Overview & Outcomes
Creating Online Media: an Overview
Comm 310 is primarily a front-end web design class. We learn basic web standards principles, HTML, CSS and PHP. Search engine optimization (SEO) is covered to the extent that standards-based code facilitates SEO. Design and usability principles are expected (see pre-requisite courses), but not covered outright.
The Web may never totally replace other media, but definitely has the potential to reach more people, update more rapidly, and remain relatively less expensive to use than any other mass communication medium. Because of this, it has quickly become the medium of all media. This class is specifically designed to help communication students prepare for careers that increasingly demand web-media savvy. The purpose of this course should be clear from its title. Students will become creators of online media.
Course Outcomes
Students will demonstrate understanding of standards-based web development using HTML and CSS by creating their own websites. They will demonstrate facility with web-creation software tools by creating web graphics and managing live sites. They will demonstrate how SEO and usability issues must be considered by incorporating them into course projects. They will demonstrate how to use basic PHP to make their sites/pages dynamic.
Course Materials
Textbook:
Patick Griffiths HTML Dog:the best-practice guide to XHTML & CSS
Although some information in this text is outdated, it is still a great resource/reference book for learning XHTML and CSS. We will be learning HTML5, which builds on all previous versions of HTML, including XHTML as taught in this text.
Digital Storage:
You may store files on the computers in the classroom as a backup, but be aware that those drives may be purged at any time during the semester. Therefore, you will need a place to keep your work besides the class computer hard drives. Storing work on laptops and thumb drives is a good option. But they can crash or get lost. I encourage you to always save your work in more than one place. You might consider signing up for a free 2 gig account at DropBox. If you use this link, you will earn 500mB of additional (free) storage space.
Domain Name & Web Host:
You will be required to purchase a domain name and web hosting service. You will use the domain name and web host for all projects. If you already have a domain name & hosting service, you may use them for this course. You may use any hosting service you wish as long as pages are free from ads and as long as the host supports PHP.
There are many hosting companies. Each has unique strengths and weakness. You should research many options and compare their services. In the past, students who signed up with iPage have asked me to warn my future students to avoid iPage hosting. I'm sure iPage isn't the only one to avoid. You'll want to research and read independent reviews to help you choose.
Since we will be using PHP and not .ASP or .NET, you should choose Linux hosting rather than Windows. Windows hosting will work, but you will need to activate certain permissions when we do PHP (contact your hosting provider for details).
Purchasing a domain name typically costs about $9/year on average. Frequently you can get free domain registration if you purchase hosting from the same company. Basic web hosting costs between $5–$10/month. Most web hosts offer discounts for the first year.