HTML and CSS: Languages of the Web

Project 1 Requirements

Project 1 is due April 26th. If you want to do the stock project I would like you to do, you should get very familiar with how the RISD CE Link course home page works. I want you to use your HTML and CSS skills to create a more attractive design without changing how the page works. This is a common requirment for a Web designer working on a team with others who provide the functionality for the site. Another person on the team might be the graphic designer who does the artwork you use in the site, or that responsibility might fall on the Web designer's shoulders. In this case, you can contribute new graphic art for the page (replacing the risd | celink graphic in the upper-left, for example). Or, you can just focus on the text and layout of the page.

The RISD continuing education administration team wants to consider other templates for the long-term use of our CE Link site. So, you are working on a real project if you choose to do this assignment.

You can choose do create your own Web pages with your own concept if you have another client in mind or are trying to find employment with a potential funder who has a different need that you want to your demonstrate relevant skills for. But, in that case, you need to get started earlier and you need to provide me with a rough outline of your idea so I can help make sure you scope it appropriately for a first project. You can continue this project for your second project as well but don't have to decide that until you see what I want from the second project (which will be for another client of ours).

You must post all your code and graphics on the course server by 11:59pm, April 26th. I will show you how to do that in a text document and a video. I need you to prove you are comfortable publishing Web content to a Web server with a File Transfer Protocol program (of which you can choose many I will introduce you to). Publishing is an important part of the class according to our administrators. Once I show you how to update the server with your files, you can upload as often as you want as that space will be yours to practice with. I can look at your code whenever you want if you send me an e-mail message to do so. I will provide feedback and if your questions are really good, I can share them with the rest of the class via e-mail.

The contribution you make for Project 1 is up to you, based on what you think is your best contribution. It should show me that you understand basic HTML and CSS and that you have been working on iterating new designs with a reasonable process you have developed for yourself. You are turning in the project to me, but the goal is for you to do it for yourself more than me. So, let me know why you needed to do something in writing via e-mail if you think it was outside the scope of the project or took away from the time you had to do other things instead. Make the project relevant to you, first and foremost, as you should with every assignment you ever receive in your life (sometimes you have to do it for someone else because they are paying you to do that, but I am not in that category).

You only need to turn in one page for the first project so spend a lot of time getting to know the RISD CE Link course home page. Get rid of our course content from the page and make up a ficticious course of your own to put on the page. Make sure all the links work to our course though so you don't have to create your own additional pages.

I will create a forum on-line for us to discuss the project. Please post your questions about the code and the project requirements to the forum so others can follow your thought. This is part of your class participation grade but don't force it if you have no questions or thoughts to share. There will be other forums for you to participte in as the course continues.

You can grab the Project 1 starting point from:

http://www.oworld.org/risd/htmlcss/bdc/celink_course.html

or by logging into our class server and downloading the file using an SFTP program. The file is in the /var/www/html/risd/htmlcss/bdc/ directory as you should be able to ascertain from the URL. Our Webroot for the www.oworld.org domain is /var/www/html/ on our server (as it is by default for many UNIX or Linux-based Web servers I have built and implemented on the Web). So, replace http://www.oworld.org/ for the /var/www/html/ to find where a file on the server would be available in a Web browser via URL.

The code might look a little intimidating to you at first glance. I have removed a lot of the extra dynamic stuff that is in our RISD CE Link home page, but I have left you with a lot of code for you to sift through. If you have learned the lessons about the hierarchical nature of Web documents, you won't be intimidated by the length of any HTML code you find on the Web. That is very important to me - that you get over any initial intimidation you feel by looking at a long document in any language (anyone else out there remember when one of Victor Hugo's books was assigned in French class?). If you continue to feel intimidated, use it to your advantage to gain compassion for all the political refugees that had to escape death into a new country where they did not speak the language. In comparison, getting comfortable working with long HTML documents should be a few magnitudes less stressful. Or, if that tact seems too extreme (hey, it works for me), just fire up your competitive spirit and consider your attack on the RISD CE Link home page an adventure into new territory for you.

I am dealing with a huge new set of JavaScript documents I have to understand from the California Marine Map Public Marine Reserves application on the Web. I am intimidated a bit and so can empathize to a point. There is very little structure to a JavaScript document (certainly not hierarchical) compared to HTML and CSS. So, don't get overconfident either as there are much bigger challenges ahead for you on the Web proficiency road.

The nice thing about an open-ended project is you can focus on the piece of the work you want to focus on. If you want to focus on XHTML, go ahead and be sure to make any changes to the code to make it valid XHTML. If you want to show off your graphic arts skills and would not mind RISD using your art for all CE Link classes, focus on that (we would all thank you for that). But, of course, play around with the design to show me you understand HTML a bit and are not afraid to make design changes little by little or wholesale. I make project work open-ended which half of you may like and the other half may hate (if we are a typical bunch of students of mine). But, open-ended is one basis for maximizing creativity, eh? With all the documentation and references on the Web regarding our class materials, clean homework assignments would be busy work or mindless work for so many of you (they were for me when I was assigned them and I did not like that). If you need more structure, use Liz's book and follow her chapter by chapter, finding the relevant parts in the RISD CE Link code and trying out changes! For the project though, I am requiring you to get a sense of a real world experience where you are given exisiting code that has been hacked together over time (most Web sites are like that even if generated by one person - their skills change over time and the code reflects those changes in abilities).

Bottom line is to get started now to give your subconscious a lot of time to chew on the design... grab the HTML and the CSS associated with the project and get familiar with a work process for yourself. How will you make changes and see their effect? How will you back-up your work in case something goes terribly wrong? How will you work on the project little by little so as not to overwhelm yourself? Those are the three key questions I have to answer on any Web project I work on, no matter what the technology being used. Challenge yourself to find a better work process for yourself - get to know yourself and your thoughts without judgement and with an expectation for new surprises. Find the challenge in the work that best gets you motivated to make changes to the code. Don't let the grade be your driving consideration, but if you can't get over that way of doing things, e-mail me often with questions about expectiations based on what you want to do with the code.

I may update the requirements on this page as we discuss it as I am always reasonable in discussing what is reasonable to expect from you. So, come back here for more before you turn in your final project for grading.