Thomas College Logo

Department of Arts & Sciences

COURSE NUMBER: CS140 CREDIT HOURS: 3
COURSE TITLE: Web Design CLOCK HOURS: 45
INSTRUCTOR: Jim Chapman OFFICE HOURS: By appointment
OFFICE: Room 219E PHONE: 453-5000 x5245
EMAIL ADDRESS:  chapmanj@thomas.edu

REQUIRED TEXTS

Robbins, Jennifer Niederst. Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to (X)HTML, Style Sheets, and Web Graphics. O’Reilly Media: Sebastopol, CA, 2007.

Beaird, Jason. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design. SitePoint Publishing: Australia, 2007.

The Web Wheel color wheel. The Color Wheel Company.

OPTIONAL TEXTS

Robbins, Jennifer Niederst. HTML/XHTML Quick Reference. 3rd Edition. O’Reilly Media: Sebastopol, CA, 2006.

Meyer, Eric. CSS Quick Reference. 2nd Edition. O’Reilly Media: Sebastopol CA, 2004.

RESERVED TEXTS

Horton, Sarah. Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers. Pearson Education: Berkeley, CA, 2005.

Krug, Steve. Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. New Riders: Berkeley, CA, 2000.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course provides an introduction to and hands-on experience with hypertext mark-up language as well as other software tools used in web page creation. Through readings, lab projects, quizzes, and a web page portfolio, students will have the opportunity to gain and demonstrate a thorough grounding in this evolving technology.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course, the student should:

  1. Develop a plan for creating, developing, and implementing a website.
  2. Create well-formed websites using a combination of XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets.
  3. Understand how to utilize a variety of software tools and hardware tools to achieve your web design goals.
  4. Identify the principles of design as they impact and are impacted by the computer, the user, and the output method used (monitor, printer, etc.)
  5. Create multiple methods of navigation.
  6. Develop usable style sheets for web sites, following best practices in typography, graphics, and color usage
  7. Recognize basic design rules and apply them to web development.
  8. Have an awareness of conceptual design issues and know how to integrate them in a practical manner into websites.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

GRADING

Attendance: One point per week will be awarded for attendance. Tardiness to class of more than 15 minutes will be considered an absence, and will result in a zero for that weeks’ attendance point.

Tests: Tests will be given approximately every 4th week, covering the previous 3 weeks’ worth of material. Tests will be concerned with appropriate usage of code and development of good design as discussed in class and in the readings.

Lab Project: The lab project completed in class must also be saved to the I drive and completed each week as part of the large group. This project should serve as your guide as you create your semester project.

Semester Project: In lieu of homework, students will be working on a website. The website content will be determined by working with another student, for whom the site must meet expectations (business-client relationship). This site must be kept up to date on the I: drive, and will be assessed periodically. Not all students will necessarily be assessed the same week, but all students will receive the same number of assessments. If work is judged to be more than one week behind, a zero will be assigned for that grade. Work kept up to date will be awarded points towards the total grade of the semester project, and comments will be provided as needed. A grading form will be provided at the end of this syllabus for the technical aspects of this site. Students will create a grading form in class and use this to grade each other in terms of design and usability. The grading of this project will be divided: 30% total for design and usability grades, 70% for the technical grading. Projects may be presented to the college community

Miscellaneous Projects: During the semester, miscellaneous projects will be assigned. Some will be individual work; some will involve group work and research. Many of these projects will result in mini-presentations being given to the large group.

Final Exam: Information on the final exam and/or final presentation will be provided at a later date.

GRADING SYSTEM

A (94 - 100) A- (90 - 93) B+ (87 - 89) B (83 - 86) B- (80 - 82)
C+ (77 - 79) C (73 - 76) C- (70 - 72) D+ (67 - 69) D (63 - 66)
D- (60 - 62) F (below 60)

E-PORTFOLIO

E-portfolios allow students an opportunity to store work they feel demonstrates their proficiency in the four Thomas College Core Competencies of Communication, Leadership and Service, Analytical Reasoning and Community & Interpersonal Relations.

Materials can come from class projects, extra-curricular and work experiences. Because it's an electronic format a variety of file types can be stored in the portfolios. From documents and spreadsheets to music and photographs - the portfolio accommodates them all.

The portfolios are set up on the SharePoint Portal Server on the Thomas College system. If they choose, students may also decide to create a web-page styled version of their electronic portfolio.

**Items appropriate for the E-Portfolio are marked with an asterisk in the grading section of this syllabus.**

ATTENDANCE POLICY

Because of the nature of this course, class attendance is required and essential. If it is necessary to miss a scheduled class, the student must notify the instructor via voice mail or in person. Any make-up work allowed MUST be completed within one week. Failure to do so will result in a grade of “0”. More than 3 consecutive or 4 total absences may result in dismissal from the course.

STUDENT BEHAVIOR POLICY

Lecture and lab times are provided to further student’s understanding of the material. Students using chat rooms, surfing the Internet, playing Solitaire, text/instant messaging, and using other similar diversions during lectures and discussions are disruptive to the rest of the class. This disruptive behavior may result in dismissal from the course. Please use these items appropriately.

ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

It is expected that you will make use of any resources available to you as become proficient in the course objectives. This includes, but is not limited to, obtaining help from reference materials, other members of the class, and tutoring through the Learning Center. Items you submit for evaluation must represent your own work. It is permissible to obtain help from other persons when completing assignments, but you should make sure that you are able to reproduce any problem that required assistance without any help. Any departure from these guidelines will be considered cheating and dealt with according to the procedure outlined in the student handbook. Possible consequences range from receiving a “0” on the item to receiving a “0” for the course, but all consequences will be determined at the instructor’s discretion.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Students requiring academic accommodations to be successful in this course are encouraged to arrange a meeting with Lisa Desautels-Poliquin, Dean of Student Affairs. At that meeting, strategies for success will be discussed, as well as any accommodations required for the classroom, which will then be communicated with the instructor.

ABSOLUTELY NO CELL PHONE USAGE ALLOWED IN THE LABS!

Revision date: 8/21/2008