Ben Dunkle, 332 Lyons Hall, 888-3125, dunkleb@canisius.edu

T/Tr 10-11:30am, W:10am-12am

T/R 11:30am-12:45pm

Students learn the fundamentals of Web design and development. Using various web software (Text editors, Photoshop, browsers and plugins, ftp clients), students will become familiar with effective methods for designing and maintaining websites. Students will learn how websites are built, from domain registration to website hosting to site development in both a local and remote environment. Search engine optimization, accessibility, useability, and web standards will be examined and discussed in detail.

Because of the growing ubiquity of web design practices in a variety of courses, some of the material may be redundant or even controversial. If you have any concerns about this, please see me to discuss whether the course is appropriate for you.

Students who complete this course should have a thorough understanding of the following:

• xHTML and CSS. These are the foundation for all web design. In order to produce effective web design, you need to know how to interpret and write code; it's that simple. I've yet to meet a web designer who works exclusively in WYSIWYG. Knowing code will not only help you develop pages from scratch, it will come into play when you reuse code from other sources.
• Website building processes. Students should know how sites are developed, tested, and launched. Students will learn about registering domain names, working with hosting providers, setting up email accounts, analyzing site statistics, installing scripts, and using ftp.
• Website design history. Students will understand how the web came about and important events in the web's short history.
• Trends in website design. The web changes constantly, and new technologies are being introduced that make web design both easier and more complex.

All readings will be provided as links on my website: http://wlab.canisius.edu/~dunkleb/DMA_342_Intro_to_Web_Design/schedule.php . Quizzes will be conducted for each week's reading.

• If you have your own computer, and want to work outside of the labs, you'll need a text editor and an ftp client. The free stuff for mac is really good. Get Textwrangler ( http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/ and Cyberduck ( http://cyberduck.ch). Textmate and Yummy FTP or Transmit are good paid apps for mac. If you're on a PC, get Notepad++ for text editing and Filezilla for ftp.
• A sketchbook, journal or notebook is essential. You must collect or create samples of visual content to use on your pages. You must document your discoveries about web design as we go through the course. Each week of coursework should be documented by at least one sheet of sketchbook activity, one blog entry, or notebook activity.

Grade item	QPs	Quantity	Total Points
Exercises	50	8	400
Projects	200	2	400
Final Exam	100	1	100
Sketchbook/Participation	100	1	100
TOTAL QPs			1000

Grades will be available on Angel. Check your grades frequently. Students will be given Quality Points (QPs) for each assignment, out of a maximum number possible. At the end of the semester, the total QPs yield a letter grade according to the following chart:

Total QPs for Class	Final Grade (Total points divided by 10 and converted to a letter grade)
925-1000	A
895-924	A-
865-894	B+
825-864	B
795-824	B-
765-794	C+
725-764	C
695-724	C-
595-694	D
<595	F

Note: In the event that there are fewer or more than 1000 qps for the class, grades will be weighted. For example, if he maximum number of QPs ends up being 900, grades will be multiplied by 1.1 to yield 1000 QPs.

Grades are based on quality and effort. Late assignments will not be acceptable after two weeks, and will be penalized. Folders submitted to my drop box and are timestamped, meaning I can see the date they were submitted. Resubmitted assignments are acceptable until the final exam, meaning that grades can be adjusted if the resubmitted work shows improvement.

Grades of 2. This means I either can't open your files, lost your files, or see a major problem with your work. Check Blackboard constantly for your grades. As soon as you see a 2, see me so we can clear it up. If a 2 is not addressed within 1 week after it appears, it becomes a 0 and will not be changed.

Assignments may be resubmitted until the last day of the semester for grade reconsideration, as long as the first version was handed in on time. Grades will drop by 2 QPs for every day the assignment is late. If an assignment is at all late, it CANNOT be resubmitted.

Back up your files. "My hard drive died, I dropped my flash drive in a puddle, My computer got a virus" and the like are unacceptable excuses. You MUST ALWAYS keep two current copies of everything you do. There are many viable sources for backup-your portable drive, your home computer/laptop, Chupacabra, GMail.

All work must be dropped off in my public/drop box folder in Chupacabra. I will not accept email attachments, disks, or links to work. Work should be enclosed in a folder labelled as follows: classnumber_assignmentnumber_username e.g., 342_ex4_dunkleb). Any files included in your folder may be named however you like, but the folder name is extremely important.

Websites will be served in either your sites folder on Chupacabra or your public_html folder on WLAB. When submitting a website project, the site must be dropped off in my dropbox, as well as available via a link on your web space (http://wlab.canisius.edu/~username or http://dma.canisius.edu/~username)

See my Lab Notes for more detailed instruction on submitting work.

A sketchbook is essential to document ideas, paste inspirational designs that you come across, and as an outlet for fleeting bursts of creativity. All projects and exercises must be accompanied by sketchbook entries. Sketchbooks make up part of each grade for your projects.

Attendance is mandatory for all classes. More than three unexcused absences will reduce your final grade by one step; i.e. a B+ becomes a B if 4 classes are missed, or a B- if 5 classes are missed, and so on. Lateness of more than 10 minutes is considered half an absence.

1. Talking via cell phones is not permitted in class
2. Text-messaging via cell phones, Instant Messenger, chat rooms, etc. is not permitted in class
3. Web surfing and listening to music is not allowed during lectures and discussions but is allowed during lab work if the web surfing is relevant to a class assignment and the music listening is done with headphones.
4. Treat people respectfully. Working together and asking questions of each other is encouraged. Please communicate with respect regarding technical and personal differences. Diversity of thought, culture and creativity will be encouraged.

1. Do not bring food or drink into the classroom
2. Do not touch the screens with your fingers
3. Eyestrain, muscle and joint aches are common ailments that result from long hours working at the computer. Get up from the computer to take frequent breaks to give your body a rest. Alert the instructor if you are feeling any pain in your wrists or having any symptoms related to bad computer posture.

It is essential that you archive all of your work so that it can be used in your portfolio. Each assignment should be saved onto Chupacabra and backed up onto your removeable drive. I will not be archiving any student work, and Chupacabra will be erased at the end of every semester. Archiving your work is your responsibility.

Students with special needs are asked to please alert the instructor at the beginning of the semester.

Cheating on quizzes, exercises, projects and exams is not permitted. Submitting work bassed on another student's work without significant modification is the same as cheating. For further clarification on the Canisius College policy on academic integrity, consult the student handbook.

I will be offering comprehensive feedback on graded assignments to students who request it. If a student wants to discuss the reasoning behind a certain grade (whether good or bad), he/she should speak to me during office hours or send me an email/instant message (AIM shorbot) and I will respond promptly. Additionally, some work will be posted onto the Angel discussion boards for feedback.

Participation grades will be largely based on classwordk assignments. During lecture/demo classes, students will be expected to follow along and produce work that reflects their learning. If you are not in class, you will not be able to complete classwork.

Lyons hall is open from 8am until 8pm every day. If you're in Lyons you can access Lyons 312 and Lyons 122 via your swipe card. Please allow a week or so for swipe card access to be set up. Lyons 325 (the web lab) is accessible whenever the Comm Studies office is open, generally M-F 8:30-4:30. The DMA assisted-lab hours where Brian Manning is available to students are as follows: TBA