Syllabus

Scheduling

Time
Tuesday, Thursday 3:25-4:40; Class meets in Hodson Tech 113. The first class meeting is Thursday, January 24; the last is Thursday, May 1. Class does not meet on March 11, 13, or 24. The official end of the term is the end of the final exam period on Monday, May 12.

Prerequisites

You should:

• have a basic introduction to Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML).
• have a basic introduction to the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) language.
• be able to write basic XHTML and CSS for a document without using a WYSIWYG editor.
• be aware of current standards for those languages as set by the W3C.
• have been introduced to at least one programming language, such as JavaScript.
• be able to plan and write a short report in standard English.
• be willing to experiment, to tolerate unstructured material, and to work with problems which do not have a "right answer"...

Course Objectives

Upon successfully completing this course you should:

• have acquired skills to support further learning in web development and information technology.
• understand some basic concepts of the Internet and distributed information.
• be able to write standards-compliant XHTML and CSS
• be able to create web documents that are usable in different media
• be able to control page layout using CSS
• be able to create web documents that are both standards compliant and effective
• have developed your skills in problem analysis and problem solving
• have developed your skills in using information resources and in written exposition
• be familiar with issues related to computer-based information tools, including ethical use, security, usability, accessibility and copyright.
• be able to discuss the primary standards associated with web development

Readings

Required

• Designing with Web Standards, 2nd Edition. Jeffrey Zeldman, New Riders
• The Zen of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web. Dave Shea and Molly E. Holzschlag, Peachpit Press

Additional online course references will be indicated in the class topic outlines.

Course Requirements

• Class participation
• Assigned readings
• Homework, including written reports
• Midterm and final exams/projects
• Presentation

Grading

All assignments will be graded on the quality and thoroughness of the work and compliance with assignment specs. In general, work will be rated.

• A: Excellent - all work completed on time; fully meets, and in places exceeds, all specifications and is of exceptional quality. To get an A on an assignment, you have to impress me.
• B: Good - all work completed; meets all stated specifications. B is the highest grade that will be awarded for late work.
• C: Acceptable - all work completed; meets many, but not all, specifications.
• D: Weak - fails to meet many specifications.
• F: Unacceptable - not submitted or fails to meet most specifications.

Grades may be modified with + and -.

Course Policies

Class sessions will will focus on concepts and important points; they will not simply echo the books. You are responsible for the readings, both in the texts and online. You should look over the readings before the class for which they are assigned, and be prepared to refer back to them as you work on assignments.

You are responsible for all work covered or assigned in class. If you know that you must miss a class, make arrangements in advance. If you miss a class, find out what you missed.

You must adhere to the principles of the Hood College Honor Code.

You must follow to the Acceptable Use Policies for wyrd.hood.edu.

What You Need: Essential Tools

The lab should have everything ready to use. If you want to work on your own computer, you may need to install some additional programs. The following programs are all free. You can download them from the indicated sites to install your own computer.

A Web Browser with integrated JavaScript error reporting

• Mozilla Firefox is a free, fast, secure, and feature-full browser that can be downloaded from mozilla.com. It can be enhanced with add-on extensions. Useful extensions for Firefox include the Web Developer and IEview. Firefox is installed in the labs. All class examples will be developed using Firefox.

A text or programming editor:

This is not the same as a word processor such as Microsoft Word. A word processor puts a lot of extra information about formatting in the document. A text editor just saves the characters that you typed.

In a pinch, you can use Windows Notepad, but there are better alternatives.

• Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/), a professional text editor for Windows, with tabbed multiple documents, syntax highlighting, and more. Free. It is installed in the labs.
• If you work in the Linux lab, you can use VI or EMACS.

File Transfer and Remote Login Utility

When you publish your documents on the web, you need to transfer them to a web server, a computer that is identified on the Internet, such as wyrd.hood.edu. For this you need a special program called a File Transfer Program, ot FTP utility.

If you are working off campus, you must use a Secure FTP, or SFTP, program.

• The SSH Secure Client is installed in the labs.
• The SSH Secure Client also provides a secture remote logon (telnet) client. With it, you can log on to the system and work directly in command line Linux.
• You can download a local copy of the installation file.

Graphics Editing Software

This course focuses on structure and technique, not graphic desigh. However you may occastionally need to edit images. You can use any graphics software that you are familiar with, such as the applications that are bundled with digital cameras and color printers.

The lab has Macromedia Fireworks and Corel Draw.

The GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a freeware graphics application. It can be used as a simple paint program, for photo retouching, and other tasks. You can get the GIMP for free, in a version that can be run from a portable drive, at http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable.