{  University of Victoria  }{  humanities computing and media centre   }{  Stewart Arneil and Martin Holmes  }
Hot Potatoes: Principles Guiding Software Development
In addition to the terms of incorporation of Half-Baked Software and related agreements, a number of things guide the development of Hot Potatoes:
  • Target software at average educators with modest web know-how.
  • Ensure standard pages work on widely-used versions of NN and IE on Mac and Windows with no special plug-ins, browser configurations, server software or permissions.
  • Maintain common standard feature set and interface in Mac and Windows editions.
  • Accommodate different kinds of users:
    • type in data and click button (data entry)
    • above + modify button names, navigation controls, program interface (configuration)
    • above + customize behaviour of pages (edit HTML and JavaScript).
  • Comply with international standards as they become established:
    • XML for data files
    • Standards-compliant JavaScript for interactivity
    • CSS and XSL style sheets for presentation
    • Standards-compliant HTML/XHTML for rendering.
  • Keep activity small enough that two people can handle it part time:
    • 1 hour per day of university time on university related development
    • 1 hour per day (outside work) on administration, other work
    • occasional bursts to write new features etc.

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