COM530W: Online Design

Web Standards, Findability, and the Semantic Web.

Fall 2007, Illinois Institute of Technology

Course Calendar

Wednesday 8/29/2007

First Day of Class

• In Class Tonight:
  • Welcome and introductions
  • Go over course web site and policies
  • Set up del.icio.us accounts, Firefox, other technologies
  • Discussion: What we love (or hate) about the Web; general Q&A

• To Read for Next Week:
  • Sustainable Web Design:
    • Naming Files and Folders
    • Naming for Indexing and Clarity
    • Naming for Versioning
    • The Concept of a Markup Language
    • A Brief History of HTML
    • Basic XHTML Rules
  • The Web Standards Project (WASP), “History of the Web Standards Project”
  • Koch, “Rated XHTML” (A List Apart)
  • Zeldman, “Better Living Through XHTML” (ALA)
  • Berners-Lee, “Realising the Full Potential of the Web”
  • Bonus Reading: Berners-Lee, “The World Wide Web: Past, Present and Future”
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Procure course books and materials
  • Write digital literacy autobiography; bring to mark up in XHTML next class

Wednesday 9/5/2007

XHTML: Structure & Identification

• In Class Tonight:
  • (X)HTML Boot Camp: DOCTYPES, Tags, Entities, and More
  • Mark up digital literacy autobiography
  • Working with the W3C Markup Validation Service
  • Introduce Project 1

• To Read for Next Week:
  • SWD:
    • XHTML DOCTYPE Declarations
    • XHTML Tag Types: Block and Inline
    • The Basic XHTML Tag Set: Block-level Tags
    • The Basic XHTML Tag Set: List Tags
    • The Basic XHTML Tag Set: In-line Tags
  • Maeda, Laws of Simplicity (LoS): “Simplicity = Sanity”, Laws 1-3, Law 10
  • lawsofsimplicity.com: (browse)
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Develop ideas for Project 1

Wednesday 9/12/2007

XHTML + CSS (Typography, Colors)

• In Class Tonight:
  • Introduce Project 1
  • XHTML Boot Camp Wrap-up: div, span, class, id
  • XHTML/S.H.E. (Maeda) Activity
  • CSS Boot Camp: Selectors, Properties and Values

• To Read for Next Week:
  • SWD:
    • Working with Classes and IDs
    • Classes in Action
    • IDs in Action
    • Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets
    • Some CSS Vocabulary
    • CSS Selectors
    • CSS Properties: Text and Font
    • CSS Properties: Margin, Padding, and Border
  • LoS: Laws 4-6, 7-9
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Gather materials for three portfolio items for project
  • Sketch preliminary design ideas + find visual/design inspiration
  • Become more active with your del.icio.us account

Wednesday 9/19/2007

CSS: Positioning, Advanced Selectors

• In Class Tonight:
  • CSS Boot Camp Wrap-up: Inheritance, Positioning, CSS selectors
  • CSS Activities
  • Studio time for project 1

• To Read for Next Week:
  • LoS: Law 10 (again)
  • Norman, Emotional Design (ED):
    • “Prologue: Three Teapots”
    • “1: Attractive Things Work Better”
    • “2: The Multiple Faces of Emotional Design”
  • Any three articles that interest you from ALA’s CSS Archive. Dig deep on that page. Looking for recommendations? Try:
    • CSS Design: Size Matters
    • Alternative Style: Working With Alternate Style Sheets
    • CSS Design: Going to Print
    • CSS Design: Taming Lists
    • Using XHTML/CSS for an Effective SEO Campaign
    • Elastic Design
    • 12 Lessons for Those Afraid of CSS and Standards
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Project 1 Work:
    • Scan/shoot images for portfolio items
    • Begin markup on core pages
    • Identify repeating items (navigation, header, footer, etc.)

Wednesday 9/26/2007

Regrouping, Studio Time

• In Class Tonight:
  • Stolley answers your burning questions
  • Studio time on Project 1

• To Read for Next Week:
  • ED:
    • “3: Three Levels of Design: Visceral, Behavioral, and Reflective”
    • “4: Fun and Games”
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Find inspiring designs and post to del.icio.us
  • Work on sketching design for Project 1
  • Continue material gathering and prep
  • Continue XHTML markup of content

Wednesday 10/3/2007

Visual Design & CSS

• In Class Tonight:
  • Discuss 10/17 meeting
  • CSS design activity walk-through
  • Preparing media elements
  • Studio time for Project 1

• To Read for Next Week:
  • ED:
    • “5: People, Places, and Things”
    • “6: Emotional Machines”
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Visual design work on Project 1

Wednesday 10/10/2007

Site Architecture

• To Read for Next Week:
  • ED:
    • “7: The Future of Robots”
    • “Epilogue: We Are All Designers”

Wednesday 10/17/2007

Work Week - No Class

Wednesday 10/24/2007

Project One Due

• In Class Tonight:
  • Public Critique of Project 1
  • Turn in Project 1

• To Read for Next Week:
  • Jeremy Keith, DOM Scripting (available through Books 24x7)
    • Foreword By Dave Shea
    • Introduction
    • Chapter 1: A Brief History of Javascript
    • Chapter 2: JavaScript Syntax
    • Chapter 3: The Document Object Model
    • Chapter 4: A JavaScript Image Gallery
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Email Project 2 proposal to Stolley by noon Saturday, 10/27

Wednesday 10/31/2007

DOM Scripting

• In Class Tonight:
  • DOM Scripting activity
  • Catch-up discussion on D. Norman
  • Studio time on Project 2

• To Read for Next Week:
  • Keith, DOM Scripting
    • Chapter 5: Best Practices
    • Chapter 6: Image Gallery Revisited
    • Chapter 7: Creating Markup on the Fly
    • Chapter 8: Enhancing Content
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Project 2 development; email Stolley with report before next class

Wednesday 11/7/2007

DOM Scripting II

• In Class Tonight:
  • Studio time on Project 2

• To Read for Next Week:
  • Any 5 articles/pages you find through a Google search for web standards SEO (no quotes around words); post all 5 to your delicious account with short paragraph-long reviews for each find
  • Skim and get to know microformats.org
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Continue work on Project 2
  • Reading reviews (see above)

Wednesday 11/14/2007

SEO; Microformats

• In Class Tonight:
  • hCard activity
  • Studio time on Project 2

• To Read for Next Week:
  • Any two chapters from Anthony Scime (ed.)’s Web Mining: Applications and Techniques (available on Books 24x7)
  • Any three chapters from Moran and Hunt’s Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company's Web Site (also available on Books 24x7)
• To Do for Next Week:
  • Project 2

Wednesday 11/21/2007

NO CLASS - Turkey Day (aka Thanksgiving)

Wednesday 11/28/2007

Findability, XML, the Future

Wednesday 12/5/2007

Last Regular Class Meeting

• In Class Tonight:
  • Project 2 Critique (for those leaving the country) OR Work Day

Wednesday 12/12/2007

Project 2 Due

• In Class Tonight:
  • Public Critique (jointly with other COM 530 section)