This section describes what materials are needed, how the assignments and marking are arranged, and includes a table that sets out the elements of the course for your easy reference.
Materials
Aside from this Course Guide, this course includes ten study units. There is one set textbook, and there may be a small number of supplementary readings, case studies or articles taken from relevant journals and other books. Please ensure that you have all of these materials available.
The study units for IT S234 are as follows:
Unit 1 Creating Web pages with HTML introduces you to the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). No previous knowledge of HTML is assumed. The evolution of HTML, up to the present standard (XHTML) and the still-evolving standard (HTML5), is included. You will use common HTML elements and attributes to structure and encode a basic Web page from start to finish. You will then format the page using a given style sheet or the browser's default style sheet. The importance of disciplined and standards-based coding of HTML and CSS will also be emphasized.
Unit 2 Web design basics focuses on the design principles that you will apply as you work through a Web design project. It discusses the factors that must be considered in order to produce a Web site that works well regardless of the user's abilities and the computing platform he/she uses. It outlines the steps that designers must perform on a typical Web design project. Many of these steps are only briefly introduced here, but will be covered in more detail in later sections. You will learn to upload a finished page to a Web server. Lastly, this unit provides an overview of the tools and technologies that every Web designer must be familiar with. This includes HTML and CSS, which were introduced in Unit 1.
Unit 3 Cascading style sheets and typography looks at the design and organizational issues affecting the text content on a Web site. It also goes more in-depth into CSS building blocks such as selectors and the concept of inheritance. Various text formatting techniques using CSS will be demonstrated, including the ability to create a printer-friendly version of a Web page.
Unit 4 Graphics and colour explains how graphics and colour can be used effectively on a Web site. Topics such as image file formats, the optimal preparation of images for the Web, potential sources of images and the use of styles to present and position images are covered. Computer colour basics, the associated meaning of various colours, and the ways in which colours are classified and grouped together will be discussed to help you come up with suitable Web site colour schemes.
Unit 5 Page layouts expands on HTML and CSS you'll have learned in previous units. You will create a handful of page layouts for your Web site design project and present your work using wireframes coded in HTML and CSS. Different techniques for handling the display of the same page on different screen sizes will be introduced. Lastly, you will learn how to code their page layout using HTML5 elements.
Unit 6 Information and navigation design goes back to the beginning of the Web design project and goes deeper into the techniques used to gather site requirements and understand the target audience. It discusses the ways in which content can be collected, structured and organized on a Web site. Important conventions for naming files and organizing them into directories on the server are also covered. It goes over Web site navigation design principles and methods, and lastly, the need to document the major outputs of the Web design process.
Unit 7 Data tables and forms discusses how to create visually appealing, well-organized tables that can be used to present data in a grid format. It also demonstrates the HTML form elements that can be used to build interactive Web pages that collect information from users to be processed on the Web server. Finally, additional form features and capabilities in HTML5 will be discussed as well.
Unit 8 Multimedia and interactivity deals with the production, integration and the appropriate use of multimedia and front-end interactive elements on a Web site. Multimedia covers audio and video formats, while the discussion on interactivity focuses on the use of Javascript and the jQuery framework. Some of the interactive features to be implemented in Javascript include content collapse and expand, tabbed user interfaces, image lightboxes, photo slideshows, data table sorting and filtering, etc.
Unit 9 Site launch, promotion and maintenance covers how to launch a Web site, and the digital marketing and operational issues that must be considered in effectively managing an active business Web site. The digital marketing methods discussed include email, search engines, social media and online advertising. The need for integration between digital marketing and offline marketing is emphasized.
Unit 10 Accessibility, copyright and privacy goes over important issues and challenges related to accessibility, copyright and privacy. Many of these issues can be addressed by following guidelines issued by Web standards bodies or by local governments. Techniques covered include the use of accessible markup, the proper understanding of copyright models, and the use of privacy policies.
Set textbook
There is one compulsory textbook for IT S234.
Sklar, J (2012) Principles of Web Design, 5th edn, Course Technology.
Online and multimedia materials
Companion course Web site
This course has a companion Web site for hands-on practice and exercises at:
http://lab.ouhk.edu.hk/its234
OLE
The course is supported by the Online Learning Environment (OLE). You can find course materials and the latest course information from the OLE.
Other online resources
Students will be encouraged to explore and read other online resources from the Internet, such as the following:
Equipment needed (IT resources)
Hardware
A PC with the following minimum hardware specifications of:
- 800 MHz processor
- 1 GB RAM
- 1024 × 768 screen resolution
- True color (24-bit) or deep colour (30-bit or higher) display
- CD-ROM drive
- 2 GB hard disk space
- Sound card and speakers.
Software
The following software applications are required:
- Operating systems: Windows 7 or above
- Web browser: Google Chrome, Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox
- Text editor: A text editor that supports universal character encoding such as Notepad2 and Notepad++
- Graphics editor: A graphics editor that supports saving files in JPEG, PNG and GIF (examples: GIMP, Irfanview and NET)
- Utilities: FTP client (for uploading files to a Web server).
Internet connections and server resources
- A Hong Kong Internet service provider (ISP) dial-up or broadband connection to the Internet
- A 'public-html' directory for serving Web pages over the Internet, with a minimum of 5 MB disk space for presenting assignments and working on activities. This facility will be provided to students by HKMU
- Access to run PHP programs on a Web server — the HKMU server for IT S234 supports this.
Presentation Schedule
The Presentation Schedule is available on the OLE, and it gives the dates for completing assignments, and attending tutorials, day schools, and so on.
Assessment
IT S234 consists of continuous assessment worth 50% (assessed by three assignments) and a final examination worth 50% of the total marks for the course.
There are a number of rules and regulations relating to both, given in the Student Handbook. Students are strongly recommended to read this handbook, as it explains the general requirements for all assessment and the way grades are actually determined.
Assignments
The assignments are intended as practical exercises to allow you to demonstrate your analytical, design, coding, testing and evaluation skills as you complete the Web site projects and hands-on activities. You will be graded on the quality of the Web site you produce, as well as the accompanying documentation.
Four assignments have been set for the course, and the marks for the best three (3) will count towards your final course grade. The combined marks for the three assignments account for 50% of your total grade. All assignments will be made available on the OLE, and your work is to be submitted through the OLE also. Instructions on how to do this are provided in the OLE User Guide and in the rubric for each assignment.
An important part of the continuous assessment relates to your work in developing the Web site for the given case study. The work is usually integrated in the units either as activities or self-assessed questions. In completing these during the study of each unit, you will be preparing the work to be submitted as part of the associated assignment.
Final examination and grading
There will be a compulsory three-hour, closed book written final examination, which will account for 50% of the total course assessment. The paper will cover materials from all units.
The following table summarizes the assessment requirements for
IT S234.
Assessment | Course area covered | Weighting |
The three highest marks from the four assignments will be counted towards the overall continuous assessment score (OCAS). | 50% |
Assignment 1 | Units 1–3 | |
Assignment 2 | Units 4–6 | |
Assignment 3 | Units 7–8 | |
Assignment 4 | Units 9–10 | |
Examination | All units | 50% |
Total | 100% |