Web Production I
Media 285 Section 001

Tuesday 10AM-1PM (432 HN)
Film and Media Department
Fall 2002
Adjunct Assistant Professor: Andy Deck, deck_at_artcontext.net
Hunter College, New York
 
 

Course Policies

Course Description and Objectives: This hands-on class teaches you the skills needed to build simple, well-designed web sites. Learn how to layout pages, format text, and optimize images for professional looking web pages. Classes cover HTML coding, hypertext links, manipulating text and graphics, creating and optimizing GIFs and JPEGs, animated GIFs, image maps, tables, frames, and more advanced web interactivity through creating rollovers and animations using layers. Lectures and exercises focus on creating cohesive, usable websites with effective mapping, clear and consistent navigation, and interactivity.


 

Prerequisite (new): Introduction to Digital Media

 

Grade Policy: Student's grades will depend on the TIMELY completion of all homework assignments and readings, lab exercises, midterm, a final project, attendance and participation. If students have any emergencies or difficulties in completing an assignment, THEY SHOULD CONTACT ME AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. My e-mail is deck_at_artcontext.net- no excuses. 

Grades will be awarded using the standard grading scale: 
90-100% A 
80-89% B 
70-79% C 
60-69% D 
below 60% F

 

Attendance: Attendance of all classes is required. Part of your final grade will be determined by class attendance. If a student misses a class section, it is the student's responsibility to make up any work missed. More than three absences will result in an 'F' (failure). Lectures will be held at the beginning of class so you must be punctual. Two late arrivals equal one absence. 

 

Make-ups: If a student finds s/he will not be able to hand in a midterm or final on the scheduled day, it is the student's responsibility to notify me prior to that day. Under no circumstances will I accept the work if I have not been notified and arrangements made prior to that day. 

 

Participation: Lecture must be interactive. To this end, I encourage an open atmosphere where back-and-forth communication is the norm. Students are free to speak up when they need clarification or wish to make observations. Always let me know if you are having difficulties mastering a technique presented in class and I will help you. Plus, you will be expected to work several hours outside of class time each week. You will not be able to finish your assignments during class! 

 

Homework: Homework assignments will be collected at the beginning of class (when attendance is taken). Any homework not turned in at this time will be marked late. Points will be deducted from late homework. There are several labs at Hunter that are available for students to use outside of class to complete homework assignments. 
Required Textbook: (available at the College's bookstore, Barnes and Noble, amazon.com, and most major book stores) 
  • One Zip Disk $10 - $15 (get on your own, required by the 2nd week of class)
Optional
  • Web Design in a Nutshell O'Reilly
Suggested Reading: (many of these can be acquired through at Barnes and Noble, amazon.com, etc. if not available in the Hunter College library. See also Bookfinder.com
  • Envisioning Cyberspace, Peter Anders, McGraw-Hill, 1999 
  • The Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, ed. Brenda Laurel, Addison-Wesley, 1990 
  • Art and Technics, Lewis Mumford 
  • Interface Culture, Steven Johnson
Web Resources:
 This schedule is subject to change! Please feel that you have a say in the tempo and the extent to which material is covered.
 

 
Week 1: Sept. 3  Intro to Class | Brief History of the Web | What is Html? | Basic HTML Text Formatting | Day 1 of HTML Tutorial 

Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapters 1 , 2, and 19
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cs/Services/rfc/rfc.html
http://www.onlineuniversity.net/history/history-of-the-internet/
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/

Week 2: Sept. 10

Html Basics - Review Text Formatting | Creating Links | Day 2 of HTML Tutorial Hyperlinks Exercise

Browser overview | What is cache?

Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapters 3, 4, and 5

Week 3: Sept. 24

Html - Color | Embedded and Background Images | Day 3 of HTML Tutorial

Basic Photoshop Tutorial Introduction to Photoshop

Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapters 6 and 8

Week 4: Oct. 1

Html - Embedded and Background Images Part 2

Imagery Scanning | Size, resolution, and compression of images | Web file formats for images-GIF vs JPEG | Web color | Transparent GIFs | PNG

Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapters 11 and 12

Intro to Information Architecture http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/design/tutorials/tutorial1.html

 Week 5: Oct. 8 Review | HTML QUIZ

Midterm Website Assigned | Site Map and Description due 10/15

  • Create a simple site map for a 5 minimum page site for the midterm. 
  • Sketch 5 basic page design layout ideas on browser paper. 
  • Develop a color scheme, logo, and navigation system

Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapters 9 and 10

Week 6: Oct. 15

Site Map and Description due | View and Discuss

Week 7: Oct. 22

HTTP | Client-Server communication | Using a server

Html Servers (Directories) | Uploading

Work on midterm project

Animated GIF

Week 8: Oct. 29

Work-in-progress presentation due | View and Discuss
Completed Midterm (Due Nov. 5)

Layers and style

Reading: Review Creative HTML Design Chapter 9 and Read Chapter 3: Weinman Dreamweaver (defining a site), and Chapter 6: Tables

  • http://www.sitebuilder.ws/dreamweaver/tutorials/index.htm
  • http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/authoring/tools/tutorials/tutorial1.html
  • Week 9: Nov. 5

    Midterm Websites due and presented to class | Final Assigned

    Dreamweaver - Site Management | Tables  

    Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapters 13 and 15, Dreamweaver Chapter 7, Chapter 10: Frames, and Chapter 11: Rollovers

    Week 10: Nov. 12

    Dreamweaver - Frames | Image maps | Rollovers

    Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapter 13, Dreamweaver Chapter 8: Style Sheets 

    Week 11: Nov. 19

    Layers

    Reading: Creative HTML Design Chapter 16, Dreamweaver Chapter 12: Forms

    Week 12: Nov. 26

    Dreamweaver - Style Sheets | Timeline and Animation | Forms

    Review | HTML QUIZ - TABLES AND FRAMES

    Week 13: Dec. 3 Where do we go from here?

    Javascript | Flash | SVG | PDF | XML

    Troubleshooting Finals | Showing Work-in-Progress | View and Discuss

    Week 14: Dec. 10 Class Show of Work-in-Progress Finals | View and Discuss
    Week 15: Dec. 17 Final Show of Finals | View and Discuss