ISM 116: Web Design and Development
Fall 2013
Instructor:
Co-Instructor:
Office:
E-Mail:
Phone:
Office Hours:
Jeffrey Wall
Janice Knapp
392 Bryan Building
jdwall2@uncg.edu (email is the preferred method of contact)
(336) 334-4159 (I don’t have a voicemail box)
Mon & Wed from 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm; Fri from 10:00 am – 11:00 am
And by Appointment
Catalog Description:
Students learn skills needed to design effective web pages by studying the best practices in site design and using leading-edge
design and development tools and techniques.
Course Objectives:
This course is designed to teach students to design, develop, and maintain a web site. Students will learn web design and
development techniques such as: defining the purpose for a web site; creating an information architecture; designing layouts
with text, hyperlinks, images, divs, tables, etc.; styling web pages; and adding rich media to the web site. Applications such as
Adobe Dreamweaver, Aptana, HTML Kit, Adobe Photoshop, GIMP and other design programs may be utilized during the
course. Students will refine their development skills by using these technologies to complete a series of course assignments and
projects. Students will complete weekly labs and two major projects: an individual project and a team project. The individual
project demonstrates each student’s design and develop capabilities. The team project demonstrates students’ ability to work in
teams to complete a project. This skill is extremely important as a practitioner. As part of these major projects, students are
expected to design and develop fully functional web sites that can be added to their professional portfolios. Where possible,
students will work on real-world problems for the team project.
Upon completion of the class, students will be able to:
1. Plan a web design project.
2. Design the content, information architecture, and layout of web sites.
3. Use design tools and strategies to implement a design.
4. Understand the basic concepts of HTML and CSS and use them appropriately.
5. Understand the basic of PHP and HTML5.
6. Enhance the visual design of a website by using good design principles.
7. Test the usability of website.
Required Textbook:
“Don’t Make me Think” by Steve Krug, New Riders Publishing.
Optional Textbook:
“CSS: The Missing Manual” by David Sawyer McFarland, OREILLY Publishing.
Instructional Methods:
This course will be delivered by mixing lectures with in class examples and hands-on computer exercises. Lectures will give
students a basic understanding of good design principles and a vocabulary sufficient to guide them as they explore website
design on their own. Students are expected to learn how to find information to solve the problems they encounter in labs
and on assignments. Since technology is ever-changing, knowing how to find answers is extremely important. In class
examples will be used to demonstrate the application of concepts discussed in lecture. Students will then have the opportunity
to practice the techniques discussed in lecture by completing hands-on assignments. Hands-on learning assignments may focus
on content not discussed in lecture to encourage students to learn to find information and solve development problems. A great
deal of learning in the class is self-directed. Use of materials and resources outside of the required text books is encouraged.
Homework assignments and class projects challenge students to apply the knowledge learned in class, and to learn to find
information on their own to ensure that they are able to stay up-to-date with the latest technological advances.
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Late Assignments:
Quizzes and lab practices cannot be turned in late. Quizzes and lab practices must be completed by their assigned date and
time. Students will still be expected to know how to complete any missed labs, since labs often build on each other.
Exams may only be made-up with a written, verifiable, legitimate excuse or prior written consent from the instructor.
Late individual and team projects and planning assignments will be docked 10% for every day late up to 40% off unless
previous written arrangements have been made with the instructor. No assignment will be accepted after the last official day of
class; this does NOT include finals week.
Quizzes and Class Participation
Quizzes and class participation account for 6.25% of your grade. There will be 11 quizzes throughout the semester. Quiz dates
will not be announced, but in general, there will be 1 quiz each week. Quizzes are each worth 2 points towards your final grade.
Participation is based on attendance during lecture days and participation in class discussions. Students are expected to
participate in class. The lowest quiz score will be dropped. Quiz questions will come from reading materials and class
discussions and activities. Not all material is covered in class. Students are expected to do the assigned readings to further
develop their knowledge. Students who miss or are late to class on the date of a quiz will not be allowed to take a quiz at a
later time. Quizzes may be administered at any time (e.g., at the beginning, middle or end of class during any class period).
Students are expected to be prepared for class. Each student is responsible for all of the information and announcements that
are made in class and on Blackboard. Announcements are frequently posted to Blackboard. Poor performance in this course is
directly related to poor attendance. Students are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner. Professionals show
up for scheduled meetings prepared and on time and participate regularly. Any student missing the first two classes without
notifying the instructor will be administratively dropped from the course.
Lab Practices:
The nature of this class is hands on. Thus, lab practices represent a significant portion of the work load for this course. We will
do 11 web design activities in lab, each worth 10 points. The lowest lab practice grade will be dropped. Lab practices will
enhance your ability to design web sites. Although lab time is provided some work may need to be completed outside of class.
Lab practices will be made available at the start of class on lab-day, and will be due by 11:59 p.m. the same day. Lab practices
should be submitted as designated on the lab practice. NO late lab practices will be accepted.
Web planning projects:
Students will complete two website planning documents for the two class projects (e.g., the individual and team project). The
planning documents should follow the outline designated in course readings and lectures. An assignment sheet will be available
later in the semester.
Midterm and Final Exams:
The midterm exam is administered in two parts. The first part of the exam is written, in class, and closed-book. This exam will
cover the concepts and underlying theories of web design and development. Questions for the written exam may follow the
format of the weekly quiz questions, though they may not be the exact same questions. Students who are actively studying and
following along each week will be well prepared to answer questions on the written part of the exam. Again, students are
responsible for material in the assigned readings even if not covered in class. The second part of the exam is an open-book and
hands-on take home exam that will test the students ability to create a website. No make-up examinations are offered unless a
written, verifiable, legitimate excuse for the absence is presented to the instructor or written arrangements are made
beforehand. The final exam will be a closed-book written exam following the same format as the midterm written exam. The
final may include some content covered on the midterm. Attendance on the date of exams is MANDATORY.
Individual Project:
Students will create a professional resume website for themselves. Students must plan, design, and develop a fully functional
web site. The guidelines for this project are open-ended. However, students must have multiple pages (at least 3 pages).
Offensive or inappropriate material should not be used for this project. This project takes the place of the hands-on final exam
to allow students more time to produce a quality project. An assignment sheet will be available later in the semester.
Team Project:
Students will form design teams (2 or 3 people per group) to work on a group web project. This project should be based on a
real life business case (e.g., for-profit, non-profit, or governmental) that requires the students to plan, design and develop a fully
functional web site. Business cases may be assigned to students, although students are encouraged to suggest projects to the
instructor. Several teams will work on each project. Teams will be required to present their web projects to the class at the end
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of the semester. The guidelines for this project are open ended. Students are encouraged to start thinking early about team
composition. Topics that may be offensive or inappropriate should be cleared first with the instructor. Team projects include
the web site files, team charter, usability test reviews and write-up, and project presentation. An assignment sheet will be
available later in the semester.
Grading:
Your final grade is determined using the following scale and assignment weights:
775-800 : A+
616-639 : C+
752-774 : A
584-615 : C
720-751 : A560-583 : C-
Deliverables
Quizzes and Class Participation
Lab Practices
Project Plans
Mid-Term Exam
Final Exam
Individual Project
Team Project
Total
696-719 : B+
536-559 : D
664-695 : B
520-535 : D-
Points
640-663 : BBelow 520 : F
Grade Weights
50 points
100 points
50 points
200 points
100 points
100 points
200 points
800 points
6.25%
12.50%
6.25%
25.00%
12.50%
12.50%
25.00%
100.00%
Ethical Issues and the Honor Code Policies:
University students are expected to conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of academic honesty.
Academic misconduct for which a student is subject to penalty includes all forms of cheating, such as illicit possession of
examinations or examination materials, forgery, plagiarism, etc. Although students are allowed to work with others on lab
assignments, students may NOT borrow, or "share" copies of their lab assignments with other students. Each student should
create his/her own lab assignment. Students may not share their work on any exam, or individual project or assignment;
students will receive a 0 for the exam or assignment if this occurs.
Plagiarism is defined as "presenting as one’s own work that work which is, in whole or in part, the work of another person or
persons without giving proper credit to the appropriate source." This includes submitting work done by another as one’s own
work. It is understood that what you turn in to me for a grade represents your own effort. Plagiarism will be immediately
punished with a 0 for the assignment in question. Further disciplinary action will be pursued as the instructor deems
appropriate. Helping one another is allowed on many assignments, but copying or turning in the same assignment is cheating.
This practice is against the UNCG Honor Code and defeats the purpose of this course. No credit will be received for shared
work, and other penalties may be imposed.
This course also has some additional issues owing to the unique nature of online content. You may, at times, wish to borrow
elements from another website (e.g., images, code). If you take structural or graphical elements from a site, you MUST specify
1) where the elements came from, and 2) discuss the ways in which you have adapted and changed the original in order to
make it your own. If you have questions about whether something you are submitting might constitute plagiarism, ask me well
BEFORE you use the material. Students using pre-existing website templates or pre-created site elements without
instructor approval will receive a 0 for the assignment.
UNCG’s academic integrity policy can be viewed at: http://academicintegrity.uncg.edu/complete/
Bryan Faculty/Student Guidelines:
Please view these guidelines at: http://www.uncg.edu/bae/faculty_student_guidelines_sp07.pdf
Disabilities:
If you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
Inclement Weather:
Rarely, UNCG closes for inclement weather. The radio and TV stations will have the closing notification by 6:30 am. You may
also call 334-5000 for a message related to weather closings. These messages are updated hourly.
* This syllabus is subject to change as needed *
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Tentative Course Outline *This outline is subject to change as needed*
** DMMT: refers to the required textbook, “Don’t Make me Think.” This is a well-designed book that is a quick read. Most of the chapters are short.
** CSS: refers to the optional textbook, “CSS: The missing manual.” Tutorials at the end of each chapter are not assigned but may be useful practice.
** BB: refers to documents on Blackboard that are not included in the textbooks.
Week Of
Lecture (Mon, Wed)
Lab (Fri)
Readings
Deliverables
Week 01 (08/19)
Lab 1 – Basic HTML
Week 05 (09/16)
Using CSS for page layout.
Lab 5 – The box model
Week 06 (09/23)
Creating site navigation
elements.
Working with graphics.
Lab 6 – Site navigation
DMMT: Chapter 1
CSS: pgs. (3-4; 20-22; 26-28)
BB: Website Planning Guide
CSS: pgs. (31-37; 49-61)
DMMT: Chapter 2
CSS: pgs. (113-137)
DMMT: Chapter 3
CSS: pgs. (81-84; 91-102)
DMMT: Chapter 6
CSS: pgs. (151-174; 299-309)
DMMT: Chapter 7
CSS: pgs. (225-248)
DMMT: Chapter 5
CSS: pgs. (187-200)
Review syllabus
Week 04 (09/09)
Introduction to web
development and HTML.
Introduction to project planning
and CSS.
Text and CSS.
No Class on Monday!
Understanding CSS inheritance.
Week 02 (08/26)
Week 03 (09/02)
Week 07 (09/30)
Week 08 (10/07)
Week 09 (10/14)
Week 11 (10/28)
Week 12 (11/04)
From HTML to HTML5.
Week 13 (11/11)
Introduction to web
programming with PHP.
Presentations (Lecture Room).
Week 14 (11/18)
Week 15 (11/25)
Week 16 (12/02)
Lab 3 – Formatting text
Lab 4 – Inheritance
Lab 7 – Midterm practice
Team Member Charter Due 09/13
Individual Project Plan Due 09/20
Team Project Plan Due 10/04
Midterm Exams (Written portion in class on Monday). Take-home portion open from Monday to Friday
Tables and forms.
No Class on Monday. Enjoy!
Team consultations.
Progress reports.
Usability testing.
Week 10 (10/21)
Lab 2 – Intro to styles
Lab 8 – Tables and forms
Team consultations.
Progress reports.
Lab 9 – Using FTP
Mandatory Attendance.
Lab 10-11 – Usability tests
Mandatory Attendance.
Work on projects.
Presentations (Lecture
Room).
Presentations (Lecture Room).
No Class Friday.
No Class Wednesday!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Final written exam on Monday 12/02 in class.
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DMMT: Chapter 8
CSS: pgs. (311-318; 323-332)
DMMT: Chapter 9
CSS: pgs. (355-371)
DMMT: Chapter 10
DMMT: Chapter 11
No reading!!
Study for final.
No reading!!
Study for final.
No reading!!
Study for final.
Team Progress Reports Due
Develop Questions as a Team for
Usability Testing
Team Presentation Dates
Assigned
Team Project Due 11/18
Project Presentations All Week
Project Presentations Monday
Individual Project Due 12/02
Final Exam