IC124 Introduction to Web Page Production
Handbook
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The aims of this unit are:
•to introduce you to the World Wide Web
•to introduce you to the main tools of web production: HTML (hypertext mark-up language)
•to introduce you to some basic principles of scripting
•to introduce you to simple image preparation for the web
•to encourage you to explore and surf the World Wide Web and to anyalyse websites
•Introduction to some of the basic tools for web-site production
•introduction to some of the basic principles of scripting and image preparation for the web
After successfully completing this unit, you will be able to:
•produce simple websites using HTML
•incorporate graphical elements into your websites
•understand some basic scripting principles
•have knowledge of the development of the World Wide Web
•be able to analyse and evaluate your own and other websites
•present your website to other people
Teaching and learning will mainly be through lectures and supervised and unsupervised workshop sessions. All teaching takes place at the Docklands campus.
Lectures take place on Fridays from 9:00am to 11:00am and will be conducted mainly by lecturers from within the School of Cultural and Innovation Studies, with software demonstrations on Macintosh computers.
Lectures take place in Room 0228 (Lecture Theatre) on the ground floor of the Atrium in the East Building, Docklands Campus.
There will be supervised workshop sessions each week in which you gain hands-on experience on Macintosh computers through guided activities and through producing a web-site from a set brief.
Workshops take place in the MPC Macintosh Labs in the West Building.
Each student will be allocated a workshop group.
Notice of which group you are allocated to will be found on the IC124 notice board on the first floor of the East Building.
Workshop 1: Friday, 11:00am to 12:30pm, Mac Lab 1016, MPC.
Workshop 2: Friday, 11:00am to 12:30pm, Mac Lab 1018, MPC.
Workshop 3: Friday, 11:00am to 12:30pm, Mac Lab 1033, MPC.
Workshop 4: Friday, 12:30pm to 02:00pm, Mac Lab 1016, MPC.
Workshop 5: Friday, 12:30pm to 02:00pm, Mac Lab 1018, MPC.
Workshop 6: Friday, 02:00pm to 03:30pm, Mac Lab 1016, MPC.
TIPS to help you get good results:
Attend all the lectures: they are designed to build up your knowledge and skills, and each week builds on what you have learnt in the previous week. If you do not attend regularly it is likely that you will fall behind in acquiring the necessary information to do your project. This will make it more difficult for you to produce a successful project and to get good results.
Attend all the workshops: as here you will get help and guidance from your workshop tutors and you will also benefit from sharing experiences with your fellow students. It is a fact that students who do well regularly attend workshops as well as lectures. Working on your assignment alone will not give you the same benefits as participating in workshops.
Make maximum use of the MPC resources and Macintosh computer Labs to work in your own time and to practice, improve and expand upon the skills to which you have been introduced in the supervised workshops.
Ask questions . If you need information or advice on any aspect of the unit or on any aspect of your work for the unit, do not be afraid to ask your workshop tutor or Unit Leader.
Read the assignment requirements carefully and make sure you understand what is required of you. If you are not sure of what you are being asked to do, get advice and guidance from your workshop tutor or Unit Leader.
The Unit Leader for IC124 Introduction to Web Page Production is:
Grethe Mitchell
room 3210 on the 3rd floor of the East Building
tel. extension 7421
email: g.r.mitchell@uel.ac.uk.
Please email for an appointment
The workshop leaders are:
•Grethe Mitchell:
room 3210 on the 3rd floor of the East Building
email:
g.r.Mitchell@uel.ac.uk
•Bert Dufour: room 1016 on Fridays between 11.00 and 14.00
•Mary Newman: room
1302 in the East Building
email: m.newman@uel.ac.uk
• Bill O'Sullivan:
room 1243 in the East Building
email: w.e.osullivan@uel.ac.uk
Dyslexia & Disability Assistance
Facilities for dyslexic and disabled students and general help with skills
UEL has a range of policies and facilities designed to help students with specific needs in relation to their studies.
Details can be found on pages 19-20 of the student handbook issued by the School of Cultural and Innovation Studies (copies can be obtained via the Student Enquiries Desk if you were not given one at the start of the year) and at the following Web address:
http://www.uel.ac.uk/students/student_support/disability/index.html
For all students who feel they can benefit, the Skills Zone offers help with a variety of skills, including writing, study, ICT and employability.
As well as physical resources and formal classes, there is also a range of online resources.
Check them out for yourself at the campus Learning Resources Centre (Libraries) and at:
Assessment
There are three (3) pieces of assessment for the unit:
Assignment IC 124A: Website worth 50% of the marks for the unit. The due date for this assignment is Friday 23/04/04 and the deadline is Friday 30/04/04.
IC124A Requirements and brief:
The production of an individual small-scale website.
The brief of the website is: Water.
The brief is wide enough to enable you to be creative and imaginative. You choose which approach to take: artistic, imaginative, futuristic, ecological, political, informative, educational, comic, personal. Your treatment can be about any aspect of water; real or imagined.
You should use your own graphics and text wherever possible and any work that is not your own must be referenced.
In order to pass this assignment, you must do the following:
Submit 2 CDROMs with your website on it (one will be returned to you) to be handed in to the Innovation Studies Student Enquiry Desk (SED) on the first floor of the East Building.Make sure your student number is clearly marked on each CDROM.
The due date for this assignment is Friday 23/04/04 and the deadline is Friday 30/04/04.
Your Website must
•use relative rather than absolute paths.
•be no bigger than 3MB in total have between 5 and 10 pages of subject matter
•have an index.html file and must be at least three levels deep (including the home page)
•work on the PC and Macintosh browser versions available in the MPC
•function properly: all the internal links must work, including the image-map links, and all links to external websites must also function
include the following:
•tables, frames, graphics in both GIF and JPEG formats (at least 2 of each),
•ALT tags for all images
contain the following:
•internal hyperlinks,
•at least 3 external hyperlinks,
•at least one image map
•at least one Javascript 'rollover'
Important: the HTML coding for the website must be done by hand. Code produced with HTML editors will not be acceptable (e.g. do not use Dreamweaver or other HTML editors).
Marks will be awarded for:
•good website structure and appropriate information design
•ease of navigation
•user-friendliness
•incorporation of required elements of web page production
•use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
•creative / imaginative / experimental approach
•appropriateness of design and mode of representation for chosen subject
•evidence that you have attempted to produce your own graphics and text
•evidence that you have attempted to develop and expand upon the skills learnt on the unit
•evidence that principles of information design and web page design have been considered
•legibility of text and hypertext
•clarity of graphics,
•commented code
•functionality: it works!
Assignment IC 124B Report on the website worth 30% of the marks for the unit,
The due date for this assignment is Monday 03/05/04 and the deadline is Monday 10/05/04.
Assignment IC124B Requirements:
This assignment is a report about your website of approximately 1500 words. In the report you should discuss what you hoped to achieve in terms of information design, navigation, user-friendliness, technical accomplishment and appropriateness of visual design. You must also discuss whether you think you achieved your goals, and you must discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the website, the difficulties you encountered and how you would overcome these in the future.
In order to pass this assignment, you must do the following:
submit in 2 (two) copies of your report (one copy will be returned to you) to be handed in to the Innovation Studies Student Enquiry Desk (SED) on the first floor of the East Building. Make sure your student number is clearly marked on each copy of your report.
the due date for this assignment is Monday 03/05/04 and the deadline is Monday 10/05/04.
Your report should be approximately 1500 words
Marks for the report on the website will be awarded for:
•evidence of your understanding of the technical requirements of web page production
•evidence of your research and investigation of the World Wide Web and how this affected the creation and subsequent evaluation of your website
•evidence of wider reading and application of principles of web page design and production beyond the minimum requirements of the unit
•critical engagement with relevant ideas creative / imaginative / experimental approach
•correct grammar thorough proofreading and spell checking
•good visual presentation, including double line-spacing
•consistent referencing in accordance with the advice given in The Study Skills Handbook
•comprehensive bibliography (including urlÕs of websites), listed in accordance with the advice given in The Study Skills Handbook
•evidence that you have read and followed the advice contained in The Study Skills Handbook on the following aspects of writing: developing structure, academic writing styles and finishing touches.
Assignment IC 124C Presentation of your Website
A five minute live verbal presentation of your website project to other workshop group members and teaching staff, worth 20% of the marks for the unit produced: due on Friday 07/05/04.
There is no further hand-in date for this assignment. Students not able to do the presentation on 07/05/04 will have to do the re-sit assignment for coursework C.
IC124C Requirements
This assignment is a live verbal presentation of your completed and functioning website to the other members of your workshop group and to members of staff.
The presentation will last no more than 5 minutes.
You will be required to present your website on one of the Macs in the Mac labs.
You must have a functioning copy of your website available to present.
In the presentation you will discuss who you designed the website for and what the aim (goal) of the website is. Using your website, you will demonstrate how your design and structure achieves the goals that were set for your website. You will also discuss any difficulties encountered and how these can be overcome in the future.
Marks for the presentation of your website will be awarded for:
•succinct explanation and discussion of the intended users for your website
•succinct explanation and discussion of the aims of your website
•succinct explanation of the rationale behind the structure and design of your website and how these achieve the aims of your website
•succinct explanation and discussion of any difficulties you encountered and how these can be overcome in the future
•evidence of your research and investigation of the World Wide Web and how this affected the creation and subsequent evaluation of your website
•critical engagement with relevant ideas
•clear and succinct verbal presentation
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Week |
Date |
Lecture Topic |
Lecturer |
Workshop |
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18 |
06-02-04 |
Introduction to the unit, a look at
how websites work and how to make a webpage: first steps in HTML
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Grethe Mitchell |
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19 |
13-02-04 |
File naming, file structure, page layout
and links: structuring a web page and more HTML |
Mary
Newman |
Structuring and linking a web page using
HTML, file naming. |
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20 |
20-02-04 |
Web-ready graphics and image-maps:
optimizing graphics, making image-maps and graphics related HTML
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Mary
Newman |
Preparing graphics for the web and how to
make image-maps |
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21 |
27-02-04 |
Information & Navigation Design
I: Storyboarding your idea and using tables to control layout
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Grethe Mitchell |
Using
tables and storyboarding your idea |
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22 |
05-03-04 |
Information & Navigation Design
II: Using Frames. How are frames different from tables? |
Grethe Mitchell |
Using
Frames |
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23 |
12-03-04 |
Advanced HTML: Using Stylesheets and
layers |
Grethe Mitchell |
Working on your website with guidance from
your tutor |
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24 |
19-03-04 |
Dynamic Web pages I: Using
Javascript |
Grethe Mitchell |
Using
Javascript & working on your website with guidance from your
tutor |
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25 |
26-03-04 |
Dynamic Web pages II: Javascript and
other technologies |
Grethe Mitchell |
Working on your website with guidance from
your tutor |
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26 |
02-04-04 |
User testing and debugging: how to
make the most of these in relation to your project |
Grethe Mitchell |
Working on your website with guidance from
your tutor |
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Vacation from 03-04-04 to
18-04-04 |
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27 |
23-04-04 |
Validation, search engines and
related issues |
Grethe Mitchell |
Finishing your website with guidance from
your tutor |
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28 |
30-04-04 |
Web
culture and presentation prep. Hand-in deadline for project: Assignment
IC124A |
Grethe Mitchell |
Presentation skills, preparation for
Assignment IC124C |
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29 |
07-05-04 |
Presentation of Web Projects: Assignment
IC124C |
Grethe Mitchell |
Website presentations |
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30 |
Monday 10-05-04 |
Hand-in deadline for Assignment
IC124B |
N/A |
No
teaching |
Indicative reading
Recommended: Castro, E. (2003) HTML 4 for the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide , 5th (or latest) edition (paperback). Peachpit Press.
Aaland, M (1998) Photoshop for the Web, 1st Edition, O'Reilly & Associates Worldwide
Bride, M (1996) HTML: Publishing on the World Wide Web, London: Hodder and Stoughton
Carey, P (1998) Creating Web Pages with HTML, Course Technology
Martin, T and David, G (1997) The Project Cool Guide to HTML, London: John Wiley and Sons
Meyer, E.A. (2000) CSS The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly & Assoc. ISBN No: 1565 926 226
Kennedy, B and Musicano, C (2002) HTML & XHTML: The Definitive Guide, 5th edition, O'Reilly & Associates Worldwide
Ray, D and Ray, E (1997) HTML for Dummies Quick Reference, San Mateo, CA: IDG Books
Russell, C (1998) HTML in Easy Steps, Computer Step
Schmitt, C (2002) Designing CSS, New Riders Publishing, ISBN no: 0735 712 638
Spainhour, S and Eckstein, R (1999) Webmaster in a Nutshell. 2nd Edition, O'Reilly & Associates Worldwide
Teague, J.C. (2001) DHTML & CSS for the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide (2nd or latest edition), Peach Pit Press ISBN No: 0201 730 847
Tittel, E, Stewart, JM & Pitts, N (1998) The Hip Pocket Guide to HTML 4, IDG Books Worldwide
Tittel E, & James, S (1997) HTML for Dummies, 3rd Edition, IDG Books Worldwide
Tittel E, & James, S (1997) More HTML for Dummies, 2nd Edition, IDG Books Worldwide
Walton, D (1989) Are you communicating? You can't manage without it. McGraw-Hill, Boston Mass. ISBN No: 0 007 068 054 X
Benedikt, M (ed) (1994) Cyberspace, First Steps, Cambridge MA: The MIT Press
Gibson, W (1995) Neuromancer, London: Voyager ISBN No: 0-00-648041-1
Negroponte, N (1995) Being Digital, London: Hodder & Stoughton ISBN No: 0-340-64525-3
Stephenson, N (1993) Snowcrash, London: ROC ISBN No: 0-14-023292-3
Stoll, C (1990) The Cuckoo's Egg, London: The Bodley Head ISBN No: 0-370-31433-6
Stoll, C (1996) Silicon Snake Oil, London: Pan Books ISBN No: 0-330-34442-0
Slevin, J (2000) The Internet and Society, Cambridge UK: Polity Press ISBN No: 0-7456-2087-6
Turkle, S (1996) Life on the Screen, London: Orion Publishing Group ISBN No: 0-297-81514-8
Internet Magazine,.Net, Wired and others (most magazines also have online versions, so use these also).
Also the supplements included with broadsheet dailies such as Interface (The Times on Mondays) and Online (The Guardian on Thursdays).
In addition to the indicative reading, you are advised to consult as many examples of websites as possible. These will be helpful in the planning and development of ideas for your own website.
The World Wide Web Consortium: http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW
HTML 4's 86 markup tags: http://www.w3.org/MarkUp
Web Monkey: web developers' resource http://www.webmonkey.com
A website for people who make websites http://www.alistapart.com
Web Style Guide: a guide to web design http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/manual/intro/introduction.html
On Ideas and Theories http://www.ctheory.com
Websites of interactive design & usability experts:
Brenda Laurel: www.tauzero.com/Brenda_Laurel
Jakob Nielsen: www.useit.com
Donald A Norman: www.jnd.org
Ben Schneiderman: www.cs.umd.edu/users/ben
Bruce 'Tog' Tognazzini: www.asktog.com