This course is designed to give students the ability to create well-coded, well-designed web pages. As designers, programmers, and artists we have the ability to alter the world in meaningful ways. With this ability comes the responsibility to create work that is intelligent, accessible, and hopefully, beautiful. In order to meet this task you will learn how to work with some of the foundational technologies of the web while considering deeper theoretical issues that surround those technologies.
By the end of the course students will be able:
The book I have chosen for this class is a well-written, clear tutorial. It's up-to-date and teaches "best practices".
You are not required to purchase any software for this class. We will use jEdit, a text editor. jEdit is free and available for download at http://www.jedit.org/. You should install jEdit on your home computer as it is available for Mac, Linux, and PC.
Download the Firefox browser as we will be going over a few free tools available for use with firefox. Firefox is the best browser to develop on. You can download firefox here: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/. We will be using the developer toolbar for firefox available here: https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/60/.
| Participation & Attendance: | 30% |
|---|---|
| Exercises: | 20% |
| Mid-Term: | 20% |
| Blog Postings: | 5% |
| Final Project: | 25% |
The grade you receive will be based on class participation, attendance,exercises, blog postings, a midterm, and a final project. Attendance is required for every class and 3 absences = a failing grade. If you must miss a class then please speak to me prior to being absent. Late work will not be accepted without penalty. 1 week late = a subtraction of 2 letter grades. More than a week = a failing grade.
All work must be turned in on the blog previous to the class that coincides with the due date.
To receive an A on the blogging portion of the class you should post at least 5 times during the semester. Turning in work on the blog does not constitute one of the five posts. Your post may consist of a question, something that relates to the class(a link perhaps), or answer another student's question. DO NOT post 5 times during the last week. The blog for the class is available at http://understandingnewmedia.com/webpro.
When I am presenting the class lecture I ask that students refrain from texting, checking their email, etc. I will not do those things when you are speaking and I ask for the same courtesy. This same respect should be extended to your fellow classmates. If someone is being disrespectful during critique they will be asked to leave the classroom and will receive a 0 for the day.
Any work found guilty of plagiarism will result in a failure in the course. You may find further information regarding City College's academic integrity policies at http://web.cuny.edu/academics/info-central/policies.html.
The Monday class meets from 6:15-9:05 and the Friday class meets from 2:00-4:50.
| Class | In Class | Work Due |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Internet History & Intro to HTML. Resources. | NA |
| Class 2 | Linking, more tags, proper nesting, inline & block elements. Setting up your environment. | HFHTML chapters 1-3. First Exercise due. |
| Class 3 | Linking, more tags, proper nesting, inline & block elements. Setting up your environment. | Have Exercise 2 started and bring it to class so you can work on it. |
| Class 4 | Directory structure, FTP, and image formats. Information Architecture intro. View second exercise. | HFHTML chapters 4-5. Second exercise due. |
| Class 5 | Using the w3 validator. | HFHTML chapters 6-7. Third exercise due. |
| Class 6 | Intro to CSS. In class development. | Nothing due. |
| Class 7 | CSS continued, color and typography on the web. | HFHTML chapters 8-10 |
| Class 8 | In class development of exercise 4. | Work on 4th exercise. |
| Class 9 | Examine exercise 4. | HFHTML chapters 11-12. Fourth Exercise due. |
| Class 10 | In class development of Midterm. | Work on Midterm! |
| Class 11 | Midterm crit. | Midterm is due!!!!! |
| Class 12 | Excerpt from The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman. | To be determined. |
| Class 13 | Gestalt theory. | To be determined |
| Class 14 | In class development of final project. | Work on final! |
| Class 15 | Final Critique | Final |