Instructor: David Toomey / e-mail: dtoomey@english.umass.edu

Meeting Time: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. with one hour lunch break on Jan 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, and 15th followed by individual project development in a distance learning environment between Jan 16 and Feb 15, 2006.
Location: University of the Virgin Islands Communication Lab

Course overview:

Upon successful completion of this course you will be proficient in the intermediate and advanced use of HTML, Macromedia Dreamweaver 8.0, Adobe Photoshop CS, Microsoft PowerPoint and (time permitting) Macromedia Flash.

The major and ongoing project for the course will be an online portfolio that demonstrates your skills as a web designer and professional writer. The portfolio will be built with the software cited above; it will include an introductory page, an HTML version of your resume, and appropriate work from other courses. It will also include a website of an imaginary corporation or nonprofit organization. Details of requirements for the portfolio will be explained during class as they appear in the calendar; they also appear in the "assignments" section of the class web site.

Most class time will be given to laboratory work on some part of the portfolio, and most class sessions will involve an in-class assignment; if you do not complete the assignment during that session, please complete it before the session following. On the last day of the class (Jan 15) you will make a ten-minute PowerPoint presentation of your progress to the class.

Grading will be as follows: portfolio on Jan 10: 20%
end-of-semester presentation and progress report: 20%
portfolio on Feb 15: 60%
Portfolio ideas and links to useful sites appear under the "assignments" link on the class website (url above).

For good design criteria, see Web Page Design for Designers. For ideas, especially of Flash-intensive sites, look at Rowean Design, The Art History Program at Bard College and CWD Resource. For simpler designs, look at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College and Point of View. Design principles (and a lot of reading) may be found at Graphics and Web Design Based on Edward Tufte's Principles.

ColorMatch 5K will help you select a matching six-color palette for your website. Define a single color that you like, and matching colors will be calculated. (It works best when viewed in Internet Explorer.)

Afternoon:

Introduction to Dreamweaver; creating new pages; the importance of page properties; moving from Dreamweaver to HTML and back again. We will become acquainted with the "save as HTML" feature of MS Word 6.0. Most of the class period will be devoted to allowing you to save appropriate written work from other classes in HTML files, and to place them in your portfolio. You are not required to have any of this work in a particular format, so long as you have it online. But if you would like to convert any of these documents to PDF files, do as follws. Open the file in MS Word. Choose "File" > "Print." A "Print" menu will appear. On the "Print" menu, click on "Save as PDF."

NOTE: At this point in the calendar, your portfolio should contain an intro page, a resume and one sample of written work.

Monday Jan 9

Prep: think about a site for an imaginary corporation or nonprofit. Come to class with three (3) ideas for a nonprofit (real or imaginary) that you would like to build a site for.

Morning:

I will give an overview of Adobe Photoshop. On your hompepage, we will replace a "splash page" title made in HTML or Dreamweaver with a more professional banner made in Photoshop.

In class we will use Photoshop to design an aesthetically-pleasing and professional collage for your homepage, using (copyright-free!) images from Collection Finder: American Memory from the Library of Congress and/or from the NYPL Digital Gallery, The Traveling Culture Exhibit and/or from HubbleSite - Gallery. We will create a collage of images on your "splash" page.

Afternoon:

We will discuss your ideas for imaginary corporations and nonprofits.
We will work through the tollbars and menu. We will practice photo retouching. We will use the "stamp" tool to doctor an image (remove the mouth from Keanu Reeve's face just like in that movie), and we will learn to use the "variations" selection and "blur" selection to make page backgrounds from images like Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. Finally, you will download several images for use on your site, and retouch them ways that befit your overall design concept.

Tuesday Jan 10

Morning:

We will integrate Photoshop into your site. We will use backgrounds.

Afternoon:

We will troubleshoot problems. Wednesday Jan 11Prep: Prepare an idea of a Flash animation you would like to use. The EchoEcho.Com Flash Tutorial includes an archive of movies you may wish to use as models.

Morning:

I will demonstrate Macromedia Flash; you will begin building a Flash animation into your portfolio.

Afternoon:

I will introduce Microsoft PowerPoint. You will compose presentations in preparation for Saturday’s class. You will also prepare a two-page progress report of your work to be submitted on Saturday. The report should include two site maps -- one that represents your portfolio as it is, and one that represents your portfolio as you expect it to be on February 15.