CPSCI 105: Explorations in Computer Science

Section 01: Making the Web Speak

Spring 2007

2:30–3:45 p.m. T/R (Library 005)

Dr. Brian Rosmaita

Office: 01.011 Ferry Building

Office Hours: See the class homepage.


Course and Reading Schedule

In the schedule below, the exam dates are definite; the readings are approximate. Any changes will be announced in class and on the class homepage. It is your responsibility to be aware of any changes made to this schedule.

NOTE: the way this schedule works is that you are expected to have read the stuff listed for each day before you show up in class on that day.

Date Topic and Reading
January 16 Introduction to the course; Course requirements and procedures; Accessibility, networks, the Internet, and the web.
18 Getting connected.
23 Operating systems, UNIX, and bash.
Look over sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 of “A Basic UNIX Tutorial
Read: Michalko, chapter 1
25 File creation using emacs. Look over section 10 of “A Basic UNIX Tutorial
30 Constructing a website on a LINUX/Apache system; Basic hypertext markup language. Duckett, chapter 2, pages 26-42
Michalko, chapter 2
February 1 Links and navigation. Duckett, chapter 3
6 Usability. Jakob Nielsen: Usability 101: Introduction to Usability; Jakob Nielsen: Usability in the Movies—Top 10 Bloopers; Jakob Nielsen: Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design; Jakob Nielsen: Screen Resolution and Page Layout
Michalko, chapter 3
8 Color. Do the reading in this order:
  1. Duckett: chapter 4, pages 103-117
  2. Arditi: Effective Color Contrast: Designing for People with Partial Sight and Color Deficiencies
  3. Duckett: chapter 4, pages 93-103
13 Text presentation and Cascading Style Sheets. Do the reading in this order:
  1. Duckett: chapter chapter 9, pages 265-283
  2. Arditi: Making Text Legible: Designing for People with Partial Sight
  3. Duckett: chapter 9, pages 283-320
Michalko, chapter 4
15 Inheritance in CSS. Lie and Bos: Cascading Style Sheets, designing for the Web, chapter 2
20 Phrase Elements. Duckett: chapter 2, pages 46-67
Michalko, chapter 5
22 Metadata. Danny Sullivan: How To Use HTML Meta Tags
Blogging. Electronic Frontier Foundation: Legal Guide for Bloggers
27 Tables. Duckett: chapter 5
Michalko, chapter 6
March 1 Roger Hudson: Accessible Data Tables
6 Advanced CSS. Duckett, chapter 10.
Lie and Bos: chapter 15 (handout)
8 Michalko, chapter 7
10-25 Spring Break
27 Michalko, Epilogue
29 Page layout considerations. Duckett, chapter 11
April 3 Web Accessibility: Legal Issues. Do the reading in this order:
  1. Go to the U.S. Department of Justice Section 508 Home Page and read the statute. It is available in both HTML and PDF formats. Read the law in both formats. In your notebook, write down which format you think is better and why.
  2. Go to the U.S. Government's official Section 508 Website. Read the following parts of the Summary of Section 508 Standards: General (Subpart A), Technical Standards (Subpart B), and Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications (1194.22).
  3. Then read the following parts of the actual Section 508 Standards: Subpart A—General (entire thing), and §  1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications.
  4. Finally, read the Abstract and sections 1-5 (inclusive) of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
5 The Americans with Disabilities Act. Read these short publications from the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section: NFB v. Target. Read the complaint and Judge Patel's decision.
10 Forms. Duckett, chapter 6
12
17 General design considerations. Duckett, chapter 12
19
24 Dealing with common web accessibility problems.
26
May 1 More usability. Jakob Nielsen: Why Frames Suck, PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption, Do Government Agencies and Non-Profits Get ROI From Usability?, Does User Annoyance Matter?, Show Numbers as Numerals When Writing for Online Readers
3 Writing for the web. Jakob Nielsen: How Users Read on the Web, F-Shaped Pattern For Reading Web Content, Microcontent: How to Write Headlines, Page Titles, and Subject Lines
8 (Tuesday)
Presentations to clients, 9:00 a.m.–noon
Note: this will be held in Benedict 207
10 (Thursday)
Final project due at 5:00 p.m.

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Brian J. Rosmaita <contact me>
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