RISP 361-Web Development

This course will help students consider the issues and challenges involved in creating and maintaining a website, including:

How to read/write HTML
How to FTP files and develop a file structure for your web site
How to use Dreamweaver, Photoshop, and Flash to create and edit files for the web
How to determine which design elements are appropriate, according to the content of the site
How to develop the look and feel of a web site
How to write content for the web
How to evaluate other web sites
How to resolve development issues and problems as they arise
How to interact with potential "clients"

You can find this at the University bookstore.

Son of Web Pages that Suck, Vincent Flanders, Sybex

In addition, you should plan on purchasing a book on Dreamweaver and/or a book on Photoshop for your own reference. There are some available in the University bookstore. You should also plan on using online help for Dreamweaver and Photoshop as much as you can

If you are interested in a certain topic, here are some additional books you may find useful. These are not required for class. You should, however, plan on becoming very familiar with all the online help available to you.

Web Design in a Nutshell, Jennifer Niederst, O'Reilly
Web Style Guide, Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton, Yale University Press
Son of Web Pages that Suck, Vincent Flanders, Sybex
Designing Web Usability, Jakob Nielsen, New Riders
Secrets of Successful Web Sites: Project Management on the World Wide Web, David Siegel, Hayden Books
The Web Page Design Cookbook, William Horton, Lee Taylor, Arthur Ignacio, Nancy L. Hoft, John Wiley and Sons
HTML for the World Wide Web, 4e, Elizabeth Castro, Peachpit Press
HTML Goodies, Joe Burns, Que
HTML 4.01 Weekend Crash Course, Greg Perry, IDG Books
HTML in Plain English, 2e, Sandra E. Eddy, MIS: Press
HTML 4 for Dummies: Quick Reference, Deborah S. Ray and Eric J. Ray, IDG Books
Dreamweaver 4: The Missing Manual, David Sawyer McFarland, Pogue Press/O'Reilly
Web Photoshop 6 Primer, Jason I. Milsetsky, Prentice Hall
Adobe Photoshop 5.5 Web Design, Michael Baumgardt, Adobe Press
Flash 5 Visual Insight, Sherry London, Dan London, Coriolis
Macromedia Flash for Windows and Macintosh, Katherine Ulrich, Peachpit Press
Javascript for the World Wide Web, 4e, Tom Negrino, Dori Smith, Peachpit Press

The software necessary for this course is available during class, but Digital Workshop 1 is not an open lab. You can find the software and hardware elsewhere on campus, or you can download free trials of the software.

The Interactive Media Center in the basement of the Main Library has:

PC and Mac computers, MIDI devices, scanners, and VCRs

Software (This is a partial listing. You may use these for class, although the versions available to us in DW are different.)

Adobe Acrobat 5

Adobe Photoshop 6

Adobe Premiere

Dreamweaver MX

Fireworks 4

Flash MX

HTML-Kit

Internet Explorer, Netscape & Opera

ITunes & IMovie

Map Edit

Telnet

WS_FTP / Fetch

Winzip / Stuff/It Deluxe

Classes on how to use their equipment

Please note: the resources at the IMC are limited and available to the entire campus, not just our class. Please do not all wait until the last minute and flood the IMC. You can reserve the equipment with them, otherwise it is a first come, first served situation. In addition, the support staff at the IMC may not be familiar with the applications we are using, so do not expect technical support.

Download trials:

Dreamweaver (30 day free trial)

Photoshop (Free demo, but you cannot save anything you create with the demo)

Flash (30 day free trial)

Attendance: You are expected to attend every class. You have up to 1 unexcused absence during the semester. Beyond that, 2 points will be deducted from your final grade for each class missed without an official university note and 1 point will be deducted for late arrival or early departure. Attendance on the evening of your team presentations is mandatory. Because our time is limited, we have a lot to cover, and resources on campus are scarce, I encourage you to not only attend class each week, but participate to your fullest. You probably do not own the software applications we will use, so you should plan to take advantage of the time you have on the computers in class. Likewise, this means you should spend this time on the course work for this course, not email, websurfing, etc.

Homework: You are expected to turn in your homework before the class it is due (email it to me) or at the start of class. This means that the current class is not the time to do today's homework.

Academic Honesty: I encourage you all to learn from each other. However, your grades are ultimately, your grades. Therefore, you are expected to produce your own drafts and projects (except for the team projects). So while you may consult your fellow students, you must turn in your own work. All writing, design, html code and research must be your own. Please cite all references. Please refer to the Undergraduate Academic Regulations of the Undergraduate Bulletin 2002-2003.

Responsible Computing: Students are required to read the "University at Albany Policy for the Responsible Use of Information Technology" available at the Academic Computing Web Site. Students are also required to read: "Appendix I: Policies Governing Student Use of Computing and Networking Facilities at the University at Albany." Students will be expected to apply the policies discussed in these two documents to all computing and electronic communications in the course.

Failure to comply with these policies will result in a failing grade for this course.

SIRF COURSE EVALUATION