modern browsers for Windows, Macintosh, and Unix/Linux can use it without problems.
We provide generous support in implementing and maintaining your MWeb site.
Systems Planning
MWeb Flash