Calendar
All of the course readings can be found online. If for some reason a link is broken, please let Dennis know.
Week 1 (begins 8/19)
Classes begin 8/21. Course Introduction.
Required Readings:
- None
Assignments:
- None
Week 2 (begins 8/26)
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 Sunday, Sept. 1, 11:59 p.m.
- Set-up your Wordpress blog; post first entry; DUE Sunday, Sept. 1, 11:59 p.m. Submit link to Dennis via e-Learning (under Assignments).
Week 3 (begins 9/2)
Building Your Online Brand
Required Readings:
- 5 key strategies to build your online brand
- Business owners share ways to build your brand experience online
- 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:
- Continue blogging, posting about once a week.
Week 4 (begins 9/9)
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:
- Lab Assignment: HTML Quick Fix; DUE Sunday, Sept. 15, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 5 (begins 9/16)
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; DUE Sunday, Sept. 22, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 6 (begins 9/23)
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:
- Sitemap and Wireframe; DUE Sunday, Sept. 29, 11:59 p.m. Submit to Dennis via e-Learning (under Assignments).
Week 7 (begins 9/30)
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:
- None
Week 8 (begins 10/7)
Recap on HTML and CSS
Required Readings:
- None
Assignments:
- First Six Blog Entries; DUE Thursday, Oct. 10, 11:59 p.m.
Week 9 (begins 10/14)
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, Oct. 17, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 10 (begins 10/21)
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:
- None
Week 11 (begins 10/28)
Audio and Video for the Web, continued
Required Readings:
Assignments:
- Feedback on Classmates' Websites; DUE Thursday, Oct. 31, 11:59 p.m. Submit to Dennis via e-Learning (under Assignments).
Week 12 (begins 11/4)
Search Engine Optimization
Required Readings:
Assignments:
- None.
Week 13 (begins 11/11)
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:
- Lab Assignment 4: CSS typography; DUE Thursday, Nov. 12, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 14 (begins 11/18)
Online Ethics: When is it Stealing, Borrowing, Imitating, and Using Other Peoples' Content?
Required Readings:
Optional Readings:
Assignments:
- Lab Assignment 5: CSS selectors; DUE Thursday, Nov. 21, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.
Week 15 (begins 11/25)
Communicating on the web: How the Professionals Do It. No class on Thursday, 11/28 (Thanksgiving).
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:
- Second Six Blog Entries; DUE Tuesday, Nov. 26, 11:59 p.m.
Week 16 (begins 12/2)
Where Do You Go From Here? Ways to Teach Yourself After Class Concludes
Required Readings:
- None.
Assignments:
- Personal Website, part 2; DUE Tuesday, Dec. 3, 11:59 p.m. Submit via GitHub.