Tom Hapgood

Web 1

ARTS 4613, Visual Design: Web 1, Fall
In this course I instruct students in understanding the Web as a medium and how to create successful Web sites. I begin with a series of lectures on the history of the internet and the Web (based on both my research and my experience at Web firms during the so-called “dot-com boom” of the late 1990s). With an understanding of servers, networks, browsers and protocols, we go right into learning hand-coding standards-compliant XHTML coding with attention to accessibility responsibilities. We investigate the various approaches to effective Web typography and usability in interactive design, as well as information architecture and the planning and organizing of Web sites.

Web Design 1 Books

• Access by Design: A Guide to Universal Usability for Web Designers, Sarah Horton, 032131140x
• The Elements of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web, Jesse J. Garrett, 0-7357-1202-6
• I use Lynda.com for all software-related instruction

Projects
Here is a cursory list of the projects that will be completed in this class. For a detailed description of each project, log into WebCT and download the PDF project sheet.

Project 1/2: All-Text XHTML Poetry Experience

Create a simple nine-page web site using basic xhtml as the structure and a group of poems for content. The project of every member of the class will be identical, with black text on white background with default blue/purple links and left-aligned.

Project 2/2: Adding Style to Poetry

Give your poetry Web site from Project 1 some style (add css file), with typefaces, colors and link colors. Add a portrait image of the poet and a background photographic image that deals with the poem’s subject. As part two, lay out the page using divs.

Linear Photographic Narrative

A 21-page Web site based on a theme of your choosing. Choose a topic and shoot high-quality, fine-art photographs. Write a caption for each photograph and create a navigation structure.

The CSS Alphabet

Design individual pages of the alphabet and link to your classmates’ pages. Use mostly browser-rendered letters through xhtml/css with two instances of graphic letters. Letters will be black and web grays on white background in Times/Times New Roman typeface. Each page must have at least 15 instances of the letter with at least one instance very large and some very small. See the Project 4 Page.

“The Company” web site

This is an actual client-driven project that requires working with the client throughout the semester on planning, designing and coding a new Web presence.