Course Format
- Class will meet every Tuesday from 6 – 9pm online using software that allows audio communication, screen sharing and interaction.
- Class materials are available online from the course web sites as well as many other web resources.
- Helmut Doll will be available by email, phone, and online chat during scheduled office hours. At other times the same communication tools will be answered in short time.
- Online communication between course participants is encouraged through bulletin boards and chats.
Course Overview
Introduction to Web Site Development is a course that introduces students to the major technological issues a successful designer has to know. The course uses the development of web pages as the theme for the course. We will learn how to code web pages in HTML with nothing more than a text editor, and incorporate multimedia elements in these pages. This will also lead to a review of hardware and software terminology and issues that are relevant for the development of interactive projects. In order to make web site development more manageable, the development process will be taught as a step-by-step process.
Classes will be taught using a variety of interactive delivery methods and the students will interact with the instructor regularly.
The topics presented in class address these areas:
- Web site development process – the web development process in several steps is explored. Deliverables of the steps will be developed.
- HTML coding – all basic HTML tags will be learned using a basic text editor and applied in examples pages.
- Hardware and software review – the terminology of computer software and hardware and a basic understanding how – for example – a monitor functions is necessary for any developer of multimedia pieces.
- Multimedia Elements – Graphics and animations are a main feature of web pages. Adobe Photoshop will be used to make graphics web friendly and create simple animations. Other multimedia elements, like sound, will be briefly introduced.
- Advanced HTML features – Cascading Style Sheets give web developers more control over the look of web pages. CSS and JavaScript are two of the main new technologies advancing web development at the moment. CSS will be learned in depth and a brief introduction to JavaScript will be given.
- WYSIWYG web editors – Most large-scale web development requires the use of tools that simplify the design of web pages. We will use Macromedia Dreamweaver to manage larger sites and to add advanced behaviors to web pages.
Computer Requirements
- Computer – Windows or Mac
- monitor with size at least 1024×768
- Internet Explorer 7, Safari 3 or Firefox 3
- Internet access (modem connection should work, faster preferred)
- Microphone and headset for online meetings
Software/Hardware Requirements
- A text editor like NotePad (Windows, free), NotePad2 or TextWrangler (Mac, free).
- During the first half of the course we will be writing HTML code ‘by hand’ using a text editor.
- Image/graphics software: Adobe Photoshop CS4
- We will use this software to create or modify images and graphic elements for web pages. This software is very expensive (about $300 academic). You can also get by with the 30-day demo from the Adobe web site if you wait with installation until we need it. If you own a graphics editor that lets you work with jpg, png and gif files you can probably use that, but several class demonstrations will be done using Photoshop.
Several online tools that cover most of the functionality used in this class will be listed.
Note: This software is also used in our Multimedia class.
- We will use this software to create or modify images and graphic elements for web pages. This software is very expensive (about $300 academic). You can also get by with the 30-day demo from the Adobe web site if you wait with installation until we need it. If you own a graphics editor that lets you work with jpg, png and gif files you can probably use that, but several class demonstrations will be done using Photoshop.
- Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, a WYSIWYG web editor.
- During the second half of the semester, we will use this software to create web pages faster. It costs about $200 academic.
- If you already own Dreamweaver CS3 you can do everything we will cover. However, my screen demonstrations will use Dreamweaver CS4.
- If you plan to buy the software and especially if you are taking other courses in the MSIT program, I would recommend looking at the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium, which includes all of the programs we will use and also software you will need for other classes (e.g. Illustrator, Flash). I saw the bundle for $350 (a lot, but great price for industry leading software!) at the Adobe Education Store. I have however not checked other academic resellers for better prices.
An FTP-program. You need to upload files to the web server. Windows has this built into Windows Explorer, for more features or on a Mac you can use a freeware program like FileZilla
- A Zip-utility. To send larger files by email or combine multiple files in one and to unzip course files. This is built into Mac OS X. Some functionality is built into Windows, for more features use 7-zip (Windows).
Books
- Books can be purchased at the Bloomsburg University online store or other retailers
- Jennifer Niederst Robbins. Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to (X)HTML, StyleSheets, and Web Graphics. O’Reilly, 2007.
- Subscription to Lynda.com video tutorials (about $10/month) required – you will receive an email from lynda.com before the beginning of class
Helmut Doll