Read Morse and Rheingold in Trend (87, 272)
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Previous Blackboard ItemsClass Blackboard for January 20This is the main page for Craig Stroupe's section of Composition 5230 for Spring 2004. Please check back for updates. The links to the left will become active as the pages are updated and posted. Please e-mail me if you have questions. Below are some topics we'll cover today: Introductions and Roll. (Some things about me). Syllabus and materials needed Tour of the site First Assignment: The Personal Course Home Page Screen Real Estate.
Class Blackboard for January 22Setting Up Your Folders. On your Zip disk or other storage device, please create a set of nested folders like those on the right: Beginning Dreamweaver. Today we'll begin using Dreamweaver with two Exercises:
You will have until Friday at 9:30 a.m. to post the sample page that you'll create to the Web and send me the URL via an e-mail message with the subject line "5230 liquid page." Class Blackboard for January 27Personal Course Home Page. Here's an online brainstorming activity for the Personal Course Home Page Project. A version of this project is due to be posted to the Web by Monday, February 2 at noon (new time!). Texture. Christian Sandvig's home page. Links Exercise. Today, we'll learn about creating three kinds of links in Dreamweaver using the "index.html" page that we created for the "Liquid" exercise. Since I should already have the URL for this exercise in an e-mail from you last week, I will expect this updated page and the others to be posted to the folder "liquid" in "exercises" on the Web by Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. Banner Exercise. Time permitting, we'll also get our feet wet with Photoshop in an exercise called "Banner Techniques." For this exercise, you'll need to download the image "richlighthouse.jpg." 75% of the problems novices experience with creating Web pages come from simple issues of organizing and consistency. Here are some Rules to Set you Free to create. Class Blackboard for January 29Personal Course Home Page is due to be posted to the Web by next Monday, February 2 at noon. Today, we'll look at some examples from the assignment page. By the due date/time, you will need
Readings for next Tuesday. For next class meeting, please read two chapters from Jakob Nielsen's book:
Texture. Last time we talked a little bit about "texture" on the Personal Course Home Page. One way to think about texture is to consider your unconscious models you may have in mind for your page. One, very untextured model would be the anonymous corporate or media sites so common on the Web. These sites serve as public faces for large organizations, not individual people. Imitating corporate-style sites in a personal page would result in page with a very generic feel, despite whatever individualizing details it may contain. Instead, consider the blog or "Web log" as a model. Though I'm not asking you to start a blog for this assignment, take a look at a few examples of blogs from the following people to get a sense of their voice and texture: Miyuki Jane Pinckard, Jill Walker, Scott Rettberg. Is there a way to capture the spirit and voice of a blog on the main page of a briefer, more conventional, static Web site? In his book Blogging: Genius Strategies for Instant Web Content, Biz Stone, suggest these simple guidelines for writing blog entries, which might also apply to items on your Personal Course Home Page:
Webx Discussion Board (first time): Let's use our class discussion board to collect some examples of texture (with a URL) and comment on what we can learn from them about giving our Web-writing a sense of texture. Send a posting to the discussion "texture" with a URL and come commentary about how that Web page creates a sense of texture. Banner Exercise. We'll finish up the Intermediate Banner Techniques Exercise today. If you're just beginning this exercise today, you'll need to download the image "richlighthouse.jpg" to work with. Before tomorrow at class time, then, do the following 1. Post the image file "banner.jpg" to the Web in the folder 5230/exercises/banner and then try to view the image with your Web browser. If you set up your folders as I suggested, it should be at the URL <http://www.d.umn.edu/~youruserid/5230/exercises/banner/banner.jpg> If it doesn't come up on your Web browser, try checking the structure of folders in your "www" folder on the Web using Dreamweaver's Site Files window. 2. As you're viewing your "banner.jpg" with your Web browser, copy the complete URL (Web address) from the "Address" window, open up the class's Webx discussion board and paste the URL into a message to the discussion "Banner Techniques Exercise URLs" inside of the "exercises" folder. Class Blackboard for February 3Questions, problems, loose ends from the Personal Course Home Page Project (Stage 1)? Readings for Thursday. Nielsen's Chapter 3, "Content Design," starting on page 98 Stage 2: the Nielsen Challenge. of the Personal Course Home Page Project: applying ideas from Jakob Nielsen's book to our projects to improve them. Stage 2 due Monday, Febrary 16 by noon. Image Maps exercise. If we complete this exercise in class today, please post it and send the URL to the discussion "Image Map URLs" by tomorrow (Wed) at 9:30 a.m. Saving your "www" Site Information to your Disk.
When you want to begin work on a different day, simply choose "Import" from the Site Panel's "Site" menu and navigate to that .ste file to import it. Class Blackboard for February 5Readings for Tuesday 2/10. Nielsen's Chapter 4, "Site Design," starting on page 162. Nielsenizing your Personal Course Home Page. Today, we'll continue talking about Jakob Nielsen (chapter 3) and applying the insights of "usability" to our ongoing, first project.
Saving Your "WWW" Site Information. Here's a way of never having to go through the laborious process of setting up your local and remote sites again! After setting up your local and remote site information in Dreamweaver:
When you want to begin work on a different day, simply choose "Import" from the Site Panel's "Site" menu and navigate to that .ste file to import it. Class Blackboard for February 10No Class Thursday. After today (2/10), we will meet as a class again on Tuesday, February 17. The room will be open to your individual use as usual on Thursday, February 12. Reading for Tuesday, February 17. William Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic," pg. 57 in David Trend's collection Reading Digital Culture. Nielsenizing your Personal Course Home Page. Today, we'll continue talking about Jakob Nielsen (Chapter 4, "Site Design" ) and applying the insights of "usability" to our ongoing, first project, the Personal Course Home Page, which will be due by Monday, 2/16 by noon. In a post to the discussion "Nielsen Chapter 4", describe three ideas or techniques (with page numbers) from Nielsen's Chapter 4 that you want to apply to your Personal Course Home Page Revision. Comment briefly on why you chose each point. Then read over the postings of your classmates and respond to at least two either by connecting their points to yours, or perhaps taking an alternative view. Turning in the final version of the Personal Course Home Page. To turn in the new-and-improved version of your Personal Course Home Page, you'll need to do the following by Monday 2\16 at noon.
Class Blackboard for February 17Questions and issues related to turning in the Personal Course Home Page yesterday? Scheduled Conferences. We will not meet as a class this Thursday or next Tuesday (2/19 or 2/24) because of scheduled conferences. This one, 20-minute conference, however, will count as two days' worth of attendance so please be sure to make it. We'll meet in my office, Humanities 424 (Composition Office suite Humanities 420). Please sign up for a time slot using the discussion board by clicking the link there for either Thursday 2/19 or Tuesday 2/24. If you can't make any of the times, please e-mail me to make other arrangments. Be sure to sign up only for times listed on that day which have not already been reserved in posted messages. In this conference, we'll talk about your Personal Course Home Page but also any of these other up-coming matters, depending on what's concerning you:
Our next meeting together will be Thursday, February 26. Reading for Thursday, February 26. Michael Heim (Trend 70) and Sherry Turkel (Trend 236) Introducing the next project, Analytical Essay 1. Reading for today . William Gibson's "Johnny Mnemonic," pg. 57 in David Trend's collection Reading Digital Culture. We'll need the following resources:
Class Blackboard for February 19-24Scheduled Conferences. We will not meet as a class this Thursday or next Tuesday (2/19 or 2/24) because of scheduled conferences. This one, 20-minute conference, however, will count as two days' worth of attendance so please be sure to make it. We'll meet in my office, Humanities 424 (Composition Office suite Humanities 420). Please sign up for a time slot using the discussion board by clicking the link there for either Thursday 2/19 or Tuesday 2/24. If you can't make any of the times, please e-mail me to make other arrangments. Be sure to sign up only for times listed on that day which have not already been reserved in posted messages. In this conference, we'll talk about your Personal Course Home Page but also any of these other up-coming matters, depending on what's concerning you:
Our next meeting together will be Thursday, February 26. Class Blackboard for February 26
For Tuesday, read Brenda Laurel and Timothy Allan Jackson in Trend (pages 109, 347) Michael Heim and Sherry Turkle. Today, we'll talk about the reading from Heim and Turkle in the Trend collection, especially how they might be used in the Analytical Essay. In the Webx discussion, Heim/Turkle (2/26), you'll write about how an idea from Heim or Turkle might be applied to understanding the Web site you've chosen (perhaps only tentatively) for your Analytical Essay. CFP stands for "Call for Papers," an invitation for scholars and writers to propose talks or demonstrations on topics of interest. While sometimes these announced topics are broad and generic, often they are very pointed descriptions of a intellectual or interpretive problems. In this way, CFPs can provide an education in themselves about the most current issues in a given field. Consider this session topic for the Modern Language Association meeting next December, for example:
Or how about this:
For the rest of the semester, I'll be sending along by e-mail interesting CFPs just for your information. You are free to delete them whenever you wish. If you are interested in a field, especially if you are a graduate student, you should subscribe to e-mail lists of CFPs and consider writing and submitting a proposal (often only an abstract). In English, for example, subscribe to the University of Pennsylvania's excellent service "CFP." The Web site "Conference Alerts" also has an e-mail service where you can specify subject areas, conference locations and other key words.
For Thursday, read Margaret Morse (Trend 87) and Howard Rheingold (Trend 272) Brenda Laurel and Timothy Allen Jackson. Today, we'll talk about the reading from Laurel and Jackson in the Trend collection, especially how they might be used in the Analytical Essay. In the Webx discussion, Laurel and Jackson (3/2), you'll write about how an idea from Brenda Laurel or Timothy Allen Jackson might be applied to understanding the Web site you've chosen (perhaps only tentatively) for your Analytical Essay. Class Blackboard for March 4
For next Tuesday, read Pierre Levy and Donna Harraway in Trend (253-58, 28) Today, we'll talk about Margaret Morse (Trend 87) and Howard Rheingold (Trend 272), especially how they might be used in the Analytical Essay. In the Webx discussion, Trend for Analysis (3/4), you'll write a long paragraph applying some idea from the Trend readings to an analysis of the Web site you've chosen (perhaps only tentatively) for your Analytical Essay. Class Blackboard for March 9Job Opening Office Assistant, UMD English Department DUTIES: See the complete announcement...
Here are a couple of examples of how students addressed a global audience about a local topic: The Analytical Essay is due tomorrow, 3/10 by noon. Please turn it in via my mailbox in Humanities 420. MLA Works Cited. In your "Works Cited" section of the Analytical Essay, the articles from the Trend book should use the MLA's documentation form for an "essay in collection." See the entry form on the page at Purdue's OWL on MLA format.
Scheduled Conferences
Thursday and Tuesday after Spring Break. Please sign up for a time slot using the discussion board by clicking the link there for either If you can't make any of the times, please e-mail me to make other arrangments. Be sure to sign up only for times listed on that day which have not already been reserved in posted messages. In this conference, we'll talk about your Analytical Essay, your plans for the Glocalization Project and anything else that can help you in the class. Our next meeting together will be Thursday, 3/25. We'll talk about Pierre Levy and Donna Haraway in Trend (253-58, 28)
Class Blackboard for March 25
Jello Design Exercise Today, we'll learn a new design technique for creating Web pages. When you've completed the exercise page, please post it to a folder "www/5230/exercises/jello" and send the URL to the Webx discussion "Jello Design." To begin this exercise, you may want to use two images for backgrounds:
and snowtreesback.jpg. Tiling Background Exercise. Time permitting, we'll also learn to create our own tiling backgrounds in Photoshop. You can use the image fallleavesgnd.jpg Class Blackboard for March 30
Tiling Background Exercise We'll complete the tiling backgrounds exercise in Photoshop. Here again is the image fallleavesgnd.jpg. A suggestion for your background:
Please set your completed tiling background image as the page background for your jello exercise page and repost it to the Web. Class Blackboard for April 1On Thursday , we'll workshop the projects 1-5 listed in the table below by discussing them in class. Prepare of this workshop by doing the following:
On Tuesday, we'll do projects 6-9 following the same process. I'll make links to the projects posted as of the time I'm editing this page, but the most complete set of links can be found at the Webx discussion "glocalization URLs"
Resources for today: Class Blackboard for April 6Read Jakob Nielsen's chapter on Accessibility starting on page 296.
Today , we'll complete workshopping the projects listed in the table below starting with #5. Prepare of this workshop by doing the following:
I'll make links to the projects posted as of the time I'm editing this page, but the most complete set of links can be found at the Webx discussion "glocalization URLs"
Resources for today:
Class Blackboard for April 8Today, we'll talk about Jakob Nielsen's chapter on Accessibility starting on page 296.
As part of this discussion, we'll experiment with two activities: 1. A Mark-Up exercise using a simple text program called "Notepad" (see Start > Programs > Accessories > Notepad) 2. An "Atl Tag" exercise in Dreamweaver using a page from our Glocalization site (the page with the most images on it).
You can use the following images for this exercise: Class Blackboard for April 13Today, we'll talk about the importance of creating community with your client's Web site.
Forms. We'll learn how to create forms in Dreamweaver. I'll ask you to post your page with form fields on it to your exercises folder (www/5230/exercises/forms/form.html) and send the URL to the Wex discussion Forms. Class Blackboard for April 15The Revision project is due next Monday by noon. Please do the following:
Conferences next Tuesday and Thursday The Client Project Proposal will be due by your conference time either on Tuesday 4/20 or Thursday 4/22. Sign up via these links.
Cascading Style Sheets. We'll learn how to change the look and behavior of our pages with Cascading Style Sheets. I'll ask you to save a copy of your Personal Home Page (and the "assets" folder with the supporting images ) into a folder "www/5230/exercises/css". When we have completed the exercise, please post this "css" folder to "exercises" on the Web and send the URL in a message to the Webx discussion, "css."
Also, please be sure you've posted your "Selecting with Masks" exercise to "www/5230/exercises/css" on the Web, and that you've sent to URL to "selecting with masks" Class Blackboard for April 20 & 22Conferences Tuesday and Thursday The Client Project Proposal will be due by your conference time either on Tuesday 4/20 or Thursday 4/22. Sign up via these links.
Please be sure you've posted URLs for these recent exercises to the following Webx folders: selecting with masks, Forms, and css
Class Blackboard for April 27A BETA version (rough draft) of the Client Project should be posted to the Web by tomorrow (Wednesday 4/28) at noon. Then, on Thursday, we will begin workshopping those projects to give each of you ideas and suggestions for preparing the final version, which is due on Tuesday 5/11 by 10 a.m. (our scheduled final exam time). Please do the following by Wednesday at noon:
Then before class time on Thursday:
By the end of class on Thursday,
Softening the Visual/Verbal Border Today we'll learn some tricks in Photoshop for creating images that integrate better with the "flatland" of text on our Web pages. The Problem: Images and words don't want to work together—not only because they're different sizes, but because they operate in different worlds and by different rules. See this page for Grandma's Saloon as an example. In contrast, look at how McIllhenny's Tabasco site softens the borders between pictures and and text by including lots of small images and visualized type that bridge between the big graphic banner and the fine print. This page has what is called "Visual Hierarchy" Even pages with almost all text can use good visual hierarchy: see the UC Berkeley Library's Golden Gate Bridge page. Some Answers: Please complete these exercises and post the URL for each final product in the Webx folder "softening" For this exercise, you'll need to download the following images (right-click, choose "Save Image As..." into your "web design" (non-www) folder. Then, open them in Photoshop.
Once we're finished, note that other techniques might include • Applying various filters to give the image a texture, call
attention to its flat medium Four score and seven years ago..." •Using images in type (see our previous exercise "Putting
an Image Into Type") Class Blackboard for May 4Today, we'll complete thel workshop of the Client Project BETA versions. Before class starts, please have your written comments and suggestions printed out, and the comments for each author separated for handing back to them individually. No later than the end of class today, paste the text of all your responses to today's projects into a single e-mail message (no attachments please) and send it to me with the subject line "5230 client workshop"
The most current links can be found in the Webx discussion Client Project URLs and introductions. Workshop Resources
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All course materials by Craig Stroupe unless noted otherwise. See my home page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||