Calendar
Last updated April 15, 2014
The calendar is tentative and may be updated as the semester progresses.
All of the course readings can be found online. If for some reason a link is broken, please let Professor Carlson know.
Week 1 (begins 1/6)
Classes begin 1/6. Course Introduction.
Required Readings:
- None
Assignments:
- None
Week 2 (begins 1/13)
Taking Stock of Your Online Identity, and How to Use Social Networks Professionally
Required Readings:
- Online identity: is authenticity or anonymity more important?
- Protecting your online identity
- Managing your professional reputation on social media
- Seven social media myths busted for professionals
Assignments:
- Set-up your GitHub account; DUE Jan. 17, 11:59 p.m.
- Set-up your Wordpress blog; post first entry; DUE Sunday, Jan. 19, 11:59 p.m. Submit link to Carlson via e-Learning (under Assignments).
Week 3 (begins 1/20)
Building Your Online Brand
Required Readings:
- 5 key strategies to build your online brand
- Building your personal brand online (PDF download, 133 Kb)
- 9 steps to build your personal brand (and your career)
- Students, here's how to kick-start your personal brand online
Optional Readings:
- Create the perfect favicon
- Dynamic Drive: Favicon generator: A nifty website that will convert .png, .jpg, and .gif files into .ico, which is used for some favicons.
Assignments:
- Lab: Exercise 1: HTML quick fix due 11:59 p.m. Jan. 26
- Continue blogging, posting about once a week.
Week 4 (begins 1/27)
Web Design Process: Goals, Audiences, and Strategies; Site-Mapping and Wireframing
Required Readings:
- Following a web design process
- 6 phases of the website design and development process
- The nightmare of choosing a domain name
- 12 rules for choosing the right domain name
- FTP for beginners
- Design criticism and the creative process
- Audiences, outcomes, and determining user needs
- Ultimate guide to website wireframing
- Responsive design with mockups
- Why you should build a sitemap before designing your site
Optional Readings:
- Following through with post-launch strategy
- How web servers work
- 10 important factors to consider before choosing a web host
- Choosing a web hosting company: Five things you shouldn't let pass you by
- Tutorial: A beginner's guide to wireframing
- Sitemap tutorial
- Google information about sitemaps
- Testing websites in game console browsers
Assignments:
Week 5 (begins 2/3)
CSS basics
Web Design Do's and Don'ts
Required Readings:
- Personality in design
- Designing fun
- Design choices can cripple a website
- Testing content
- Usability testing demystified
- Good web site navigation – Reaching the information instantly
- How to design the best navigation bar for your website
- 10 principles of navigation design and why quality navigation is so crucial
Optional Readings:
Assignments:
- Lab Assignment: HTML Links and Images. Fix all broken absolute and relative URLs used for links and images. DUE Friday, Feb. 7, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 6 (begins 2/10)
Visual Web Design, or, How Not to Make Your Page Look Like it was Designed by a Five-Year-Old
Required Readings:
- Contrast is king
- Contrast and meaning
- Contrast rebellion
- Visual decision making
- Whitespace
- How to create a visual scheme for your online brand
Assignments:
- Wireframe and HTML prototype; DUE Feb. 21, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 7 (begins 2/17)
Visual Web Design, continued
Required Readings:
- How to design a proper banner – one that actually works
- Good designers redesign, great designers realign
- More meaningful typography
- On web typography
Assignments:
- Wireframe and HTML prototype; DUE Feb. 21, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub. The wireframe is a detailed drawing of your page (as shown in class) and the prototype is the HTML to set that page up. No CSS is required, yet. If you have content, use it, but it's not required. You can receive extra credit if you create a sitemap, too.
- Lab: Float and clear (15:16)
- Lab: Using Web Inspector (37:20)
Week 8 (begins 2/24)
Recap on HTML and CSS
Required Readings:
- None
Assignments:
- First Six Blog Entries; DUE Thursday, Feb. 27, 11:59 p.m.
- Lab: Media queries
- Lab: GitHub issues
Week 9: Spring Break (March 1-8)
Week 10 (begins 3/10)
Mobile First: Designing for a Mobile World
Required Readings:
- Client relationships and the multi-device web
- Uncle Sam wants you (to optimize your content for mobile)
- Apps vs. the web
- Responsive web design
- Mo' pixels mo' problems
- Mobile first design: Why it's great and why it sucks
Optional Readings:
- 9 awesome examples of effective mobile website design
- e-Book: Best and Worst of the Mobile Web
- Mobile website design: 30 pro tips
Assignments:
- Personal Website, part 1; DUE Thursday, March 13, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
- Lab: Building ProjectExplorer.org with more complex selectors
Week 11 (begins 3/17)
Website Critiques; Intro to Multimedia: Audio and Video for the Web
Required Readings:
- Designing with audio: What is sound good for?
- Digital audio basics
- How to create a podcast
- Video tutorial: How to create a podcast
Optional Readings:
Assignments:
- Exercise 4: CSS typography due 11:59 p.m. March 21. Submit via GitHub.
- Lab: Using a custom domain name for your github.io repo (6:05)
Week 12 (begins 3/24)
Audio and Video for the Web, continued
Required Readings:
Assignments:
- Lab: Exercise 5, CSS selectors, Due March 21.
- Feedback on Classmates' Websites; DUE Thursday, March 27, 11:59 p.m. Submit to Carlson via e-Learning (under Assignments).
Week 13 (begins 3/31)
Search Engine Optimization
Required Readings:
Assignments:
- None.
Week 14 (begins 4/7)
How Online Advertising Works, and Marketing with Social Media
Required Readings:
- Study suggests fake web traffic is worse than you thought
- The most hated advertising techniques
- 16 social media marketing tips from the pros
- Whiting out the ads, but at what cost?
Optional Readings:
- 23 badly placed internet ads
- Is ad blocking the problem?
- Ad blocking: Theft or fair use?
- The ad-blocker's dilemma
- Why ad blocking is devastating to the sites you love
- .com Disclosures: How to make effective disclosures in digital advertising. (PDF from the FTC)
Assignments:
- None.
Week 15 (begins 4/14)
Online Ethics: When is it Stealing, Borrowing, Imitating, and Using Other Peoples' Content?
Required Readings:
Optional Readings:
Assignments:
- Second Six Blog Entries; DUE Thursday, April 17, 11:59 p.m.
Week 16 (begins 4/21)
Communicating on the web: How the Professionals Do It.
Required Readings:
- Should you be designing with QR codes?
- Principles of minimalist web design, with examples
- The how and why of minimalism
- Less is more: Fundamentals of minimalist web design
- Designing for services beyond the screen
- 12 cool HTML5 geolocation ideas
Optional Readings:
Assignments:
- Personal Website, part 2; DUE Tuesday, April 22, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.