INFO 130 - Introduction to Web Design and Programming

Overview

This course is designed to introduce students to both the theoretical and technical aspects of developing web sites. No prior knowledge of programming, or web or graphic design is assumed or necessary.

In the course, we will cover basic web technologies such as eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML), Cascading StyleSheets (CSS), beginning server programming using PHP, along with basic graphic design techniques in Adobe Photoshop. In addition, the course will address design principles, usability concerns for the web, user testing, and a number of other theories and principles to assist you in designing your website.

Meeting Times

This course meets for lectures on Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:30-3:20 in Philips 203. Sections meet on Fridays in the ACCEL Labs at the following times/rooms:

TimeLocationTA
12:20pm - 1:10pm  ACCEL BLUE  Pavel Vodenski
12:20pm - 1:10pm  ACCEL ORANGE  Eric Zatz
1:25pm - 2:15pm  ACCEL BLUE  Philip Adams
1:25pm - 2:15pm  ACCEL ORANGE  Nicholas Knouf
2:30pm - 3:20pm  ACCEL BLUE  Philip Adams
2:30pm - 3:20pm  ACCEL ORANGE  Nicholas Knouf

Please note that section attendance is required.

Textbooks

You probably can get away with no book purchases and use of online resources. But there some really nice books on this material, which are mentioned in the remainder of this section.

I highly recommend you purchase and read the following two design books (links are to Amazon page):

Another good design book that I'll put on reserve in the engineering library is:

Throughout the semester we will use the Resources section of this web site to recommend to you good references on HTML, CSS, PHP, and other aspects of the course curriculum. Although the web sites do an adequate job of explaining HTML and CSS the following book is a great introduction to these subjects:

Finally, these two books are quite good PHP references:

Evaluation

The material in this course is best learned through practice. Therefore,there will be assignments almost weekly, due on the following Tuesday at 11:59 PM. These assignments fall into four groups.

  • Homeworks - relatively short with almost no coding.
  • Projects - More substantial requiring coding in HTML, CSS, and PHP.
  • Final Project - A very substantial group (3-4 people) effort, involving an outside customer, which is due at the end of the semester.
  • Final Project Milestone - Intermediate work for the final project.
Information on the weighting of these to determine final grades is at the page describing grading policy.

Regrading information is found at regrades.

For more information about the class, please check out our syllabus, or contact any of our course staff.