IDCC 370: Web Design I   Spring 2008

Check this out:

A revolutionary development in communication, the World Wide Web offers unprecedented access to mass audiences. This introductory course focuses on the principles and practices necessary to create effective pages for the Web.

You will receive instruction in writing hypertext documents, designing Web pages, authoring well-formed HTML, and meeting a variety of technical challenges. The course focuses on purpose, scope, and audience considerations in page design; writing informative and persuasive on-line documents; designing coherent, portable, navigable, and interactive pages; and employing the fundamental principles of color theory, typography, layout and graphic design for the Web.

Combining lab, lecture, and discussion, you will learn the best practices of electronic design to create your own interactive Web sites. Be sure to check into the class Web site every day for announcements.

During the first class meeting, everyone will be responsible to discuss with the class some part of the course information, syllabus and reading and design assignments. The various areas for presentation to your fellow students will be assigned during class.

Here is a picture of the door to the Smith 110. Wait 'til you see what's behind it. Good luck to you all. I look forward to our journey together into the wonderful world of Web design. WJB

Check this out: Web Site Directory Structure


Be sure to work through this tutorial carefully before class. The thumbnail image to the left links directly to the PowerPoint Web tutorial (for your convenience).

The information in this tutorial is vital. Understanding this and undertaking the suggested "best practices" will save you a lot of grief as we proceed through the course. Be sure to ask questions that may occur to you as you study the slides in this tutorial. I have some real horror stories to share with you from students who did not take directory structures and Web backup seriously enough.

You may want to print out the tutorial before class (Web Site Directory PDF). That way you'll have the slides and my discussion notes right in front of you . . . and you can make any additional notes you might need right on the printout.

Once your directories are all put into good shape, here is an example of the kind of functionality your site will exhibit: Webmodel. WJB

MIS Web Design: XHTML Web Design for Beginners: Introduction: "The Internet is no longer limited to people with computers viewing Web sites through one or two different Web browsers. Everything has a Web browser in it these days. Mobile phones, Televisions, Personal Digital Assistants, Cars, even fridges. Blind users 'view' Web sites using speech synthesis or Braille devices. There is no way you can test each page you produce in all of the possible ways it may be used. But there is a way to give you the best chance that they will work. This is achieved through producing pages using the standards laid out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the people who work on XHTML and other Internet standards. Once you have produced your pages the W3C provide a validation service to check that your page meets the standards and therefore has the best chance of being used on any device. I do not know of any HTML generation programs that produce valid code."

Press Releases - Key Website Research Highlights Gender Bias: "A first-of-its-kind study conducted by experts at the University of Glamorgan has proved that men and women really are poles apart when it comes to what catches their eye on the internet."

Search engine optimisation: There are no big secrets to search engine ranking these days, and most sites can benefit from a range of relatively simple improvements that may also improve the clarity and usability of your pages. The evidence is all in the source code but requires a little understanding of the way that search engines see your site.