Web Design I
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 |
| Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 |
| Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 |
Welcome to Web Design! This course will examine the practical aspects of creating and laying out a web site. It is designed to make the student moderately proficient in producing a simple static web site. It is only an introduction.
The textbook for the course is Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, Style Sheets, and Web Graphics by Jennifer Niederst Robbins.
Presenting Homework from Your Jump Drive
When you arrive in class, find your seat and insert the jump drive into your computer. Take the file you have made and open it so I can view your assignment when I stop by your desk.
If your homework is an html file, drag it onto the browser icon in your dock. This will open the file for viewing.
Turning In Homework
Homework is always due at the beginning of class. Homework turned in after the beginning of class will be deducted one letter grade and another letter grade for each day thereafter.
Studying and learning the material weekly will not only mean that you will do well on your quiz, but it will also prepare you for the mid-term and the final.
Week 1
In this first week, we discuss the role of the Internet as an emerging key mass communications tool. We discuss the website design and development process. Designers need to plan and organize to meet the client’s needs. We discuss the use of site maps to help with structure the information architecture. We discuss the basic markup language of HTML5, the markup language for websites. Starting in the first day, students copy HTML5 markup to create their web page.
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This week, we discuss the design principles of interaction design: predictability, learnability, and feedback. In 1/20th of a second, users decide whether to look deeper into a website or move on. Aesthesis are critical to increasing engagement. We discuss cognitive behavior and information processing.
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Using hyperlinks to move within one document and communicate with other documents. We discuss the concept of hyperlinks, the components of a URL. We discuss domain names. We discuss its historical developments and its origins with the World Wide Web.
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We discuss needs and goals of websites. Creating a website is more than just physically creating the directory of files and folders, the site needs to serve a purpose and the needs of people.
In the second class, we begin working with Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is a key software tool for creating imagery used in a website. Students learn the file types of JPGs, GIF, and PNG. The students learn about color space of RGB and image resolution.
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Adding images to web pages. Imagery is a critical communication element of a website. Topics include cropping and practice working with images.
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Introducing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). We discuss the purpose of CSS and the basic markup needed. Students learn to specify characteristics of typography, such as font types, sizes, color, and line specifications. We practice creating visual hierarchy in a text-only document.
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Use box properties to organize a document. This is a major way to adjust text and images within a box element. We discuss box margins, box padding, and borders. Students learn how to stylize these properties using CSS.
We discuss basic HTML 5 frame devices for header, article, aside, and footer.
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In this first week, we prepare for the Midterm.
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We discuss, the use of floats and positioning. Students also begin their final project: the creation of an educational websites. Students choose their topic and sketch wire frame designs.
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This week, students make paper prototypes of their websites. They create different versions, studying visual consistency across the design. Topics include visual considerations when choosing navigation.
Students also learn how to specifying background images.
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Students learn how to create animated GIFs and Adobe After effects. They are to incorporate some type of multimedia into their website. Learners will use a photo slideshow, video, Flash, or After Effects. As the students are making an educational website, this affords them many opportunities to manipulate and organize information visually.
Through readings and lectures, the students study the seductive allure of interaction. Topics include information design.
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The uses of mobile devices are steadily increasing. Some project that mobile Internet use will surpass desktop use in a few years. Aesthetic design is modified, through the use of CSS, to accommodate these devices.
Through readings and lectures, students study the growing impact of mobile Internet use.
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Studio time
Key decision makers in the field of web design
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Studio Time
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In this final week, students prepare their final projects for the Department’s gallery showing.
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