Texas Woman's University | School of Library and Information Studies
LS 5903 & MCOM 4903: Special Topics, Spring 1999
Web Page Design
Assignments

For classes that met on: Jan 23, Feb 6, Feb 20, March 6, April 3, April 17
Final Paper/Presentation/Exam

Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

http://www.intertwining.org/LS5903
Copyright 1999 joanne twining. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

 

Final Paper/Presentation/Exam

Students may submit a final research paper or make a professional presentation on May 8 in lieu of a Final Examination. Students must negotiate paper/presentation/exam with the instructor by April 3 class meeting.

Along with Attendance and Class Participation, the Final Paper/Presentation/Exam constitutes 33% of the final grade.

The research paper must be in the academic style of the student's home department. The paper must be published in the student's web space (NOT in the student's class web space) and should include appropriate hyperlinks. The paper must reflect the academic standing of the student. Paper topics must be negotiated in advance with the professor. Topics must be relevant and pertinent to course content and student's academic department and professional interest. The url for the paper must be posted to the class email list by May 7, 1999.

Suggested areas for the paper include:

  • Copyright on the Web

  • Web Technologies in the Workplace

  • The future of Web Technologies

  • Web Design Principles and Standards

  • Mindshare: The attention Factor

  • Anything relevant or pertinent to this class

Presentations are to be a maximum 15 minutes long, including questions and answers, and include use/demonstration of web-based technology. Presentation topics must be negotiated in advance with the professor.

For those who would prefer, a Final Examination in lieu of the paper or presentation may be negotiated.

 

Assignments from Jan 23 Class: Part 1
Assignment 1a-g Due February 5, 1999. Total Value: 11 Points
January 23 Lecture Notes
Assignment 1a: Email to Class List
  • Post a message to the class email list introducing yourself. Use the following subject line for this email: Introduction your last name, your first name.
  •  
  • Tell us who you are, what program you're in, how far along in your program you are, what your area of interest is, what you hope to accomplish in this class this semester, and the extent of your webpage creation experience. If you have a webpage online, give us the url. Feel free to reply to any of the posted messages and use this assignment as an opportunity to meet each other online.
    •

    Read D'Angelo & Little "Sucessful Web Pages: What Are They and Do They Exist?" , originanally published in Information Technology and Libraries. Volume 17, Number 2, June 1998. Come to class prepared to discuss the D'Angelo Standards for Web Page Design.

    •
    Assignment 1b: Message to Class Forum
  • Post a message to the "Web Plan Introduction" thread in the class forum. Use your last name, your first name as the message subject.
  •  
  • In your message, tell us about the Website you hope to create this semester. Tell us what you have in mind about the mission, vision and audience for your website. Will it be a personal, professional, commercial, or work-related site? Will it be an internal or an external website? Who is the intended audience; who are secondary and tertiary audiences? What kind of information will you offer? What is the reason for this website?
    • Assignment 1c: Set Up Book Account
  • Go to the MacMillian Computer Publishing Website at http://www.mcp.com/ and enter the personal bookshelf section. Open an account using your class email address (the account is free but will generate a small amount of commercial email.)
  •  
  • Once you've opened an account, you may "check out" five full-text books for online viewing for 90 days. You may "return" any of these books at any time and replace them with others. There is no charge for this service. It works "like" a library. We will use several books from this site this semester.
    •
    • Assignment 1d. Check out Book
  • Go to the Web Development section of the http://www.mcp.com/ Personal Bookshelf and check out a copy of HTML By Example by Todd Stauffer.
    •
    • Assignment 1e. Reading
  • Read ALL of Part I (Introduction and Chapters 1-5) of Stauffer's HTML By Example.
    • Assignment 1f. Questions
  • Briefly answer the Review Questions at the end of Chapters 1 through 5 in the Stauffer book.
  •  
  • Send your answers as a single email message to: twining@texoma.net. Send a cc: of the message to yourself.
  •  
  • Use the following subject line for your emailed assignment: Review By Example- yourlastname, yourfirstname.
    •
    • Assignment 1g. Review
  • READ the Review Exercises at the end of Chapters 1-4. Perform ONE of the Review Exercises. Discuss the exercises with fellow students using the class email list.

    • Assignment 1a-g Due February 5, 1999. Total Value: 11 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

     

    Assignments from Feb. 6 Class: Part 2
    Assignment 2a-f Due February 19 Value: 11 Points
    February 6 Lecture Notes
    Assignment 2a: Creating your web file infrastructure
  • Use Windows Explorer's file->new folder function to create a www directory on your floppy disk. (Make sure you tell the computer to do this on your a:/ drive, not on your c:/ or hard drive.)

    Create an index.html file in this www directory. Leave the document empty for now.

    •

    • Read "chunking principle" and Miller (1956) "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information."

    Assignment 2b:
  • Within your newly-created a:/www directory, use the Windows Explorer's file->new folder function to design and construct the file infrastructure (directories) for your website. Create logical directories and subdirectories to categorize and classify the information you will present on your web. The links you will create on your index.html page will point to files within these directories and subdirectories. Your directories and subdirectories should conform to your information design, have built-in expandability, and logical, elegant name structures.

    • Don't get carried away! Every directory and subdirectory produces a slash (/) in your url. Urls should be parsimonious and logical to the searcher. They should also be as short and easy to remember as possible. Do not worry about producing content for your website yet. For now, concentrate on designing a file infrastructure and imagining the information it will contain.

    Assignment 2c:

  • Go to the MacMillian Computer Book Site at http://www.mcp.com, and, from the Web Development section, check out a copy of HTML 3.2 and CGI Professional Reference Edition UNLEASHED by John December and Mark Ginsburg. Read Chapters 1-7 Carefully.

    Leave the Staffer and December books in your bookshelf, we will return to them later in the semester

    •
    • Assignment 2d:
  • Post at least one message to the UNLEASHED thread in the Class Forum using the subject line yourlastname, yourfirstname. Read all the messages and incorporate relevant comments in your post. Engage in continuing discussion at will, but read ALL the messages at intervals. The object here is to create a "flow" between messages, not a string of independent messages.

    In your message(s) discuss why website file infrastructure is the foundation for the six continuous processes (planning, analysis, design, implementation, promotion, and innovation) that operate on six web elements (purpose and objective statements, audience and domain information, and the web's specification and presentation).

    •
    • Assignment 2e: Your Web Plan

    The intellectual infrastructure of your website is your Web Plan. Your Web Plan will guide the construction of your web pages and construction of your Web Site. Your Web Plan should be one page long, and include brief statements of: Mission, Vision, Audience, Strategy, Goals, and Objectives. Visit http://www.webresult.com/webr/wrp/wrpgod.html for guidance in drafting your Web Plan.

  • Write your mission, vision and audience statements. Post your draft Web Plan to the WEB PLAN DRAFT thread on the class forum. Read your classmates' posts, and comment on them. Finished statements are not expected here. This is an opportunity to seek and provide help and guidance in a collaborative environment.
    • Assignment 2f:
  • Come to Class next time prepare to "draw" your web file infrastructure (created on disk as assignments 2a and 2b) on the board and explain the logic behind the design. Why did you put certain files together? How does designing a file structure for your web help you organize the links you will eventually build? Why did you name directories the way you did? How will these directories appear in a url? Be prepared to analyze and critique your classmates' designs.
    •

    • Assignment 2a-f Due February 19. Value: 11 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

    Assignments from Feb. 20 Class: Part 3
    Assignment 3 a-f Due March 5 Value: 11 Points
    Lecture Notes February 20
    Assignment 3a:
  • Read chapters 4-8 in the December book that you have checked out from http://www.mcp.com.
  •  
  • Post a message to the DESIGN thread of the Class Forum discussing something you learned that will help you as you progress in the design of your website. Read all the messages preceding yours and incorporate relevant comments from them. Continue reading the posts, and participate at will. Your goal should be to contribute to an ongoing discussion of web design. Use yourlastname, yourfirstname for the subject line of your first post, and then post freely.
    •
    • Assignment 3b:
  • Check out The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating an HTML Web Page by Paul McFedries from the Web Developers section of http://www.mcp.com.

    Read Chapter 1, The top ten steps to a Perfect Web Page; Review Chapters 2-7; Read Chapter 13: The Elements of Web Page Style; and refer to Chapter 14: Some HTML Resources on the Web for pointers to where you can go to snag graphic elements for your web. Incorporate discussion of this book into your ongoing discussion in the DESIGN thread of the Class Forum.

    •
    • Assignment 3c:
  • Only AFTER you have started Assignments 3a and 3b and are engaged in the online discussion: On your disk, create a subdirectory in your www directory called STYLES. Using your word processor, create a simple web page and save it as template.html in the STYLES directory. View the page in your web browser. Do not put this page on the Venus server. If you don't like the way your template.html page looks, return to your word processor, make changes, save, and view in your browser again until you get it the way you want. This page will serve as the foundation or style template for all the pages in your web, so get it right and just the way you want it. Take your time and experiment.
    •
    • This template.html file must contain the following four text elements:
    1. a hyperlink to your email address:
      <a href="      mailto:~u_yourname@twu.edu">Your name</a>
      where ~u_yourname@twu.edu is the email address you prefer to use and Your name is your name.
    2. A datestamp in the form of:
      Placed February 31, 1998. Modifed February 31, 1999.
      Where the placed date is the date you'll first put your page online and the modified date will be the date the most recent changes were made.
    3. A copyright notice in the form of:
      http://venus.twu.edu/~u_student Copyright 1999 Yourfirstname, yourlastname. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
      where the url is the url of the index.html file in your venus www directory (or the "top" of your web, AND yourfirstname yourlast name is your name
    4. A hyperlink to our class website in the form of:
      Visit our Web Design Class Online at <a href=http://www.intertwining.org/LS5903>Web Design Class</a>
    5. A hyperlink to twu.
    6. A hyperlink to your school or department.
    Do not add any other text elements to your template.html file. We will add content later. You may, however, arrange these text elements however you like. You may use whatever styles and formatting you like. Refer to Chapters 6-12 of the Stauffer book you have checked out from http://www.mcp.com for formatting tips, and particular style methods, or use the html templates in your word processor, or experiment with the styles in the Idiot's Guide, or the HTML by Example book. Also, you may freely search and harvest backgrounds, fonts, and icons from the public domain Internet. DO NOT VIOLATE COPYRIGHT.
    Assignment 3d. FTP your template.html file to the Venus Server

    Using whatever ftp software you have, transfer your finished template.html webpage into your venus.twu.edu/~u_student/www/ directory, and then use your web browser to check if the page is in place and the links are functioning properly. If not, correct the template.html page in your word processor, save, upload, and check again. Continue doing this until your page works and you like the way it looks.
    Assignment 3e. Announce that your template.html file is online, and live!
  • When your template.html page looks and works properly, and is safely online, send a message to the class email list as if you are announcing to your audience that your fully-functioning web is online and available for viewing. In the message briefly tell what your website will be about and why your audience will want to visit it. Be sure to include the url (i.e. http://venus.twu.edu/~u_student/template.html ) in your message. Use the subject line Template yourlastname, yourfirst for the email message.
    •
    • Assignment 3f. Visit your classmates' template.html files and comment.
  • As you receive the email announcements of your classmates' template.html files, visit their sites and evaluate their work. Remember, what looks good on one system may not look good on another. Send comments, via the class email list, about each page: what you liked, what you didn't like, about the style and presentation of the page.
    •

    • Assignment 3 a-f Due March 5. Value: 11 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

    Assignments from March 6: Part 4
    Assignment 4 a-f Due March 19 Value: 11 Points
    Lecture Notes March 6

    Class will not meet on Saturday, March 20 as it is Spring Break. However, that doesn't mean you get a whole month off!
    The following assignments are due the Saturday before spring break (March 13, with deadline extended to March 19.
    Assignment 4a Transferring your disk file infrastructure to your web
  • Now that you have the file structure for your web designed and on disk, it's time to start building the file infrastructure for your online web space.

    Using your ftp software's "create new directory" function to build the directories and subdirectories you've designed on your disk, in your venus webspace. You will add an index.html (or its equivalent) file to each of these directories later.

    •
    • Assignment 4b Using your template.html file to create your navigation tool bar
  • Open your template.html file in your word processor. Create hyperlinks to each of the location of the index.html files you will soon place in each of the subdirectories.
  •  
  • Save early, save often!
    •

    Note: On the venus server, when you name the "top" file in any directory or subdirectory as index.html, a the hyperlink to that page can ASSUME the index.html file name. This allows you to shorten your urls. Some web servers assume index.html, some assume default.html. It depends. For instance, the name of the opening page of the class web site is default.html, but to get to it you need only type www.intertwining.org/LS5903 . Within the LS5903 directory is a file called default.html, to which you are automatically directed. On the venus server, the assumed filename in each directory is index.html

    • For instance, if you have created subdirectories in your www/ space called assignments/, lectures/, and schedule/, each of these directories can have an index.html file as well as any other files you want to add later. For now, we will "pretend" the index.html files are in place. So, the url for your index.html file in your assignments/ directory will be http://venus.twu.edu/~u_student/assignments (remember, index.html is the default file for each directory, and is assumed, so it needs not be named in the url.)

    A hyperlink in your template.html file to your assignments/index.html file would be:

    <a href="http://venus.twu.edu/~u_student/assignments">Assignments</a>

    a hyperlink from your template.html file to your lectures/index.html file would be:

    <a herf="http://venus.twu.edu/~u_student/lectures">Lectures</a>
    Create hyperlinks to each of the index.html files you will soon place in each of the www subdirectories you have built in your web. You can rename the index.html files later, if you wish, and edit the hyperlinks.

    This series of links to the index.html files in your directories will serve as the navigation aid through your site and will appear on each page of your web. Having a navigation bar on each pages allows your site to have circularity...your readers will be able to go TO any section of your web FROM any section of your web.

    Once you get the links created and working properly, arrange them as a navigation bar: in a list, as a single line, as bulleted items, as icons....however you want. You are free to use whatever font, whatever colors, whatever styles you like. You may even incorporate graphics. This navigation bar will appear on each and every page of your web, and will be what your readers use to click through your site, so work carefully. Built once, you will use it many times and this will save you lots of work later!
    For instance, here is the navigation bar I have created for our class website:

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

    Be sure to add a hyperlink to the "top" index.html page of your web in this navigation tool bar. Make sure that your navigation tool bar is fully-circular, which means from any one index.html page you will be able get to any other index.html page in your web. You are beginning to spin your web here…take it slow and concentrate. What's important is twining's commandments #1 and #2 …and careful, meticulous typing. If you have a problem making a hyperlink work, check the carets and quote marks for errors, first, then make sure you have typed the name of your directories EXACTLY as they appear in your web. Save early, save often!


    Once you have the navigation bar on your template.html page complete on your disk and ftp it into your www directory for safe-keeping. You may visit your template.html page online to see how it looks, but the hyperlinks won't work yet since the index.html files are not in place, yet.
    Assignment 4c: Open your floppy disk in Windows Explorer and rename the index.html file in your www directory to oldindex.html This will save the index.html file we created during our second class with a new name, and let us create a new index.html file from our template.html file.
    Assignment 4d: Using your template.html page with navigation bar to create your index.html files.
  • Now, open the template.html file on your floppy disk in your word processor and "save as" index.html. The "save as" function allows you to rename and save your template.html file without deleting it. Now, you have your oldindex.html file, your template.html and a newindex.html file. You also have your complete web structure on your floppy disk. Make a backup disk.

    Upload, or ftp, a copy of index.html into each of your online web directories. Be sure to put a copy in your www/ directory as well as in each of its subdirectories.

    Now you will have an index.html file which contains your navigation tool bar in each of your web directories and subdirectories. Each of these index.html files is the same…they contain your styles, your email address, your copyright, your datestamp, and your navigation bar….but each is at a different location in your web! Don't worry…we will add content later!

    Visit your venus url using your web browser, and click though your site. Notice in the Location bar at the top of your browser that while the page appears to be the same (it is!) that the location of the page is different. Make sure that your clicks take you to the correct directory. If you find an error, go back to the template.html file on your disk and make corrections, and follow the steps in 4b, above until you get it right. Take no shortcuts!

    When you save the corrected files, and upload them, the computer will ask you if you want to overwrite existing files with the same name. Say yes. You have a backup to which you can revert should you get confused or make a mess of things.

    • Assignment 4e.
  • Once you have your web directories constructed, your template.html file with navigation bar designed, and your index.html files in place in the various subdirectories on your venus web, and everything looks right and functions correctly, (phew!) send an email to the class list sharing your experience.

    Provide the url to the "top" of your web so we may visit your site and critique your work. In this email, tell us what you felt while you were doing this assignment…share any helpful hints you learned…Use index.html yourlastname, yourfirstname as the subject line for your email. Visit your classmates' sites and make comments and suggestions via the class email list….remember, we have no "content" in our webs yet, just infrastructure, style, and navigation aids.

    •
    • Assignment 4f. Start thinking about the content you will add to your web.

    Assignment 4 a-e Due April 2. Value: 11 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

    Assignments from March 6 Class: Part 5
    Assignment 5 a Due April 2 Value: 11 Points
    Class has not met in "meatspace" for a month because of spring break,
    so there are no lecture notes...

    …you have, however, been working hard, on your own, and online with the class. There's just one more step before you finally get to start creating content for your web!
    Assignment 5a The Finished Web Plan
  • Put the finishing touches on your Web Plan document and include a link to the "top" index.html file in your web

    i.e. <a href="http://venus.twu.edu/~u_student">My Web</a>

    save as an html document with the name webplan.html, and upload it to the www directory in your Venus web space so it appears at the following url: http://venus.twu.edu/~g_student/webplan.html

    •
    • Assignment 5b
  • Send a message to the class email list announcing that your Web Plan is Live and Online! Tell us the name or title of your website and provide the url in this email. Use the subject line Webplan yourlastname, yourfirstname for your email.
  • Write this message as if you were making an announcement to the world and trying to solicit visitation to your site.
    •

    • Assignment 5a-b Due April 2. Value: 11 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

    Assignments from April 3 Class: Part 6
    Assignment 6 Due April 16 Value: 22 Points
    Lecture Notes April 3
    Assignment 6 Creating Content
  • Using your ftp software, download your complete online web infrastructure and files onto a clean, empty disk. Make a backup of this disk and put it someplace safe.

    Open the www/index.html file on your disk and begin adding content to the front page of your web…a welcome message perhaps, or your top level information....whatever you like.

    Save, upload, view, check, correct, save, view, upload, correct, save….until you get it just right.

    Send an email to the class list when you're ready for others to see your work.

    •

    • Assignment 6 Due April 16. Value: 22 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

    Assignments from April 24 Class: Part 7
    Assignment 7 a-b Due April 30 Value: 22 Points
    Lecture Notes April 17
    Assignment 7b Adding Depth to your Web
  • Follow process in 6a for each of the index.html files in each of your web directories until you have added content to every page of your web. (be sure to update the "modified date stamp" when you change a page!)

    You are required to create at least three index.html files with content, and each page must contain the elements created in Assignments 3-5.

    •
    • Assignment 7b The following must appear somewhere in your web:

    a link to your webplan
    a bulletted list.
    a graphic you have downloaded from the web.
    text in bold.
    text in italics.
    a horizontal line.
    a hyperlink to an external website.

    Assignment 7 a-b Due May 1. Value: 22 Points

    Syllabus | Class Schedule | Lecture Reviews |
    Class Forum | Class Email List | Email Instructor

     

    May 8

    Wrap Up

    Presentations

    Final Class

    -30-