| 1. Catalog description |
This course is an overview of web page development
tools. Participation in this course is intended to give students an opportunity
to develop design principles and skills for publishing documents on the World
Wide Web. Students will interact with a variety of web publishing software
programs and will work with general design principles to develop a series
of web pages based on a given theme. This course is structured around exposure
to the tools available for publishing documents on the World Wide Web. The
course provides students the opportunity to experiment with Adobe Page Mill
and Microsoft Front Page, two of the more widely used programs for web
publishing.
Instructor comment: Instruction will cover tool features, but more emphasis
will be placed on the underlying HTML.
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| 2. Required skills |
I have to assume that students have some basic
computer skills upon entering the course. For the beginning sections of this
course, these include the
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ability to type
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ability to use a mouse
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skill with GUI operating system
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ability to cut, copy, and paste data between several open applications
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ability to save files into different folders
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experience using a web browser
Intermediate sections also include
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experience writing and uploading basic HTML 3.2 pages
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experience using a graphics program such as Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Image
Composer, JASC PaintShop Pro, or ULead PhotoImpact.
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| 3.Textbooks |
There are no required textbooks for this course;
your materials are all on the web. If you would like just one web book, I
would recommend this one:
The
Non-Designer's Web Book by Robin Williams, at around $25 online.
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| 4. Course objectives |
At the end of this course, students should
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be able to roughly explain how web pages are built and displayed
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be able to name the basic elements of a web page
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be able to identify commonly used HTML tags
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be able to create web pages using a WYSIWYG editor
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be able to hand-edit the code of these pages
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be able to create simple graphics using a graphics package
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be able to upload HTML pages to the Internet
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be able to name and describe the design and technical characteristics of
exemplary sites
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be able to troubleshoot pages which have common HTML problems
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| 5. Assignments and scoring |
50 points = Completed and uploaded coding assignments (there are
different assignments for basic
and advanced sections). Commented
on, then scored for completion.
50 points = your final project.
Scored according to criteria given
Note: Assignments are not complete until they are on the
web; e-mail and floppy disk copies are not acceptable.
Final grades:
A = 90=100
B = 80=89
C = 70-79
D = 60-69
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| 6. Attendance |
This is a synchronous, face to face skills course
in which I need you to bring your projects to share at each session and be
available to help others. Therefore attendance is required; missing sessions
not only runs afoul of my rules but degrades the value of the course for
others.
You may miss two or fewer class sessions without affecting your grade.
After that point continuance in the class is up to me.
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| 7. Academic honesty |
This course will adhere to the GMU Honor Code,
which is detailed in the course catalog and at
http://www.gmu.edu/catalog/acadpol6.html.
As part of the code, I am required to explain what I expect for honest work:
You are encouraged to collaborate freely with your peers throughout the course.
However I expect your graded writing in the course to be 100% your
own work, e.g. your forum posts, rationale and specification documents, and
web site copy should be original and done without signficant assistance.
Copyright laws should be adhered to in all your work.
Problems with academic honesty will be handled as suggested in the GMU Honor
Code.
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| 8. Privacy and copyright |
The electronic media we use in this course create
new questions about copyright and privacy. These few policies are a good
faith attempt to let students know their rights.
1. This course will adhere to all copyright and privacy laws and guidelines
established by law enforcement and GMU.
2. All materials posted remain under copyright of their authors. Individual
authors also retain the right and the technical ability to delete their own
messages for the foreseeable future
3. Posted materials will generally be available to all Internet users.
4. Assume that your posted materials will not be deleted; what you post here
will remain for the foreseeable future unless you specifically delete it.
5. All materials are posted "as-is," which may include viruses (in, say MS-Office
attachments)
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