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web development tools used
(1.45 and 1.58 respectively out of 5). It is worth
noting that not one person strongly disagreed
with 'no personal need for creating a Web page',
indicating a recognition of the role that Web page
development plays in many people's personal lives
and possibly acknowledging the potential for it to
enter their own. This subset of respondents was
also asked if they anticipated developing Web
pages in the future. 11 people (33%) indicated that
they did not anticipate developing Web pages in
the future and 5 (15%) indicated that they would
create a Web page in the future, while 19 (58%)
acknowledged the possibility of doing so. As it
is very difficult to predict future needs, the high
percentage in the 'possibly' category reflects ac-
ceptance of the rate of change that is associated
with the Internet (Burn & Loch, 2001).
As can been seen in Table 4, the most common
tool used by the 27 respondents who had developed
Web pages was Microsoft FrontPage (55.6%).
This is consistent with the case study discussed
in Ouellette (1999), where Microsoft FrontPage
was used by 108 end users who contribute to an
intranet. The second most commonly used tool
was Microsoft Word (48.1%). The third most
frequently used tool was Notepad (46.2%), which
suggests some measure of familiarity with HTML
code, and may indicate a desire on the part of us-
ers to 'understand' and have more control over
Web page development, not just create the pages.
The final tool of significance is Macromedia
Dreamweaver, which had been used by 40.7%
of users. As Dreamweaver is a rather expensive
program for home use, perhaps it would be fair
to say that this tool was primarily used in the
workplace. No other tools were used by more
than two respondents.
Benefits of End User Web Page
development and spreadsheet
development
Table 6 presents the average perceived importance
of each potential benefit for both Web develop-
ment and spreadsheet development. The ratings of
benefits are ranked by perceived importance for
Web page development. The average importance
of each potential benefit was compared between
Web development and spreadsheet development
using paired t-tests and the results are also re-
ported in Table 6.
The most important perceived benefits of Web
development relate to accessing and disseminating
information. Improved accessibility of informa-
tion was ranked most highly and was followed
closely by improved communication of informa-
nondevelopment
The reasons why almost one half of the sample
of spreadsheet developers had not yet developed
Web pages were also explored. 33 respondents
(55.0%) reported not having created a Web page
and their reasons are listed in Table 5. The most
important reason for not creating Web pages was
lack of knowledge despite wishing to do so (with
an average importance of 2.50 out of 5), while
lack of professional need and lack of personal
need were rated as less important on average
Table 5. Reasons for not developing Web pages
Standard
Deviation
Mean
Minimum
Maximum
No professional need (/5)
1.45
1
5
1.00
No personal need (/5)
1.58
1
4
0.89
Would like to, but do not know how (/5)
2.50
1
5
1.42
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