This paper presents a method - a set of product models along with process models for the development of WIS.

This method adds the dimension of user modeling and customization to Web engineering. By capturing the user profiles, the designer is able to define user categories and to tune the presentation of the WIS content according to the specificity of the user. Besides, by capturing the user goals, he is able to define guidelines for navigating in the Hyperspace in order to optimize the satisfaction of the user needs.

Finally, the proposed approach considers, as it does in much traditional software approaches, three different levels of abstraction (conceptual, logical and physical). It also clearly separates the management of potential users data, content design, navigational design and interface design. Such separation of concerns facilitates many maintenance tasks and leads to a higher degree of independence and flexibility.