62-415, Spring 2008
 

Introduction

The Internet has become an essential part of life and thoughtful design is a crucial element in making a website that is accessible, exciting and efficient.  This course provides students with the concepts and techniques to design and develop web sites, as well as understand the web design process.

Topics Covered

Lectures will focus on concepts and best practices for using and applying web design technologies. Students will be instructed on how to design and adapt content for multiple mediums, ensuring that information from a web site design can be ported to multiple devices (cell phones, PDAs, etc.), and verifying a design's effectiveness through usability testing.  This course will allow students to build upon skills learned in an introductory web design course.

Students will learn to create fully functional web pages using Dreamweaver, HTML coding, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), as well as basic JavaScript and PHP for submitting forms via the Web.  This course will also cover site structure and navigation methods as well as cross platform and browser issues.

We will also learn how to appropriately asses the needs of the site; to mediate the needs of the client with that of the users while maintaining the integrity of the information and applying pleasing aesthetics.

Weekly Labs and Final Project

There will be a weekly assignment due each Monday at 5pm. Grading for each assignment will be based on timeliness (20%), and content (80%). The assignments will be turned into the Blackboard site which will apply a time stamp. You are permitted one late or missing assignment without penalty. If the assignment is not received by Monday 5pm, you will receive no credit for being on time, and if not received by 11pm you will not receive any credit.

We will dedicate one class per week on working on the assignments. They are meant to apply your practical knowledge during class with assistance that is readily available.

There will be ten assignments/labs and one final project due over the course of the the semester. Please see the schedule for a description of the assignments.

Office Hours

I will be available by appointment for the entire semester. Send requests for a meeting through email including times that you are available to meet. If you do not hear from me within 24 hours, please send another message repeating your request.

Attendance

Because this class builds upon content learned the previous week, your participation and attendance is vital. For this reason, more than three unexcused absences will have an effect on your final grade. The exceptions to this are documented serious illness or death in the family. Please be considerate of your fellow classmates and arrive to class early, or on time. This is especially important when meeting in Reese.

Assessment

Your grade will be determined by the following criteria:

10% . . . Class Participation
60% . . . Assignments/Labs
15% . . . Mid-term Project
15% . . . Final Project

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