Spring 2007		Room		Time		Instructor: Howard Rosenbaum		Telephone: 855-3250		Office hours
		LI002		9:30-12:15 AM M		hrosenba@indiana.edu		Office: 005B@SLIS		12:30-2:00 M 3:30-5:30 PM T

You will be evaluated on the basis of a three brief writing assignments based on the class readings and four markup assignments that make use of the various languages we learn in class, all of which will be marked up and placed on the web. You will also be evaluated on the basis of your term project, which is to design a website for a client and write a three part project documentation report that will also be placed on the web. These assignments are described below, and will be discussed in greater detail in class.

Here are detailed descriptions of the assignments that you will do for this class:

• For this assignment, you will write three brief critical response essays, each not to exceed 500 words that you will place on the web. As we learn about web work, we will be examining a range of issues that are relevant to information architecture and web site development, evaluation and maintenance. Some examples of these issues include:
  • Design: There are contrasting approaches to successful web site design - in your opinion, what is the best approach to successful web site design? Why?
  • Accessibility: Designing web sites for accessibility is an unnecessary burden for designers of most web sites - do you agree or disagree? Why?
  • Information architecture: Developing a working definition of information architecture - what definition makes sense to you? Why?
  • IA and design: There is no difference between information architecture and web design - do you agree or disagree? Why?
  • Standards: Web designers should write code that validates to W3C standards - do you agree or disagree? Why?
  • Web site evaluation: Usability testing can be done with three to five people and most of the relevant problems can be uncovered - do you agree? Why?

  For this assignment, select an issue and write a critical response to the questions posed. Of course, you are not limited to these suggestions. If there is an issue you would like to address, you must discuss it with the instructor in advance of the issue description due date and receive approval.

  Each issue is explored in readings that will be the basis of our class discussions throughout the term. When you have selected the issue that interests you, read the relevant articles and:

  • Write a critical commentary about the information architecture or web site design issue you have selected. Explain its meaning and significance based on what you have read about it
  • Take a position on the issue and support it with evidence from the reading or from other sources that you consult

  You will write three critical response essays over the course of the term and will use these documents as the basis for markup assignment #1, described below.

  Each of the three documents must be marked up with valid HTML. This markup will include:

  • At least one external link to a web file that you do not own;
  • At least one link to another document you have created;
  • At least one background color or image; and
  • At least one image in the page.

  Essay #1 must validate with at least HTML 3.2.

  Essay #2 must validate with at least HTML 4.01.

  Essay #1 must validate as XHTML 1.0.

  When you have completed each essay, place it in your <www> directory, and email the <URL> to the instructor. The first document will be posted as a stand-alone document. By the time the second commentary is due, this first and the remaining two documents will become part of a frameset used in markup assignment #1.

  When you have decided which issues you wish to explore, send a brief email to the instructor indicating your choices according to the schedule below. In this case, "brief" means a sentence or two outlining the issue about which you will write.

  		Essay description due		Essay due
  Essay #1		January 15		January 29
  Essay #2		February 5		February 19
  Essay #3		February 26		March 19

  You will be evaluated for the content of your commentaries and questions as well as the markup. Each assignment will be worth 5% of the final grade for a total value of 15%. This assignment will be discussed in class on January 8 and the essay will be due according to the schedule above

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• You will be learning about two different versions of HTML markup this term as well as being introduced to two scripting languages and a combination of all of these. These assignments give you four opportunities to practice what you have learned in class.
• Markup assignment #1: frames and tables

  For this assignment you will design a frameset that will display your critical response essays. This will require that you create and markup at least seven files.

  • The first file will establish the frameset, which will be split into at least three frames. One of these frame windows must contain a file that provides navigation through this set of documents (a table of contents). The table of contents must contain at least three targeted links among frame documents. The active frame must contain the equivalent of a cover page. The third frame must have a file as well.
  • The rest of the set will contain the three documents you have written for the first assignment, all of which must pass through an active frame.

  When you have completed this assignment, place it in your <www> directory, and email the <URL> to the instructor. The first version of the assignment will be due on February 26 with the first two critical response essays used as one of the frames documents. As the semester progresses, you add the remaining critical response essays to the frameset by their due dates.

  The final version of this assignment will be due on April 2 and will be worth 5% of the final grade. The frames and tables components of the assignment will be discussed in class on February 5.

• Markup assignment #2: Forms and PHP

  For this assignment, you will create a new document that you will add to your frameset. This document will contain a form and make use of PHP for processing data entered into the form. The form will allow a reader to evaluate your critical response essays and submit comments to you.

  This document will contain the following:

  • At least three different form input elements;
  • A script that generates a message that the reader will see when she submits comments and rankings;
  • A script that generates the date and time

  When you have prepared this document, place it in your <www> directory, add it to the frameset that you created for markup assignment #1, and email the <URL> to the instructor.

  It is due on March 5 and will be worth 5% of the final grade. This assignment will be discussed in class on February 12.

• Markup assignment #3: Cascading Style Sheets

  For this assignment, you will redo your resume (which you should have done for L401) using CSS. If you do not have your resume in online form, you will create one for this assignment.

  You will create a cascading style sheet that will be linked to at least three different and linked HTML documents. This means that you have to think about breaking up your resume into at least three pages. For example, you could have a cover page, one page for education and honors, and a third page for work experience, and references. How you do this is up to you.

  The style sheet will include rules and declarations for:

  • Structuring the documents;
  • Specifying fonts;
  • Laying out text and images;
  • Setting colors;
  • Setting spacing for page elements using margins, borders, backgrounds, and padding; and
  • Absolute and relative positioning.

  At a minimum, the following elements must be somewhere in your document set:

  • Two external links to documents you do not own;
  • Two links to other documents you have created;
  • Two internal (or within-page) links to sections of your page;
  • A table with at least three rows and two columns that makes use of CSS markup
  • At least one background color or image; and
  • At least three images

  Remember that your goal is to remove as much presentation markup from your content pages as you can.

  When you have completed the assignment, you will place the CSS document set in your <www> directory and email the <URLs> of the first page and the external style sheet to the instructor.

  This assignment will be discussed in class on February 26. This assignment will be due on March 26 and will be worth 10% of the final grade.

• Markup assignment #4: Dynamic HTML (DHTML)

  Dynamic HTML or DHTML is a type of web site development that combines javascript (or other scripting languages), XHTML, and CSS. For this assignment, you will use DHTML to mark up the three critical response essays in your frameset.

  For this assignment, you:

  • Make copies of your frameset and the three essays. All of the work for this assignment will be done on the copies.
  • Develop an external style sheet with the same elements required for markup assignment #3 (CSS). All of the text files used for this assignment will be linked to the style sheet.
  • Include at least one working javascript script or other DHTML function on at least one file in the frameset.

  Using XHTML, these pages will:

  • Conform to the XHTML 1.0 transitional DTD or the XHTML 1.0 Frameset DTD;

  • Be valid and well formed;
  • Use the proper syntax for all non-empty and empty elements;
  • Contain properly formatted attributes and values;

  It is due on April 16 and is worth 5% of the final grade. This assignment will be discussed in class on March 26.

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• For this assignment, you will spend the semester developing a web site for a client of your choosing. This client may be real or imaginary, although the former is preferred. Working with a real client provides you with several benefits:
• It will allow you to develop and improve your communication skills as you work with your contact person to find out what he or she wants in the web site.
• You will learn about time and project management as you balance their needs and requirements against the constraints of your skills and abilities.
• You will have a well designed site that is actually being used on the web, which is a wonderful addition to your online portfolio.

Because we do not know in advance who your client will be, there are no apriori requirements for specific forms of markup to be used in the project, except for the stipulation that the site will validate as at least HTML 4.01. You select the type of markup, design, architecture, and content that is appropriate for your project. You will be expected to demonstrate what you have learned in the course in the site that you design. The web site that you create should be useful, usable, well-designed, cleanly marked up, contain significant content, and be targeted at a specific audience.

There is also no specific length requirement. The site is a term project and should represent a significant amount of work and effort. The instructor will meet with you early in the term to discuss your project with you so that there can be an agreement on reasonable project parameters. If you have concerns about the size of the site as you get deeper into its design, meet with the instructor to discuss your concerns.

This project has three main requirements.

• Project report: You will create a project documentation report describing the work that you will have done on the project. This report will have three main sections:
• Pre-design analysis

  As we have discussed in class, it is important to do some research prior to starting the design phase of a website development project. During January, you should be asking your client questions about:

  • The purpose of the website - what does the client want the site to do?
  • The constraints under which you will be working - What does the client want the site to look like? Will the client be responsible for maintenance and change?
  • The client's organization, e.g., their mission, size, strategies of using the web
  • The users of the site - what can the client tell you about the characteristics and typical uses of the people who are expected to use the site? and
  • His or her competitors - do they have websites? What do these sites look like?

  Using these questions as a guide, write a summary of your research. This section of the report should be about 500 words. This report is due on February 12 and is worth 5% of the final grade. It will be discussed in class on January 8

• Design rationale
  Describe why you have chosen this specific design and information architecture for the website. How have you applied design and principles and concepts from information architecture to your website development? As you answer this question, make explicit references to the texts, articles, and /or websites you have been reading throughout the semester to support your design and IA decisions.

  For example, to facilitate the navigation, you may have included a navigation bar that appears on every page of the website. Perhaps you color-coded web pages by categories, to help users understand where they are within the website. You should keep track of your design and IA decisions as you are developing the site so that you can summarize them in the report.

  If you created prototypes or versions of the site structure, keep them and include them in an appendix that is linked to the report's table of contents.

  Your design rationale should be about 500 words. This report is due on March 5 and is worth 5% of the final grade. It will be discussed in class on January 22

• Usability testing

  You will conduct a simple usability test based on task analysis. The nature of these tasks cannot be determined in advance because it will depend on the structure and content of the site you are developing. If, for example, you were testing the SLIS site, you might ask people three questions:

  • How many required courses are there for the dual MIS/MLS degree?
  • Who do I contact to ask questions about submitting a working paper to the SLIS Working Papers site?
  • How do I post a job on the site?

  When you have a working prototype of your site, you will develop three tasks that a typical visitor to the site might carry out. You will then ask three people to participate in your test. Each person will be given the three tasks and you will observe them as they attempt to complete the tasks. You will collect data on:

  • Time to complete the task
  • Success rate
  • Number of clicks to reach page where they can complete the task
  • Number and types of errors (if any)
  • Comments about the structure and organization of the site (if any)

  You will then describe the results of your tests. This description will include the tasks that you developed and the results of your observations (some of which may be presented using tables). If the tests cause you to make changes in the site, report that as well.

  Your usability results should be about 500 words. This report is due on April 16 and is worth 5% of the final grade. It will be discussed in class on April 2

• The final version of the report

  The complete report will have a cover page with a table of contents and separate content sections for each of the three main sections. Each of these sections may be a single page, but the structure of the report is up to you. You will also have an appendix where you place early versions of pages that you created for the site.

  As you complete each section of the project documentation report, mark it up using XHTML and place it in your <www> directory. You complete the assignment by sending the instructor the <URL> for the essay.

  The completed report will be due on April 23 and is worth 5% of the final grade. It will be turned in along with the final project. This assignment will be discussed in class on January 8.

• Project production: You will develop the web site for your client.

  You will spend the semester developing the web site for your client. You will incorporate what you have learned in class where appropriate and produce a site that is cleanly marked up to standard using at least XHTML, aesthetically pleasing, and easy to use.

There are no prescribed topics for this project; you must clear your topic with the instructor.

The completed project web site is due on April 23 and is worth 30% of the final grade. The project will be discussed in class on January 8.

Once the project URLs have been submitted, the term projects will then be accessible on an L571 student projects page.

• Project presentation: At the end of the term, you will present your project to the class.

  You will distill the information in your project report into a 10 minute presentation that you will give in class on April 16 or April 23. Presentation times will be assigned on April 2. In your presentation, you will describe the research that you did to prepare for the development of the site, discuss the challenges that you faced and explain how you overcame them, and show the site that you created.

  This assignment will be worth 5% of final grade.

• Project benchmarks: Here are some important project deadlines.
  • You will submit a one paragraph description of your project by email by January 22
  • You will receive confirmation of your topic through email by January 24
  • The pre-design analysis is due on February 12.
  • The design rationale is due on March 5.
  • The usability report is due on April 9
  • The projects will be presented in class on April 16, and 23
  • The entire term project is due on April 23. You complete this assignment by emailing the <URL> of your final project to the instructor. This project is worth 55% of the final grade. Each component of the report is worth 5% (for a total of 15%), the web site is worth 30%, the final version of the report is worth 5% and the presentation is worth 5%. This project will be discussed in class on January 8

  Return to Assignments list

  Return to Table of Contents or go to:	Introduction	Course Objectives	Course Requirements	Other Information	Assignments
  	Grading	Required Texts	Topic Outline	Assignments/Due Dates (short)

  Page by Howard Rosenbaum
  Find me at hrosenba@indiana.edu	http://www.slis.indiana.edu/hrosenba/www/L571/syll/assignments.html