Welcome to York College, CUNY and Web Design 1 – Spring, 2013

I am Adjunct Assistant Professor Najlah Feanny Hicks and I will be teaching Web Design I.

Course Description:

Web Design I is a class that will be useful in virtually every other class you take within Digital Design. The web is at the forefront of business today and it is essential for all designers to have a clear understanding of how a web page is constructed. From self-promotion to communication to design solutions, understanding web design and coding will be the bedrock for future work HTML, XHTML, interactivity, information architecture and navigational structures will be covered, as well as usability and Web design strategies. Your final project will be the completion of a portfolio web site.

Course Goals:

Upon successful completion of this class, the student will have gained the skills to plan, design and build a visually pleasing and structurally sound Web site that is compliant with the latest standards and best practices.

Grading:

10% – Attendance and Class Participation
40% – Weekly Assignments
50% – Final Project

Course Requirements:

Come to class on time. Students arriving more than 20 minutes late may be marked absent.

Attend all classes. Each week we will build on the work learned the week before. If you must miss a class, please let me know ahead of time. It is your responsibility to obtain any missed material from your fellow classmates, and to turn assignments in on time even if you are absent. Students missing more than four classes may fail the course.

Turn in assignments on time. Work turned in late will lose one letter grade for every week that it is late. Work turned in more than two weeks from the due date will not be accepted. Midterm and Final projects may not be turned in late.

Ask Questions. This is a technical class, and we will be covering a lot of information in a short time. If you are confused, lost, need clarification, etc, please don’t hesitate to ask questions in class. Chance are your fellow students will benefit from the answers AND this will add to your class participation grade! I am also available between classes via email.

Academic Integrity. Plagiarism and cheating of any kind in the course of academic work will not be tolerated. Academic honesty includes accurate use of quotations, as well as appropriate and explicit citation of sources in instances of paraphrasing and describing ideas, or reporting on research findings or any aspect of the work of others (including that of instructors and other students). These standards of academic honesty and citation of sources apply to all forms of academic work (examinations, essays, theses, computer work, art and design work, oral presentations, and other projects).

It is the responsibility of students to learn the procedures specific to their discipline for correctly and appropriately differentiating their own work from that of others. Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, academic warning, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university.

Every student at CUNY signs an Academic Integrity Statement as a part of the registration process. Thus, you are held responsible for being familiar with, understanding, adhering to and upholding the spirit and standards of academic integrity as set forth by the CUNY Student Handbook.

Reading and Resources:

There is no required text for this course, however a number of resources, both printed and online, will be referenced on the class Web site, and some reading and class review of these materials may be required.

Course Calendar:

Week 1: Intro to HTML/xHTML
Week 2: xHTML Part 2, SFTP
Week 3: Intro to CSS
Week 4: CSS Positioning
Week 5: Working With Images
Week 6: Advanced CSS
Week 7: Final Project, Rounded Boxes
Week 8: Functional Specs, Image Replacement
Week 9: Interface Design
Week 10: Intro to JavaScript
Week 11: Production Graphics
Week 12: Embedding Multimedia
Week 13: Fav icons, Search Engine Optimization
Week 14: QA and Usability Testing
Week 15/16: Final Project Presentations