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:
| Time | Location | TA |
| 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):
- Watrall, (WA) Head First Web Design
- Krug, (DMMT) Don't Make Me Think, Second Edition
Another good design book that I'll put on reserve in the engineering library is:
- Williams, (Design) The Non-Designer's Design Book, Second Edition
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:
- Freeman and Freeman, (FF) Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML
Finally, these two books are quite good PHP references:
- Beighley and Morrison, (BM) Head First PHP & MySQL
- Nixon, (PHP) Learning PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Dynamic Websites
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.
Regrading information is found at regrades.
For more information about the class, please check out our syllabus, or contact any of our course staff.
