Quality Evaluation of Web-sites of Indian E-commerce Domain

how, and feasibility.A metamodel called
2QCV3Q (in Latin V stands for U),which takes
its name from the initials of the Ciceronian loci
of classical rhetoric that it is based on [9]. Also
called 7Loci, the meta-model takes into special
consideration the inherently communicative
nature of a Web site [8,10].This concept is used
to identify the fundamental dimensions of a
Web site, resulting in a framework that when
compared with existing models can be seen as a
meta-model for classification of diverse criteria
for quality (table 1). In other words, the seven
loci or dimensions constitute the general
framework of the “quality models”, which is
independent of the sites under analysis.
1. The first dimension, Identity, regards
the image that the organisation
projects and therefore all elements that
come together in defining the identity
of the owner of the site.
2. Content to the information
3. Services refer to the services available
for users.
4. Location regards the visibility of a
site; it also refers to the ability of the
site to offer a space where users can
communicate with each other and with
the organisation.
5. Maintenance comprises all activities
that guarantee proper functioning and
operability of the site.
6. Usability determines how efficiently
and effectively the site’s content and
services are made available to the user.
7. Feasibility includes all aspects related
to project management.
Table 1. Dimensions of the 2QCV3Q -
7Loci meta-model
QVIS(Who?) Identity
QVID(What?) Content
CVR(Why?) Services
VBI(Where?) Location
QVANDO(When?) Maintenance
QVOMODO(How?) Usability
QVIBUS AVXILIIS(With Feasibility
what means?)
ISO9126 , ISO9241 AND ISO13407 [3,11,12]
are very popular software quality
standards.ISO9126 , ISO9241 AND ISO13407
describe the standards for quality of software,
usability, user-centered product. Conformance
to standard is also the basis of W3C quality
assurance initiative [13]. The 7Loci meta-model
supports a systemic approach to evaluating web
site quality that takes into account these diverse
components coming together at a site and the
importance of satisfying the needs of all actors.
A usability-focused evaluation method for
hypermedia application is MiLE, based on a
combination of inspection from expert evaluator
and empirical testing through panels of end
users [14]. The evaluation model here is based
on two heuristic concepts: abstract and concrete
tasks. An analytic web site quality model is
proposed by Etnoteam [15].It is based on six
attributes :communication, content,
functionality, usability, management and
accessibility. The model can be
personalized.The sub-attributes are weighted
depending on the site category. An evolution of
this model is described in [16]. Another
analytical approach described in [17] proposes a
Web-site Quality Evaluation Method based on a
logic multi-attribute decision model and
procedures intended to be a useful tool to
evaluate artifact quality in the operational
phase.. Studies for quality of products and
processes for the web are very recent and still
there are no widely spread evaluation methods
and techniques for quality assessment.
Fleming 2001[18],Mendes et al. 2001[19],
Olsina and Rossi 2001[20], Pooley et
al.2002[21] have given the quality attributes
and also some of them have evaluated the
quality of different web-application domains.
The ISO/IEC 9126 series standard introduced a
hierarchical model with six major quality
characteristics, each very broad in nature .
They are subdivided into 27 sub-characteristics,
which contribute to external quality, and 21
sub-characteristics which contribute to internal
quality. Since the characteristics and subcharacteristics
are not properly defined,
ISO9126 does not provide a conceptual
framework within which comparable
measurements may be made by different parties
with different views of software quality, such as
users, developers and managers. The Authors
have given a Quality Evaluation Framework in
order to evaluate the quality of Indian ecommerce
based web-sites in Section 3. In our
previous research, we have validated factors and
sub-factors from user’s point of view [25] and