Design of data-intensive Web-based information services

One common usage of the WWW is to provide information services, e.g. for regional event calenders, university lecture management, travel information, etc. Their design requires a clear picture of the system's usage and the supported technical environment. The core of the problem is to provide flexible access units based on extended views on some underlying database. The extension consists of escort information, links, operational facilities and means for the generation of different presentations. We call such units media objects. In order to also allow a flexible presentation for them, we adapt the metaphor of a container. In this way it is possible to present the same information in various ways depending on the user profile and the possible technical restrictions of the display device.