Course Description

This course builds on the basic aspects of HTML, web design, and multimedia programming that are presented in 741 (the prerequisite to this course). It provides an overview of web design concepts, including usability, accessibility, information design, and graphic design in the context of the web. It also provides an introduction to important and emerging web site technologies.

Important note regarding prerequisite knowledge: I will expect that you have a solid base of prior knowledge about basic HTML and CSS coding and the use of UNIX in a command-line environment. You should be familiar with basic HTML and CSS coding (using text editors), use of Photoshop (or other graphic editor), and basic design principles for the web, as well as UNIX commands for creating, deleting, renaming, and changing permissions for files and directories. I recommend the Visual Quickstart books on HTML and UNIX as a good reference for these topics, along with the Non-Designer's Web Book. In addition, in this course I assume that you have basic programming skills -- the particular language is not important, but an understanding of programming concepts is important.

Students are expected to use valid and well-formed XHTML 1.0 (Strict) and CSS (Level 2) for all work in this course. Some work with HTML5 APIs, tags, attributes, and ideas and some work with CSS3 will be encountered by students taking this course. All coding must be done "by hand" within a text or programmers' editor. Do not use Dreamweaver® or other such drag-and-drop editors, as they conceal too much of the code for our purposes.

Primary Topics Covered

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Textbooks, Readings, & Materials

Books

The latest editions as well as used copies of the following texts should be available at the bookstore:

These texts are recommended as probably being useful for you long after you take the course.

Readings

In addition to the texts, online readings will be assigned and linked from this course Website. Other reading assignments may be provided or assigned as appropriate.

Materials

You should purchase and use blank CDs or DVDs or other robust media to save your work.

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Computer Accounts

DCE Account

Your DCE ID and password actually gives you access to multiple systems here at RIT. In this class, you'll need a DCE account in order to access "Gibson," RIT's UNIX system that will store your WWW pages. You'll also need it to access RIT's webmail service. You probably already have this account, but if you don't (of if you have problems with it), bring your student ID to the ITS Help Desk to get your DCE account set up.

NT Account

You should get an NT account if you ever wish to work on any Mac or PC in any IT lab. The NT accounts are set up by the staff in the main IT lab. You will need your student ID and your printed schedule (to prove that you are enrolled in an IT class). Check ahead to find out when you can have your account(s) set up; not all lab assistants have the authority to make the accounts.

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Grading

Projects - 80%
Practical Exam - 20%

Practical

Final Grades

A final letter grade will be assigned from points that you have accumulated (e.g. A = 90-100%, B = 80-90%, etc.). I do not grade on a curve, so if every student does "A" work, then every student gets an "A" (or a "D", as the case may be...).

It is important to understand that if you complete all the requirements for an assignment, that is only sufficient for a grade of "C" (i.e. "satisfactory work"). To receive an "A" for an assignment, you must go beyond the basic requirements, and show creativity, initiative, and excellence. The grade of "A" is intended for work that is clearly superior, rather than average.

Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the due date/time, without prior approval from me, will lose 50% for each day that they are late. If you know that a situation will prevent you from turning something in, contact me in advance of the deadline to make alternate arrangements.

The Practical Exam

All the projects you do for this class are significant enough that they are completed outside of class time. Amongst other things, the practical examination at the end of the term is designed to show us that you personally can do minimally competent work in creating a page using XHTML, CSS, & JavaScript. By "minimally competent" I mean: (1) the code is valid & well-formed, (2) the CSS does what it is supposed to do to the browser display, and (3) the JavaScript adds the functionality it is supposed to add to the page. This is not a hard test, but you will "fail" the practical examination if any one of these three minimal expectations is completely missing or seriously flawed in execution.

Coding Standards

Like any other IT course, 737 has simple coding standards. We practice using the Model-View-Controller paradigm here, so all XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript must be maintained in seperate files, All pages must be constructed of valid & well-formed (I will use the W3C validation services to check) XHTML and CSS, and of JavaScript. The XHTML must just be XHTML, no embedded or inline CSS or JavaScript or style attributes or such. The CSS must actually do what the assignment says it is supposed to do, and the JavaScript must actually add the functionality the assignment calls for. No matter how pretty your code, it must actually do what the assignment calls for. All resources must be kept on RIT servers, unless you get prior permission from the instructor.

The code required of you for this class is cross-platform & cross-browser XHTML, CSS, & JavaScript. This is not a server-side class, although you will be exposed to PHP and other server-side technologies. Focus on writing cross-platform & cross-browser XHTML, CSS, & JavaScript code.

Grade Disputes

If you wish to dispute your final course grade, you must do so before the end of the quarter following this one; after that, documentation of your work may be discarded.

Attribution & Academic Honesty

Each student must write their own code, or include clear attribution statements in the source file(s) and in writeup(s) if they use or modify code created by someone else. Failure to give proper attribution will result in a grade of "F" on that assignment, and may be treated as a case of academic dishonesty.

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