CIS 211: Schedule for Spring 2009

Week 1: January 26.         Orientation, Intro to Web Languages

• Add the course if you have not done so. Please do this ASAP -- this will add you to the Blackboard roster within a few days. You cannot add the class late, even if you have done all the course work. Use WebAdvisor to add this class.
• Log in to Blackboard and DO Online Orientation (see Blackboard > Assignments > Week 1, 1-4 hours, due next week). See 30 second movie or tutorial for login instructions (username=first.last, password=6 digit birthday). Orientation includes
  • Blackboard Discussion 1: Orientation Discussion
  • Blackboard Quiz 1: Orientation
• PROJECT: HTML Overview (Due Wednesday of Week 2)
• Create a folder named 211labs in local_root. Save all your textbook exercises in 211labs folder.
• READ Freeman: introduction & ch 1. The Language of the Web
  Make a week1 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save file mission.html in 211labs/week1 folder. You will turn this in later.
  
• SUBSCRIBE to Lynda.com (available January 31). Please see the INSTRUCTIONS so you can get the student rate.
• WATCH Lynda.com HTML Essential Training: Introduction (10 minutes)
  (NOTE: this is fairly old - you'll want your tags to be lower case)

Week 2: February 2.         Hypertext

• DUE WEDNESDAY: Orientation, HTML Overview
• Read the notes on Text Editors & FTP Clients
• WATCH Lynda.com HTML Essential Training (20 minutes):
  • controlling line breaks and spaces
  • introduction to hyperlinks
  • inline images and the IMG tag
• READ Freeman:ch 2. Meet the 'HT' in HTML: Going Further with Hypertext.
  Make a week2 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week2. You will turn this in later.
• Lab: poem.html (save file in 211labs/week2 -- you will turn in later)

September 3 : Last Day to Add, Last Day to Drop Classes Without a "W" Appearing on Your Record, Last Day for Refund

Week 3: February 9.         Building Blocks

• READ Freeman: ch 3. Web Page Construction
  Make a week3 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week3. You will turn this in later.
• WATCH Lynda.com HTML Essential Training (~40 minutes):
  • HTML document type overview (6 minutes)
  • the outer structure of an HTML document (5 minutes)
  • the outer structure of an HTML document part 2 (3 minutes)
  • HTML and text (4 minutes)
  • paragraphs (4 minutes)
  • block and inline tags (3 minutes)
  • quotations and quote marks (4 minutes)
  • HTML lists (8 minutes)
• Begin Project: 211 Portfolio (you will upload and turn this in next week, due by Wednesday of week 5)
• Quiz 2: Freeman chapters 1-3 (found in Blackboard Assignments > Week 3, due Wednesday of week 5)

February 13-16: Presidents' Holiday Weekend

Week 4: February 17.         FTP, Hosting , & Domain Names

• READ Freeman: ch 4. A Trip to Webville
  Make a week4 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week4. You will turn this in later.
  NOTE: our server uses default.htm for default file name.
• Choose an FTP client and use these settings to upload your site (everything within your local_root folder:
       host: studentweb.gcccd.net
       username: same as your Blackboard username (first.last)
       password: same as your WebAdvisor password (6-digit birthday)
  (see Filezilla video demonstration if necessary)
• Test your 211portfolio.html on the server and submit the URL to Blackboard (Assignments > Week 4)

Week 5: February 23.         Images & Backgrounds

• DUE WEDNESDAY: Quiz 2, 211 Portfolio
• READ Freeman: ch 5. Meeting the Media
  Make a week5 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week5. You will turn this in later.
• Watch Lynda.com HTML Essential Training (~ 20 minutes)
  • inline images and the IMG tag
  • flowing text around an image
  • breaking lines around an image
  • image borders
  • naming images for scripting
• PRACTICE LAB: Thumbnails - create a new practice folder that has a page with three thumbnail images that link to pages with larger versions of those images. Link to this practice page from 211portfolio. THIS CAN BE VERY SIMPLE and will be graded at the end of the semester.

September 24 : Last Day to Apply for P/NP (CR/NC) for semester length classes

Week 6: March 2.         HTML STANDARDS

• READ Freeman: ch 6. Serious HTML
  Make a week6 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week6. You will turn this in later.
• In 211portfolio.html
  • change doctype to
    <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
  • Add the following line within the head tag:
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">
• Install Firefox and the Firefox Web Developer toolbar (see instructions)
• Upload 211portfolio.html and use the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar to validate the HTML. Fix any errors.

Week 7: March 9.         XHTML, CSS

• For both chapter assignments this week, make a week7 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week7. VALIDATE your work. You will turn this in later.
• READ Freeman:ch 7. Putting "X" into HTML
• Watch Lynda.com XHTML Essential Training: Introduction and Overview (30 minutes)
• READ Freeman: ch 8. Adding a Little Style (note - this is fairly long, so you will have time to finish it next week)
• Watch Lynda.com CSS Crash Course by SitePoint: Introduction, CSS Selectors 1, CSS Selectors 2 (1 hour)

Week 8: March 16.         CSS

• Change 211portfolio.html to strict XHTML and validate
• Finish Freeman: ch 8. Adding a Little Style
• Watch Lynda.com CSS Crash Course by SitePoint: all but last 2
• Quiz 3: Freeman chapters 4-8 (due Wednesday of Week 10)
• NOTE: Midterm next week covers chapters 1-8 and will include a practical portion where you will convert an old HTML document to XHTML with CSS.

October 15 : Last Day to Apply for Fall 2010 Degree/Certificate

Week 9: March 23.         FONTS & COLORS

• Midterm: Freeman chapters 1-8. Includes a practical portion where you will convert an old HTML document to XHTML with CSS. Due Wednesday of week 11.
• Subscribe to 2nd 8 weeks of Lynda.com. I will send an email when this is available.
• READ Freeman: ch 9. Expanding Your Vocabulary
  Make a week9 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week9. You will turn this in later.
• CSS Lab - Add CSS to your 211portfolio. Alter body & heading tags and create at least one class. Set a:link, a:visited, a:hover, and a:active to style links. CSS can be embedded or external. Use the Firefox Web Developer toolbar to validate your CSS.

Week 10: March 30.         ELEMENTS & BOX MODEL

• DUE WEDNESDAY: Quiz 3
• Subscribe to 2nd 8 weeks of Lynda.com (you should have received an email with instructions)
• READ Freeman: ch 10. Getting Intimate with Elements
  Make a week10 folder within 211labs and DO the exercises as you read. Save the files in 211labs/week10. You will turn this in later.
• Begin thinking about topic for your final project. This will be a small, simple web & site (at least 5 pages), so choose a topic you don't need to learn. You will be graded more on valid code than on design. Post your ideas to the Blackboard discussion by week 11 for 20 points.