Weekly Assignments

Topics

• What is Internet, how it works, network, protocol, hardware
• Domain names, URL, fully qualified URL
• Higher level protocols, Telnet, FTP, Gopher, HTTP
• Using FTP client to upload your work to StudentWeb
• Directory structures
• Submitting assignments
  • All HTML assignments must be posted to your assigned space on the Web server
  • You will e-mail the fully qualified URL of that assignment with explanations and answers if necessary. Fully qualified URL includes the protocol, fully qualified domain name, subdirectory, and the document name. You will lose points if you send partial URLs even if they work. A correct one may look like:
    http://www.providence.edu/mkt/faculty.html
  • All assignments must be posted on your Web space and submitted via e-mail before the class starts.
  • Each assignment is due in the week they are shown
• HTML, the language of the Web
• HTML editors vs Web design software, introduction to HomeSite
• Tags, syntax, context, inheritance
• Foundation level tags, all HTML documents must have these: HTML, HEAD, TITLE, BODY
• Home page design vs. Web site development
• Foundation vs. architecture of a building
• Differences between the Web and the traditional media
• Challenges posed by HTML
• Flow control in HTML, paragraph and line break tags
• Text formatting, the FONT tag
• List structures, ordered and unordered lists and their uses in Web design
• Referencing other documents, the anchor tag and HTML links
• General design and layout principles (Read the "Layout Guide" in the writing section of the syllabus)
• Visual interest, align, contrast, keep related elements close
• Use of "white space," empty space is part of the design

Readings

• Castro: Introduction, Chapter 1-2, 3-4, 6, 15

Assignments (will complete in class)

• Write one paragraph of text followed by a list of four state names and their population on separate lines in an HTML document using only the foundation level tags HTML, HEAD, TITLE, and BODY. No other tags are allowed.
  1. Does the text look like what you typed in the editor? How do they differ?
  2. How can you improve document layout and readability?
  3. What capabilities are missing from what is available for you to use in HTML?
  Upload your document to your Web and e-mail its fully qualified URL to me. In the same e-mail message answer the questions above. Your HTML syntax must be correct, not only show up in the browser window.

Topics

• Table structures in HTML and their uses
• TABLE, TR, TD tags, attributes, syntax, context
• Presenting tabular data and table-based layouts
• Important dimensions of Web site design overview
  • Content
  • Speed
  • Usability and navigation
• How to approach the task of designing a Web site for a client
  • Understanding the needs
  • Collecting information
  • Organizing information
  • Concept generation
  • Prototyping
  • Choosing the design
  • Generating the first round of the Web site
  • Critical review, does it meet the needs
  • Changes, refinements
  • Finalizing design
  • Acceptance, locking the design

Readings

• Castro: Chapter 16

Assignments

• Write your resume using only the foundation level tags, flow control tags and list structures. Your resume document must contain ordered and unordered list structures. Post it on your Web and e-mail its fully qualified URL to me.

Topics

• Graphics in Web design.
• Design issues specific to the Web
• Graphic file formats, JPEG and GIF
• Image tag in HTML, its attributes and use
• Workshop

Readings

• Castro: Chapter 5

Assignments

• Revise your resume using a table structure. Although you may use as many rows and columns as necessary, your revised resume must contain minimum two columns and two rows. Post your new resume on your Web and send me its fully qualified URL.

Topics

• Web site workshop HTML and site design.
• Navigation systems
• Nature of information, information structure, and navigation
• Usability issues on the Web
• Content related issues
  • Web writing is different
  • Content needs "chunking"
  • Natural language is easier to read, no "click here" style of writing
  • Quickly scannable
• Design-space related issued, the display screen
  • Unit of measure, screenfull
  • Equipment differences
  • Readability of text, line length, font size
  • Designing to a horizontal space
  • Ease of navigation: affordance, clarity, consistency, meaningfulness (relation to the nature of information)
• Speed related issues
  • Fast is better than slow, patience is thin
  • No suboptimization, site optimization. Poor graphics to gain speed, or slow speed for great looking graphics are examples of suboptimization
  • Page weight (measurable in HomeSite)

Readings

• Castro: Chapter 6

Assignments

• Create a photo album and post it on your Web. Your album must have at least three photographs. You may use your family, pets, friends, or stock photos on the Web. Your album must use syntactically correct HTML and adhere to the design principles discussed. Use your creativity to design an electronic album. Send me its fully qualified URL in an e-mail message.

Topics

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Rules
• Selectors
• Properties
• In-line, in-document, and external style sheets

Readings

• Castro: Chapter 7-10

Topics

• Marketing orientation of a Web site.
• Creating value or adding value
• Types of marketing on the Web, how and what kind of value is created
  • Offer content, create value (cnn.com)
  • Net-mediate, create value (ebay.com)
  • Facilitate transaction, add value: Selling, including rentals (netflix.com)
  • Promote company or products, add value (burgerking.com)
• Web workshop

Assignments

• Find a Web site that has particularly good organization of information. Keep the discussions of the previous week in mind when completing the assignment. Send its fully qualified URL to me in an e-mail message. Explain your reasons for selecting this site for this assignment.

Topics

• Testing and debugging Web pages
• Getting noticed and getting hits
• META tags and their uses
• Search engines, technology and voodoo mix, paid listings
• Seeding the search engines
• Web workshop
• Web workshop, special effects
• Animation, Flash, video, sound, etc.
• Benefits, when to use them and when to avoid them
• Web workshop

Readings

• Castro: 22, 24

Assignments

• Create the META tags that will be used for your client's Web site. You should pay attention to the content of the page and the keyword selection. I will check with each group and discuss matters related to these. No submission is necessary. (In class discussion)

Topics

• Web workshop

Topics

• Preliminary site presentation in class (G)
• Site critique, feedback, questions, problems, etc.
• Marketing faculty will be invited to view the working site
• Web workshop

Topics

• Web workshop

Topics

• Web workshop

Assignments

• Web workshop, finishing touches
• Completed Web site is due by the end of the session (G)
  E-mail me the fully qualified URL of your Web site. Fully qualified URL includes the full protocol, domain name, directory and file names if necessary.