Description
This is an introductory level web communications course. You will be introduced to core concepts needed to create professional and effective web sites from the perspective of a professional communicator (rather than from a programmer perspective). This course is taught in a hands-on, workshop manner with a mix of lecture and lab time. This course will have 3 somewhat distinct sections.
SECTION 1
First, you will learn about web communication concepts. Topics for this section include learning about project management/core process, graphic design (CRAP), user experience, interface design and user-centered design. Our projects for this section will focus almost exclusively on critiques and interface designs.
During this section of the course, we will primarily use Adobe Photoshop (ie., programming will be kept to a minimum).
SECTION 2
After we learn about planning and presenting web site concepts you will learn how to create functional websites with XHTML and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). You will learn basic programming concepts, layout skills and techniques, explore the benefits of CSS and also post your first sites using file transfer protocol (FTP). We will also investigate browser variations and how (if we can) to embrace these varations. We will use an HTML editor during this time and possibly Adobe Dreamweaver.
SECTION 3
The third section will (as you probably can guess) build on the first two. During this section, you will be working on your projects while I introduce more advance web concepts and tools including analytic tools, audio/video tools, blogs, social networks and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques.
Throughout each section, significant time will be devoted to hands-on work in lab using XHTML, CSS and industry standard software (such as Adobe Photoshop) to create a variety of projects. Although I will provide some support and technical assistance, you are expected to explore and build your skills on your own.
For those of you (and it’s the vast majority of you) not familiar with these software programs, it will be your responsibility to learn them. We will discuss various resources to help you become power users, so don’t be intimidated!