Assignment Two
Due Date and Readings
Assignment two is due no later than the beginning of class on Wednesday, November 18 (eve) and Thursday, November 19 (day). Assignments should be posted on the Web by this time for access during class that day. All readings listed as preparation for this assignment are linked via icons, created by, and property of, the destination sponsor.
Review Marshal Brain's "How Web Servers and the Internet Work." |
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Trellix: "A Web-site that discusses how to create good business documents in the linked, on-screen environment of Intranets and the Internet." Explore "Techniques, Samples," and "Related Sites." |
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Review Dmitry Kirsanov's "Modular Web Design," January 1998, and "The World of Fonts," December 1998. |
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Review "Site Covers," "Basic Tables," "Frames," "Typography I," "Typography II," "Typefaces," "Consistency," "Page Length," "Graphic Design 100," "Balanced Pages," "Basic Tables," "Frames," and "Design Grids for Pages" in Patrick Lynch's Yale Web Style Guide. |
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Review Joe Gillespie's ideas on "typography." |
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Explore Vincent Flanders' Web Pages that
Suck.com, "where you learn good Web design by looking at bad Web
design." |
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Read "Writing for the Web" by Jakob Nielsen |
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The W3 Schools tutorials on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) will give you a leg up on creating interesting styles for the Web. |
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Continue Steve Mulder's "Stylesheets Tutorial" at Web Monkey. |
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Use the HTML Code Tutorial when you need to check out a detail or two. |
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Continue to explore this amazing graphics and typography resource as you design your own Web pages. If you use this material, be sure to link to and credit Boogie Jack. |
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Assignment Purpose: to Finalize the Functional Prototype and Begin to Design a Paper Publication
- To finalize the Web site prototype, concentrating on functionality, layout, color, and graphics.
- To select a paper you've written in college and prepare it for Web display by chunking the material, paying special attention to scannability.
- To update all exercises on the exercise gateway page, making sure that all work is fit for public display.
- To post the entire assignment successfully to your Web site.
Minimum Tasks to Accomplish
- Correct your last assignment, and post the corrected pages to the Web. Failure to perform this step completely will result in a possible 50-point deduction from the grade on this assignment. Be sure to hand in the instructor-annotated copy of your first assignment. Do not print out the corrected pages.
- Review all pertinent readings and tutorials.
- Finalize your site template, paying special attention to graphics, layout, and design, especially the banner and top-tier navigation. You may also introduce columns and graphic layout devices for some pages, time permitting.
- Home: On the home page(index.html):
- Use some graphics (floated), with appropriate alt text. Be tasteful.
- Provide an informative, interesting title for your page (in both rendered and source <title> view).
- Create a descriptive paragraph or two that tells viewers what this site is for. Make your description compelling. You want your visitors to continue to look at your site and to come back.
- Provide a meta Description line in the XHTML head and supply 5-10 key words. All of this is for search engine optimization.
- Provide floated (left, right, or left and right) graphical hyperlinks (and tell why) to these
sites: Bentley University
, IDCC Department Site , and IDCC 370 class
site.
- About: Create about.htm, a page about you, the
site creator. On this page, which will reside in the assign2 folder and will be linked to from your index page, be sure
to:
- Provide a descriptive HTML head <title>. Create a meta Description line in the XHTML head and supply 5-10 key words. All of this is for search engine optimization.
- State interesting "professional" facts about yourself. Or if you wish to be whimsical, create an interesting "fictional" site persona. I am looking for a number of well-written informative paragraphs. You must take care to write for the Web--that is, write short paragraphs, supply headings, and use unordered and ordered lists.
- Supply professional contact information. Do not provide personal or home phone numbers, mail address, and the like. You should present your site URL, e-mail address, and business or organizational address. If you have security concerns about any of this, make up bogus information.
- Link to your resume, a printable Word document. This resume should be functional, that is, not just placeholder text. Secure (password protect) this resume. Provide the password to me on your assignment printout. Be sure to let your visitors know that the resume is a password-protected Word document file.
- Supply a picture or pictures (floated) of some of your favorite things, with appropriate alt text. These can be photographs you've actually taken or clip art photos from Microsoft. Remember: the whole look and feel of this page should be "young professional," not goofy college kid.
- Provide a linked screen shot (400px square, floated) of a Google map of your hometown, a favorite place, Bentley University, or Waltham. This screenshot should link to a functioning Google map. Explain why you are including this map.
- Add anything else you think your
visitors should know about you professionally. Do not put anything on this page
that you are uncomfortable having the whole wide world see. The
best approach is to make this a "thoroughly professional" page without any direct links to you personally. (Remember: good writing and
careful proofreading count a lot!)
Here is an illustration that includes some of these elements for a professional about page: About the Author.
- Exercises: be sure to update your exercises.htm and hand in all exercises completed since the first assignment (exercise 3-5). Lay out this page effectively and provide a relevant floated graphic or two. Provide a meta Description line in the XHTML head and supply 5-10 key words for all exercises. All of this is for search engine optimization.
- Essay: Select a 5-7-page paper (Word document) you have written in one of your other courses. This should be a paper of which you are very proud, one that represents your best written work. You will import the Word doc into Dreamweaver and clean up the XHTML before styling with CSS. Ultimately, for assignment 3, you will completely stylize your essay, add graphics, and create an internal navigation system. Time permitting, you may be able to begin this process sooner.
- Much of your grade on this assignment will depend upon the quality of your writing and presentation for the Web. I expect you to have mastered the mechanics of writing by this point in your college career. Should you need help with your writing, schedule some one-on-one time with a peer tutor in the Writing Center or at the ESOL Center in the Library.
- Be sure to provide an abstract, introduction (orient your reader to the whole paper) and conclusion (close off, wrap up, your paper). In your introduction, explain the context for your essay; that is, assignment description, teacher, class, date completed, and the like.
- If this is a research paper, be sure to
provide correct citations. Review Lisa Trivedi and Sharon
Williams, “ Using Sources.” If you have any questions about citing
sources, and avoiding plagiarism, be sure to
make an appointment to see me. Remember, this course has a zero
tolerance policy when it comes to plagiarism (See Grading > Plagiarism: Zero
Tolerance Policy).
- Title page <title> and graphics for browser readability (meta and alt tags as well as "title" attributes). Provide a meta Description line in the XHTML head and supply 5-10 key words. All of this is for search engine optimization.
- All gateway pages and exercises (except ex2-template.htm) should be fully formatted with your banner and buttons.
- Ensure that all pages are well-written and error-free. Should you need help with your writing, schedule some one-on-one time with a peer tutor in the Writing Center or at the ESOL Center in the Library.
- Browser test your assignment to make sure that all elements function correctly. Make your assignment printer-safe from the browser; that is, make sure that the entire page will print (no chopping off the right side).
- Validate all site pages in Dreamweaver and at W3C.org's HTML Validator .
- FTP all your files to the server. Save your complete Web to an external medium (disk, flash drive, CD or DVD).
- At class time, hand in a printed copy of the entire
assignment as it appears rendered in the browser on the Internet (not out of Dreamweaver on your C: or M: drive). This time do not hand in a copy of your xhtml. Be sure to
include a title page with your full name in the upper right
corner. Remember to hand in your instructor-annotated copy of
assignment one (the copy with my evaluation and comments on your
printout).
Do not reprint your entire site. I want only your assignment two materials newly printed. Here is exactly what you should print:- screenshot from Dreamweaver of the files and folders view of your entire site to dateindex.html
- template.htm
- 370.css (commented and correctly ordered, of course)
- index.html
- about.htm
- resume (with password written on it)
- essay.htm (as much as you can at this point, but provide the assignment description, links to my IDCC 370 Assignments 2 and 3 that specifically discuss the essay requirements (#essay in URL), your essay title, abstract, introduction and link to the Word doc that will ultimately be XHTMLized)
- exercises.htm
- exercises from ex3-graphics.htm (exercises 3-5)
- To conclude the assignment, please fill out the interactive response form for assignment two.