course information
office hours: M 2-3, TH 4-5
office location: Parlin 6
office phone: 471-6224
parlin 6 open hours: M 11:30a-6:00p, T-TH 9:00a-6:00p, F 11:30a-4:00p
email:
required materials
All texts are available at the Coop Boosktore, or, for a discounted price, from amazon.com. Links below will bring you to the book page at amazon.com. Books on reserve in the PCL are noted.
Adobe Creative Team, Adobe Photoshop CS Classroom in a Book. Berkeley: Adobe P, 2003. Make sure CD is actually included in the back of the book.
Joe Clark, Building Accessible Websites. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2002. Make sure CD is actually included in the back of the book. On reserve in the PCL.
Kelly Goto and Emily Cotler, Web ReDesign 2.0: Workflow that Works. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2005.
Eric Meyer, Cascading Style Sheets: The Definitive Guide, 2nd Edition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2004.
Jakob Neilson, Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2000. On reserve in the PCL.
university of texas email account
microsoft Word 97 or higher (available at the campus computer store)
optional materials
These materials are not required for the course, as we will not be working with them directly. I list them here because they are by well-known designers and, if you are interested in becoming a professional web developer, it will be important for you to be familiar with their work.
The exception is Adobe Photoshop CS, with which we will be working extensively both inside and outside of class. It is not required for two reasons: 1) you will have access to it in class and in Parlin 6, the CWRL open lab; 2) it is $272.00. It is the industry standard application for image creation and manipulation, but it is just too expensive to require anyone to buy.
Students will not be rewarded for buying these materials, nor will they be not rewarded for not buying these materials.
Dan Cederholm, Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook. Berkeley: Friends of ED, 2004. On reserve in the PCL.
Scott Kelby, Adobe Photoshop CS Down & Dirty Tricks. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2003. On reserve in the PCL.
Jeffrey Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2003
Adobe Photoshop CS (available at the campus computer store)
projects
Project I
Project 1 is a collaborative project which involves an imaginative, analytical redesign of a section of a large Web site. In groups, students will create a site inventory, an audience analysis, a prototype of the new site, and a final design for the new site. The groups will present their final sites for the class.
Project II
Project II will build upon the skills gained in web and graphic design honed in Project I, by exploring the possibilities using advanced cascading style sheet (CSS) techniques offer for creating visually and aesthetically stunning web pages -- pages that look more like works of art than anything we have seen before in web design. The goals of project 2 are to learn about CSS and its open source internet culture, to highlight what you learn about CSS, and to highlight work you have created in this course -- all on a professional-looking Web site that you could, if by chance, present to future employers.
Project III
In this project we will be working with the HTML code and style sheets provided for graphic designers at the CSS Zen Garden, a web site that is a stunning "demonstration of what can be accomplished visually through CSS–based design." Even though the HTML and CSS backbones are provided, we will be designing our own pages and images; indeed, each of the many different designs on the page have the exact same HTML code and CSS backbones. The only difference is the attributes associated with each CSS element. This is an exiting time in web design, and in this project we will be jumping head first into the discussion.
Design Portfolio
The design portfolio is a semester-long project, in which students will create, update, and manage a portfolio of their graphic and Web page designs created in the class. These portfolios will be on the students own Web pages, and will detail the applications used, the context in which the design was placed, and the stages it went through.
attendance
After FIVE absences for any reason you will fail the course (five absences is equivalent to missing two and a half weeks of class). After two absences your final grade will drop one full grade for every absence. For example, if a student has 3 absences, they will receive no higher than a B in the course; 4 absences no higher than C; 5 no higher than a D; 6 no higher than a F. A student is considered late if they arrive after the sign-up sheet has gone around the room - lateness equals .5 absences.
office hours
Office hours are designed for you, giving you a more private environment in which we may talk about your work, your performance in class, etc. If you are unable to see me during my office hours, do not hesitate to make an appointment to see me at a different time. My schedule is flexible to fit yours. Office hours for this semester are: M 2-3 and TH 4-5 in Par 6.
students with disabilities
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-6259, 471-4641 TTY or go to http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/ssd/.
grading
Grades in this course are determined on the basis of a Learning Record Online, which accompanies a portfolio of work presented both at the midterm and at end of term. These portfolios present a selection of your work, both formal and informal, plus ongoing observations about your learning, plus an analysis of your work development across five dimensions of learning: confidence and independence, knowledge and understanding, skills and strategies, use of prior and emerging experience, and reflectiveness. This development centers on the major strands of work in the course: research, web site design, graphic design, critical thinking, and collaboration.
Late coursework will be factored into your final grade in the following way: for every 3 late assignments, your final grade will be lowered by one full letter grade.
Final grades for the course are: A, B, C, D, and F.