Overview
Class Time: Mondays and Wednesdays 12:30-1:45
Professor: Casondra Sobieralski
Email: cmsobieralski@nmhu.edu
Website: http://www.pelefire.com/webproductionworkshop2012
Office: Douglass Hall 239S
Office Hours: Tues & Thurs 1:30 - 3:30; Fri 12n - 1:00 pm
Class Objectives
There are FOUR paramount objectives for this class.
1) You need to learn to build a solidly functioning web site.
2) You need to learn good problem solving and information hunting skills. Assume that any particular code or “recipe” I teach you will be obsolete in a few years, given the rate at which web technology changes. What remains constant is this: you will always be looking for new ways to accomplish your designs, and your library of options to do this is increasing exponentially. So learning how to “figure stuff out” will be the most important part of your job, for the rest of your web career—and for most other careers, too!
3) Practice working harmoniously with others. As web design in the professional world is inherently collaborative, and the web is increasingly about maximizing Collective Intelligence (think Wiki), I will encourage you to learn how to problem solve and research information individually and collaboratively.
Objective <4> is to HAVE FUN with web production! Some people take naturally to learning code, but most of us can expect a headache or two along the way, it’s true. Don’t give up! Constructive play together, laughter, and helping each other out is the antidote! We will even spend a short amount of time experimenting with an alternative, more “artsy” way of learning the meta-structure of basic web code that should be lots of fun for all of us based on creative movement/interactive performance.
Guidelines for Solid Web Production
- good design meets the needs of the audience/client, including differently abled users
- good production loads virtually the same across platform/browser
- good information architecture and structure is ORGANIZED!
Notes About Design
While this is not primarily a design class, we will still need to address important issues concerning information architecture, font legibility, and preparing images and rich media.
Some of you come from design backgrounds and have experience in layout, typography, promotional design or even web design. If this is repetition for you, use this time to develop even BETTER designs with more skills to realize them, and feel free to share your knowledge. For those of you who do not yet have design training, concentrate on the basic concepts of composition, color, typography and layout.
Accessibility
This is a crucial sub-area of design and production. It is actually the law. Thus all web developers should understand current standards of accessibility. (Accessibility is about making web information available to people with greater vision, hearing, or physical limitations than average.)
Attendance Policy
Class attendance and participation is required. Unexcused absences will result in a lower grade. Attendance and participation in discussion, critiques, and other class activities count for 25% of your final grade.
As per department policy: Media Arts courses meet three days a week, cumulating into 46 class periods. Missing 4 classes (or ~10% of a semester’s class periods) is not desirable, but acceptable if you are contagious, etc. Please do not get us all sick. Missing more classes, however—for whatever reason—will be reflected in a student’s final grade as follows:
5 absences = final course grade is dropped one full letter grade;
6 absences = final course grade is dropped two full letter grades;
7 absences = final course grade is dropped three full letter grades;
8 absences = Fail the course!
Tardies: Leaving class early or arriving late will count as a tardy. This applies to not being on task, not having things to work on, or taking inordinately long breaks.
3 tardies will = 1 absence.
Guest Speakers
We may have guest speakers throughout the semester. Please be EXTRA SURE to show up to class on time, and be attentive.
Required Texts & Equipment
The best resource for learning web production is the web itself. This is in part because of the ephemerality of the medium; books get outdated but information on lthe web is being updated daily. Some people, however, prefer learning with a physical book. If this describes you, any book on Dreamweaver and/or any book on CSS is fine.
A THUMBDRIVE (a gig would be ample) is highly recommended for backing up your work and transporting your work from home to class.
Resources
I have provided a list of helpful <resources links> on our class web site. These include video tutorials if you need extra practice on something we learn in class—or if you want to further your own learning. Resources also include accessibility tools, Google developers’ talks, and even a boost of empowerment via video from Marissa Mayer! (Formerly the Senior VP at Google, she recently became a CEO at Yahoo.)