First Day of Class

Here is the syllabus for the first day of class....

---

Web Design
MULTM 171

Course Syllabus

Fall Semester 2006

Instructor: R. Lee Montgomery xt. 2593
E-mail: lee@multimedia.dvc.edu
Class Schedule: Lecture - Tuesday 2:00-4:50pm

The instructor will be available to assist Web Design students in the lab (Atc110), from `12:00-2:00pm on class days. For additional assistance or consultation please arrange to meet with the instructor during office hours.

OFFICE HOURS: In the lab (ATC-110 or A-303) or in FO235 at the following times:

M, 2-4pm / T 11-12/ W 1-2pm /Th 10am – noon
Appointments are preferred though not required.

DESCRIPTION:

Students will get an introduction to the concepts and techniques necessary to design effective and interesting web sites using HTML and XHTML and some basic javascript. In order to fully understand the issues that inform a strong web design, in addition to application based editors, students will be required to learn how to create sites using only a text editor and HTML coding. Simultaneously students will learn how to use WYSIWYG HTML editors through Macromedia’s Dreamweaver 8. At the conclusion of the class, students will also be expected to have an understanding of basic Unix and network operations related to the use of telnet and ftp. In order to develop strong web specific design skills, class time will be devoted to the discussion of conceptual issues relating to information architecture, hypertext navigation, and interface design.


REQUIRED TEXT:

Short, Daniel and Garo Greene [2006]. Macromedia Dreamweaver 8 Hands on Training. Peachpit Press.

REQUIRED SUPPLIES:

Students must have some form of storage to backup their files. Either a USB key drive, CD-r or CD-rw… DVDs… a portable hard drive/music player. Any storage medium that will allow you to have a duplicate of the files you store on the Multimedia servers.


EVALUATION:

50% of student grades will be determined by averaging grades on three evaluative class assignments and one final exam.

30% of student grades will be based on the completion of weekly exercises and occasional quizes based on the reading. These exercises will not be graded for skill or content, but will be checked only for completion. Grades will correspond to the percentage of weekly exercises completed as follows.

95 – 100% completed A
90 – 94% completed B
85 – 89% completed C
80 – 84% completed D

20% of student grades will be based on class participation. Students must attend class in order to effectively participate.


ATTENDANCE POLICY

Students are expected to attend all of every class meeting unless they have received prior permission from the instructor. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class meeting. Anyone absent when attendance is taken will be assumed absent from the class. If you are late to class it is your responsibility to make sure your attendance is acknowledged by talking to the instructor.

If a student misses two weeks of class without being excused, it can be assumed that the student is intending to drop the class. Because this class meets only once a week that means two absences will be grounds for the instructor to drop you from the class.

If you are intending to drop the class, it is your responsibility to drop the class. You should not assume that the instructor will automatically drop you because of absences. If you stop attending classes, you do not drop the class, and the instructor has not dropped you from the class; the instructor may be required to give you a grade of F for the class.


Course Schedule
(subject to change)

Fall Semester 2006

Week 1 (8/22)

Lecture: Syllabus Review... What is HTML and what is XHTML and how do they work?… File extensions (.html, .jpg, .gif) …local and remote…. View Source …. downloading other peoples pages/images….

Exercise: e-mail to instructor…. Begin a blog on blogger.

Week 2 (8/29)

Lecture: Basic design principles… Keeping track of files.... Unix directory structures and internet paths …. … page properties … linking.. Intro to Dreamweaver

Exercise: Research a web based technology for an oral presentation to the class. Oral presentations must be accompanied by a single page of written text.

Week 3 (9/5)

Lecture: Discussion of composition and interface design.

Exercise: Download 10 images from Flickr that you appreciate the composition of and be prepared to explain WHY you chose these images (in class presentation).

Week 4 (9/12)

Lecture: Class presentations.. review of basics of Dreamweaver.. prep for discussion of Cascading Style Sheets

Exercise: (Must have text by this time) Read through Chapter 5 (quiz)

Week 5 (9/19)

Lecture: Intro to Cascading Style Sheets … Begin discussion of Javascript and rollovers

Exercise: create a rollover menu for your picture gallery.


Week 6 (9/26)

Lecture: Quiz on Chapter 6 (CSS)… review of CSS… Typography

Exercise: Create a single page that appears unique with three different styles sheets. read through Chapter 10

Week 7 (10/3)

Lecture: Tiled graphics.. Tables, and Layers… the mighty div tag

Exercise: Develop a web design in an image editing program (either Photoshop, Fireworks or Adobe Illustrator) for a cartoon character or celebrity of your choice.

Week 8 (10/10)

Lecture: Review…plus additional Rollovers and XHTML… Code View tricks… the culture of the web

Exercise: Prepare a one page report about what kinds of web sites you visit and why. Be prepared to discuss how the content and design of the sites are related.