Web Page and Web Site Design (2nd Courses)

Teacher: Mike Roam, Chairman of Computer Department
Location: Computer Center. (151 Pierrepont Street, next to Lower School).
Course Dates 2009: Thursdays 7:30-9:00 at March 12, 19, 26; April 2, 16, 23, 30; May 7.
Note: no class April 9.

Latest Links (Stray miscellaneous tips & discoveries) including a collaborative “home page” for this class.

In Denver they joke that the South Platte River (article with pix) is a mile wide and an inch deep, too thick to drink but too wet to plow...somewhat like the world wide web, in this early phase of the information age (1 & 2). But is it hard to add formatted text and links and images to online websites? Is it hard to build a clean, clear, useful, and informative website? Not if you know a little about what you're doing!

In this hands-on computer course you will build web-pages and websites from scratch, with multiple pages, links, images, lists, tables of contents, and “css” type styles. You'll write “HTML” & “XHTML” code, following standards from the “World Wide Web Consortium” (also known as “W3C”) so that your pages look good on various screen sizes, on various computers (Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, cellphone, pda, ipod), and will even be usable by the blind. (It takes some forethought to make pages that work well through audible screen readers.) You’ll use image programs to customize pictures; learn how to put text, lists, pictures, and links onto pages; and see how to get a domain name and web host so that people around the world can browse your pages.

Readings may include Donald Norman (The Design of Everyday Things) and Alan Tufte (Visual Display of Quantitative Information). Time permitting, we’ll see how “Web 2.0” (4 minute video summary) technologies make on-line community and commerce easier for internet amateurs. Lessons include “semantic markup” (1, 2, 3, also see “semantic web”) to help screen-readers and search engines (and other computerized systems) find and use your pages easily.

Some prior experience with web browsing, word processing, and email will be helpful (but inevitable).