Engineering the Presentation Layer of Adaptable Web Information Systems Zolt´anFiala 1 , Flavius Frasincar 2 , Michael Hinz 1 , Geert-Jan Houben 2 , Peter Barna 2 , Klaus Meissner 1 1 Technische Universit¨ at Dresden Mommsenstr. 13, D-01062, Dresden, Germany {zoltan.fiala,mh5,kmeiss}@inf.tu-dresden.de 2 Technische Universiteit Eindhoven PO Box 513, NL-5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands {flaviusf,houben,pbarna}@win.tue.nl Abstract. Engineering adaptable Web Information Systems (WIS) re- quires systematic design models and specification frameworks. A com- plete model-driven methodology like Hera distinguishes between the con- ceptual, navigational, and presentational aspects of WIS design and iden- tifies different adaptation “hot-spots” in each design step. This paper concentrates on adaptation in the presentation layer and combines the modeling power of Hera with the versatile presentation capabilities of the AMACONT project. After discussing different aspects of presenta- tion layer adaptation, the layout manager mechanism of AMACONT for describing the adaptable layout of ubiquitous Web presentations is in- troduced. Then the RDFS-based Hera schema for presentation models is presented, allowing to assign AMACONT layout descriptors to Hera slices. According to this formalization, Hera application model instances are automatically transformed to a component-based AMACONT im- plementation that can be adjusted to different end devices and output formats. The XML-based transformation process is explained in detail, and the resulting methodology is exemplified by a prototype application. 1 Introduction Engineering personalized Web Information Systems (WIS) is a complex process that has to be based on disciplined, systematic methodologies. Among these we distinguish the model-based methodologies due to the numerous benefits they offer: easy system analysis, modular decomposition, adaptation “hot-spots”, flexibility, maintainability etc. By identifying crucial phases of Web development, such an approach helps designers and programmers to proceed in a structured way. Hera [1] is a model-driven design methodology and specification framework focusing on the development of personalized WIS. Based on the principle of sep- aration of concerns it distinguishes three design steps: conceptual design, navi- gational design, and presentation design. At each design step different aspects