Thu, Sep 21
Web technologies and universal design
Watch this video before class
Today's objectives
Today we'll take a first look at Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS. We'll also introduce the concepts of Universal Design, or "design that works for everyone." Also, review of our first assignment.
- Assignment review
- Workflow, errors and best practices
- Introduction to universal design
- Metadata and Character encoding (if time)
- CSS Basics
- Concepts
- Writing style sheets
- Colo(u)r
- Type
- Next steps
Tasks
Basic practice with CSS.
Presentations
Agenda
Universal design
Metadata
Character encoding
File paths
Handouts
Please download the basic CSS handout.
Samples
Here are some samples of how to organize files and use paths. Download this folder, then explore the files in each example folder and examine the html code.
Basic CSS
See the Pen by Robert Currie (@rcurrie) on CodePen.
Tutorials
Resources
Check the reference section of the web site.
Readings
- https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ten-usability-heuristics/
- https://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction-to-usability/
Assignment 2
Organize your assignments and add CSS
Task 1: Using your FTP client, create a folder called "assignment-01" and move all your files from the last assignment into that folder.
Task 2: Add CSS to your web site. Basic text styles and some use of colour are essential. Use of positioning is optional. Validate and check carefully, and upload to class web server using FTP. Create a folder called "assignment-02" in your "public_html" and put all your assignment files there. Make sure to validate your HTML and CSS. You can find links to the validators on the "Resources" page.
Task 3: Create a new index.html file within your "public_html" file. This file should have your name, and links to the previous and current assignment. This will serve as a "table of contents" page for all of your assignments.
Due Wed, Sep 27, 6:00 PM.
Late assignment penalties
For this assignment, late submissions will be penalized at 10% of the total mark (that is, if an assignment is graded out of 10, you will lose 1 point per day, starting on the due date.)
A 1-hour grace period after the assignment due time will be given to avoid any technical issues related to internet speed resulting in late assignment penalties.
The best approach, however, is to submit work early.
Professional practice
Here you'll find content about the business and profession of interactive design. Look for topics here in future classes.
Need help?
Contact me - Slack is best.