comm306s12-syllabus

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Web DesignCOMM 306, Section 61 Spring 2012

Thursday, 6:159 PM

Ryan Eanes, Adjunct Instructor Manhattan [email protected] Department of Communication

Course Description & ObjectivesMuch like a living organism, the Internet grows and changes every day. The medium of the web maybe the single most important advancement in how we communicate since the invention of theprinting press. Because of the Internets pervasiveness and its near-ubiquitous role in our day-to-dayexistence, it is critical for future media practitioners, regardless of their specialty, to have afundamental grasp of the basics of the Internet and to be conversant in web technologies andtechniques.

Over the course of the semester, COMM 306 will cover the following topics: The history of the Internet and its precursors HTML, the primary language of the World Wide Web, and CSS, its stylistic companion Basic web page design Website usability, usability testing and the web development processAdditionally, neurological and communication researchers have discovered in recent years that theInternet may actually be modifying the way we think, behave and interact with each other andinformation as a whole. We will make a brief detour during the semester to experience thisphenomenon first-hand, and to thoughtfully consider what these changes mean for us as a culture ofinformation consumers.

TextbooksThe following three textbooks are required for this course:

Krug, Steve. Dont Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. 2nd ed.Berkeley: New Riders, 2005.

Niederst Robbins, Jennifer, and Aaron Gustafson. Learning Web Design: A Beginners Guide to(X)HTML, Stylesheets and Web Graphics. 3rd ed. Sebastopol: OReilly Media, 2007.

Carr, Nicholas. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. New York: W.W.Norton, 2011. (Paperback or e-book version suggested.)

Suggested, but not required, for this course are the following two books:

McNeil, Patrick. The Web Designers Idea Book. Cincinnati: HOW, 2008.As you will be expected to design your own web pages over the duration of this course, youmay wish you use McNeils book as a starting point for your own ideas if you find yourselfat a loss creatively.

McFarland, David. CSS: The Missing Manual. 2nd ed. Sebastopol: OReilly Media, 2009.Cascading style sheets, or CSS, are employed as the primary means of styling web pages inthis course. They can be a bit unwieldy, and this book may prove useful as a ready referencein taming your style sheets.


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Attendance and ParticipationBecause our class only meets once weekly, I must adhere to a strict attendance policy. You may missone and only one class session without penalty. I reserve the right to dock grades up to a full lettergrade beyond this one absence. As this could very easily mean the difference between passing andfailing, I strongly encourage you to make every effort to attend every class session.

Your active participation in class is also essential. Class sessions oftentimes require student input,

and your contributions will also provide me with a good gauge of your grasp of the material. Yourcontributions will also make the course more enjoyable and productive for your fellow classmates.

At certain points during the semester, some discussions may occur online. I view participation in ouronline discussions as just as important as those that occur in classin fact, I view failure toparticipate in online discussions as a form of absence. Please keep this in mind, and schedule yourtime accordingly.

Grading Breakdown

Usability Test ........................................................ ..................................10%Assignment I: Notepad HTML........... ....................................................10%Assignment II: Personal Website...........................................................20%Floating Assignment: Disconnecting......................................................20%Final Project............................... ....................................................... ......40%

When determining your final grade for the semester, I use the percentages listed above as a startingpoint. However, I will carefully consider your classroom participation, your overall trajectory duringthe course, and your efforts towards improvement when making a final assessment.

Grading ExceptionsBecause this course is designed to help prepare you for the kinds of expectations placed on real-worldpractitioners of web design, there are two additionalbut extremely importantcourse requirements

that may (but hopefully will not) impact your grade. Please read them carefully.

Any work containing more than threegrammatical, functional or typographical errors willreceive an automatic grade of F, or 59%.

Any assignments completed using pre-made web templates (i.e., those included with iWeb orsimilar software) are unacceptable, and will receive an automatic grade of F, or 59%. This doesnot include bare-bones CSS templates (those are OK). The difference between the two types oftemplates is significant and will be elaborated on more fully in class.

Because you are being made aware of these rules up front, there will be absolutely no exceptions.

Check your own work carefully! If you have any doubts whatsoever, ask a classmate to check your

work for youand return the favor. Failing that, ask me, and Ill be happy to provide an answer.

Finally, as a student of Manhattan College, you are, of course, expected to abide by the schoolsStatement of Academic Integrity, which is available from the Department of Communication if youwish to obtain a copy.


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Course Assignments

Usability Test (10%)It is my sincere belief that understanding web usabilityhow people use the Internetis the key todesigning effective web sites that work. Therefore, at an unannounced point during the semester,you will be tested on your knowledge of web usability. Think of this as a quiz of your reading.It is a timed test taken online via Blackboard, and consists of multiple choice, true/false and heat

map questions.

Assignment I: Notepad HTML (10%)Because we will be learning HTML from the ground up, I want you to gain an intimate familiaritywith the way a HTML document should be structured, so your first assignment will be to constructa single web page using Notepad (or TextEdit or some other basic no-frills text editor). I will bescrutinizing this assignment, so be absolutely certain that its as perfect as you can make it!

Assignment II: Personal Website (20%)Your first actual web construction assignment emphasizes basicfunctionalityover style oraesthetic concernsthat is, everything must work and be functional. The site must include text,images and valid links to other pages (both your own and other sites on the Internet).

Design is a secondary consideration for this assignment. While I want you to at least giveaesthetics some thought while constructing your site, your grade will not be dependent upon it. Iwill largely be considering usability above anything else when evaluating your site. A relativelyunattractive site that is highly usable will score much higher than a heavily ornamented site thathas an indecipherable navigation structure, for example.

Floating Assignment: Disconnecting (20%)See next page for full details on this assignment.

Final Project (40%)For your final assignment (in lieu of a written final examination), you will work in pairs todesign and construct a website for a hypothetical entity (e.g., law firm, restaurant, library, doctorsoffice, etc.). You will each be held equally responsible for the end result and will share one singlefinal grade. How you divide your responsibilities, however, are entirely up to you.

The trick to this assignment:Keep it simple. Ambition is certainly admirable, but dont set a goalthat is so high that you cannot reach it. Designing a website for a small family-owned restaurant,for example, would be far easier and more doable than redesigning the Food Networks website.

The ultimate purpose of this assignment is for you to display, through your teamwork and yourcraftsmanship, the information that you have learned (and taught yourself) over the duration ofthis course. You are expected to approach this assignment with the same sort of diligence that you

would a real-world application. This is intended to be a practical and realistic learningexperience that reflects some of the same obstacles you would encounter in the workplace.

Final projects will be presented during the final exam period on Thursday, May 10. The examperiod is from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pmplease make a note of this different meeting time. We willmeet in our regular classroom.


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Floating Assignment: DisconnectingIn recent years, neuroscientists, communication scholars and computer science researchers (not tomention the researchers at web giants like Google) have begun to notice a fundamental shift in theway that human beings think and behave as a result of our increasingly extended use of the Internetin day-to-day life. It would seem that actual patterns of neural activity in our brains have begun toshift simply because of our dependence on the Internet. Are we losing something as a result of thisshift? Are most people even aware of these changes?

Your assignment is to follow these steps:

1. Read the book. At some point during the semester, you are to read The Shallows: What theInternet is Doing To Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. (I highly suggest purchasing either thepaperback edition or the e-book version, if you have access to an e-book reader like a Nook orKindle, or on an iPad.) Read it cover-to-cover and consider it carefully; take notes, if youd like,or highlight passages that strike you as interesting.

2. Disconnect. After reading the book, select a 48-hour period of your choosingthis can be aweekend, or any two sequential daysin which you will take a technology sabbatical. Thismeans no computer use, no mobile phones, no televisionin short, anything with a screen is off-limits for the full 48 hours (barring an emergency, that isbut needing to watch True Blood does

notcount as an emergency). Make a deliberate effort to stick to this, and keep a journal of yourthoughts, feelings and behaviors, if you so choose.

3. Respond and react. Once your 48-hour technology fast has concluded, write a reaction paperon the entire experience. This reaction paper should attempt to conflate your own personalexperience with what you gleaned from Carrs book. Did you discover anything about yourself,your personal habits or your usage of technology? Draw a conclusion based on your ownpersonal experiencethis is, after all, a reaction paper; it should be personal in nature, andtherefore reflective. 3-page minimum (please do not exceed 10 pages) 1-inch margins, double spaced 10- or 12-point type in a legible, standard typeface (Times, Garamond, Courier) Email a Word document (.doc or .docx) or PDF to me at [email protected]

There is no question that this is an unusual assignmentperhaps one of the odder assignments youllreceive during your entire college experience. That is by design. The idea is to expose yourself toconditions that are unfamiliar and confront the resulting emotions, thoughts and impulses.

There is no specific due date for this assignment. Because of the time requirement, this assignmentis self-managed. I expect you to be able to manage your own time wisely, to calendar yourtechnology fast, and to allot sufficient time afterwards to thoughtfully complete your reaction paper.

You may submit it at any time after completing all three steps. The final cut-off date for papers to bereceived is Monday, April 23, 2012. NO PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATENOEXCEPTIONS. I stronglyencourage you to finish all phases of this assignment well before 4/23/12.

The quality of your assignment will suffer significantly if you do it in a rush.

Finally do not attempt to write your paper without reading the book and completing the technologyfast. Your writing will betray you if you skip one or both of these stepsand I will gradeaccordingly. Grades will be based on the thoughtfulness of your analysis and the quality of yourreflection on your experience.

Feel free to email me at any time if you have questions about the specifics of the assignment.


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Course CalendarThe course calendar is tentative and subject to change.

Week 1 Thursday, January 26IntroductionIntro to the course, history of theInternet, basic terms, mechanics

of the web

Week 2 Thursday, February 2BrainlessnessUnderstanding how people usethe web, conventions, averageusers, learning from otherpeoples mistakes

Week 3 Thursday, February 9HTMLStarting with HTML from scratch

Week 4 Thursday, February 16More HTMLMore nitty-gritty details of HTML

Thursday, February 23NO CLASSInstructor in Los Angeles

Week 5 Thursday, March 1Images and OptimizationTypes of images, imageoptimization using Photoshop,backgrounds

ASSIGNMENT I DUE

Week 6 Thursday, March 8More Images and OptimizationMore Photoshop techniques,manipulating photos, more

Thursday, March 15Spring BreakNO CLASS

Week 7 Thursday, March 22Introduction to CSSDifferences between HTML &CSS, using CSS

Week 8 Thursday, March 29More CSSLayouts, positioning, templates,floating

Week 9 Thursday, April 5DreamweaverSetting up and getting startedwith Adobe Dreamweaver

Week 10 Thursday, April 12More Dreamweaver

Shortcuts, setups and templatesASSIGNMENT II DUEIn-class presentations

Week 11 Thursday, April 19Students ChoiceTell me what you want to knowand well figure it out togetherTime provided to work in class

Monday, April 23CUTOFF DATE FOR PAPERS

Week 12 Thursday, April 26The Internet and Our BrainsWhat the Internet is doing to theway we think, and moreTime provided to work in class

Week 13 Thursday, May 3Usability Testing in PracticeIn-class mini usability testingwith your classmatesTime provided to work in class

Exam Period Thursday, May 10FINAL DUEIn-class presentations (6:30-8:30p)

Documents

comm306s12-syllabus