CCT360 Intermediate Web DesignProfessor Littlejohnelizabeth.littlejohn@sheridanc.on.ca

Goals and Learning Objectives

This course will examine the design and implementation pro-cesses and technologies necessary to develop and organize a website managed with a content management system (CMS).

Employing Wordpress, the class will undertake a series of top-ical design vignettes that will teach fundamental web design principles that can be transferred to other platforms. Practical exercises will guide the class through the stages necessary to organize a website including: website planning, interface de-sign, taxonomy and usability. Lectures will present a range of website case studies to provide additional context to the lab work.

Lecture 1: Overview

Introduction, two textbooks needed, and review of syllabus and wiki space at http://cct360spring11.wikispaces.com/ Please sign up for wikispace access at cct360spring11@gmail.com: 25 minutes

Please email all assignments and course inquiries to cct360spring11@gmail.com this semester- we are not using SLATE at all.

Review of sites I just made and basics of Wordpress interface: 30 minutes

Final Project Description: 35%Vote on projects- does anyone speak Spanish? For your major assignment, I would like your pair to work with a non profit organization, and create a web site for a company which is non commercial.

Please ask around for an organization which would like a Wordpress web site for next Tuesday to do for your major assignment which will be done in pairs. Review final criteria on blog: 20 minutes

Lecture 1 Overview: Part 2

Review of CSS at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3KESBQTD8k (10 minutes) and download folder from CCT260 Lesson 1:: In Class exercise 40 minutes

Download In Class Assignment #1 from http://cct360spring11.wikispaces.com/: Typography: 40 min-utes

Course expectations:

1. Buy the textbooks at UTM. They are essential reading for the course, and we will follow them in class.2. Please read the articles before class- we will discuss them.3. Attend. As this class is 6 weeks long, we have a lot to cover in a short time, and attendance is com-pulsory.4. This class is also very interactive, so going through the technical exercises to learn how to do CSS and Wordpress is imperative- if you do not understand something, feel free to use the TA- that is why Jeremy is here.

Information Architecture: Blue-prints for the Web (2nd Edition), Christina Wodtke and Austin Govella, New Riders

WordPress 3 Complete Publisher: Packt Publish-ing 2011 | 344 Pages | ISBN: 1849514100

Necessary Textbooks (at UTM Bookstore)

Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (2nd Edition), Christina Wodtke and Austin Govella, New Riders

WordPress 3 Complete Publisher: Packt Publishing 2011 | 344 Pages | ISBN: 1849514100

Readings from Fluid Web Typography: A Guide, Jason Cranford Teague, New Riders Necessary Text-books (at UTM Bookstore) Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web (2nd Edition), Christina Wodtke and Austin Govella, New Riders

WordPress 3 Complete Publisher: Packt Publishing 2011 | 344 Pages | ISBN: 1849514100

Readings from Fluid Web Typography: A Guide, Jason Cranford Teague, New Riders- not necessary to buy

In looking at these frameworks for handling the same body of content some questions arise:How is publishing to a website different than newsprint?How do different mediums engender distinct interactions?How do editors access/alter the content?Which medium publishes new material first?How many people are reading on mobile devices?What balance between text and image is appropriate?Is the navigation intuitive?How do users engage the content?How do we measure audience?How do we accomodate those with disabilities?Could the text be more readable?Is this information easy to find?etc.

http://bigamericannight.com

How is a personal blog different than the website of the New York Times?

Christina WodtkeInformation Architecthttp://www.eleganthack.com/http://www.boxesandarrows.com/@cwodtke

Austin GovellaUser Experience Designerhttp://www.thinkingandmaking.com/@austingovella

Authors

Jason Cranford TeagueWeb Designerhttp://www.jasonspeaking.com/@jasonspeaking

Author

“Web Design is 95% Ty-pography”

http://informationarchitects.jp/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period/

“Web Design is 95% Typography”

http://informationarchitects.jp/the-web-is-all-about-typography-period/

Readings

Most weeks will feature readings from ‘Information Architecture’, ‘Fluid Web Typography’ as well as texts on broader web culture by authors such as Michael Bierut, Cory Doctorow, Gerrt Lovink and Clay Shirky.

Each week we’ll open the ses-sion with a discussion about these readings before getting down to the business of case studies and lab work.

What is a Content Management System (CMS)?

WordPress-opensource-powered by PHP and MySQL-most popular CMS in use-launched in 2003, now 10 million+ users

WordPress – Dashboard

WordPress – Content ManagementWordPress – Content Management

WordPress – Media Library

WordPress – Themes

WordPress – Theme Editor (note various page components on the right)

What is important about this?Is this particularly exciting? If so, why?

Content Mangement System

A content management system (CMS) is the collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based. The procedures are designed to:

-Allow for a large number of people to contribute to and share stored data--Control access to data, based on user roles. -Aid in easy storage and retrieval of data-Reduce repetitive duplicate input-Improve the ease of report writing-Improve communication between users

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system

whitehouse.gov

library.utoronto.ca

subtraction.com

kevinrose.com

nine.nl