ACOM: Web Design Tutorial Site |  |
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Introduction and User's GuideAlthough this is a relatively long page it is best to read it before you start studying the material. It tells you about the ACOM Web Design course itself, this site in particular, and then ends up with some information about how the site caters for those with special needs and/or older computing equipment. As in all the best films, credits and a few disclaimers then follow at the end of the text. If you are not a student at the University of Leeds please also have a quick look at the brief welcome to non-students page. Course StructureWeb Design: Web Design and Technology follows the usual core/option structure of other ACOM modules. The Web Design Core is followed by all Web Design students in weeks 1-6 of the semester, and also includes a final lecture in week 11. On this site, as you can see from the Subject Index, lessons 1-6 are relevant to the Web Design Core. The lessons don't quite have a one-to-one correspondence with the lectures, but they nearly do. Those students who wish to acquire a more technically sophisticated knowledge of HTML can then go on to study the option, Advanced Web Techniques, which is taught in weeks 7-10 - that material is lessons 7-12 of this web site. But do note that is only one option for the module. The full list of available options for weeks 7-10 is as follows:
Below are some of the more common questions about this structure. If you've any others, please ask them rather than stumbling onwards in ignorance - better to find out than to assume something which turns out to be wrong! Q: How are these options assessed? (Please don't treat the following information as a detailed coursework spec - all such specifications are held on the main ACOM web site.) All ACOM work is assessed by coursework - there are no examinations. The Web Design Core has two deadlines, a preliminary one in week 4 and the main one in week 8. In week 4 you are asked to submit a single web page and style which outlines and justifies the site you will go on to write in week 8. The assessment for the optional component depends on which you choose, but for Advanced Web Techniques you are expected to demonstrate your technical understanding of the techniques taught there (image maps, frames, JavaScript, forms and navigation). Q: What's the best option for me to take then? A: Depends entirely on you. Advanced Web Techniques probably seems the most logical but it is important that you realise you will gain all the essential technical knowledge about web design from the Web Design Core. AWT takes this to another level, but all the stuff presented in it is essentially padding. So perhaps you might be interested in improving the imagery and style of your web site - Graphics on the PC might be the option for you then. Some of the available options (IT, Politics and Society, Computers Thought and Life and Legal Issues) are non-technical, that is, are taught and assessed without the direct use of IT - these might prove suitable to those worried that they are just not getting to grips with the technicalities of HTML, but who are interested in learning more about the background context of the Internet. Linux and Electronic Publishing are more specialised, but will provide important technical information to those interested in further developing their online publishing skills. Relational Databases is there because advanced web programming can involve the use of online databases via techniques such as ASP and SQL - not taught in ACOM, but you may decide to go on and study them elsewhere, and this option will give you a start. Research Skills will teach you how to find information from the wide scape of the Net, perhaps using it to improve the content of your web pages: Textual Analysis is a very specialised option which is also relevant here. Q: I've done ACOM web design stuff before - can I enrol on Web Design? A: If you studied Web Design last year then NO - the university won't let you repeat modules! If all you have done is the (now defunct) option Introduction to HTML and Web Design then yes, you can take the module. You might find that some - but not all - of the material in the early weeks of the course is repeated, but there will also be new stuff in each lecture. Q: Can I study web design without enrolling on Web Design? A: You used to be able to in ACOM but not any more. It is possible to take Advanced Web Techniques as an option in ACOM1810 (Advanced IT Skills) and ACOM1910 (Programming IT Skills), but you need to have previously studied the Web Design Core, which means that Web Design is effectively a pre-requisite for Advanced Web Techniques, whatever module you've taken it in. The only exception is if you studied Introduction to HTML and Web Design in previous years: in that case you would be allowed to take Advanced Web Techniques in one of these other modules without having done Web Design, although to be honest, I wouldn't advise it. Q: Can I choose a different option as part of Web Design, other than the list above? I will be sympathetic to these requests, and if you can make a good case, then yes - as long as you check first. But I might say no. It's up to you to convince me why you would want to do it, and how it would relate to web design. You certainly won't be permitted to do basic options such as Word Processing Techniques - it would have to be a more advanced option. Q: Can I take Advanced Web Techniques next year if I complete Web Design this year with a different option? Yes. Q: Why can't I enrol on Web Design if I'm a Communications Studies student? Because in semester 2 of your first year you will take (or will already have taken) a module, Internet Communications, which substantially replicates the material offered in Web Design and the two are listed in the university system as "mutually exclusive" for that reason. Site StructureThe "meat" of this site is made up of about a hundred separate pages, each of which covers a single topic related to the construction of your site in HTML. For instance, a page might be devoted to:
(If you don't yet understand what some of these terms mean, such as "tag", "attribute" and so on, don't worry - you will, by the end of lesson 1!) Note that the ACOM course of which this site is a part also includes material on more conceptual issues, such as the history and development of the WWW, different types of web sites, graphic design and so on. All the issues such as these, which are not directly related to the actual coding of your site, are covered in the printed course booklet Web Design and Technology, available from the ACOM office in the School of Computing. You will also be expected to read this booklet as part of the Web Design module. Note however that all lecture handouts, the booklet and other printed matter for this course is available on this site's resources page. Effectively then, this web site contains everything you need to study the module except actual attendance at the lectures and (if you need them) demonstration sessions. The topic pages are indexed in two separate ways. The first is via a simple A-Z Index. You will find this index easiest to use if you are looking for information or help on a specific topic. The second index is arranged thematically, and is known as the Subject Index. You should use this index in most cases as it will lead you through the course in order. Some topics or subjects will not make sense to you unless you have already studied earlier, more basic techniques. The order of subjects in this index generally (though not completely) corresponds to the order the subjects will appear in the course lectures. Each topic page also contains a list of related topics, at the top of the left-hand green bar where this page's table of contents resides - some of the longer topic pages also have tables of contents to make browsing easier. Some of these related links are termed "essential" links - in other words, you should definitely read them alongside the particular topic you're looking at, if you want to learn how to use it properly. Where links are not listed as "essential" they are there to help you understand how all these techniques fit together. Usually, though not always, these other links are all included within the same thematic group. In some cases there are "real-Web" examples provided to clarify certain topics. If and when you follow a link to these, the link will open in a second browser window, to which you can switch by clicking on the bottom bar (if the computer doesn't automatically switch you). Bear in mind these pages will always open in the same browser window, e.g. you won't end up with dozens of windows open as you browse through this site, but a maximum of two. If you are having problems with your site, try the troubleshooting page. Sometimes your site just won't work and you have no idea why - in which case the index of subjects is little use. In this case, the troubleshooting page should be your first stop. Most problems are down to simple causes, and this page covers the most common. Please make it your first port of call in a crisis, rather than running to find a demonstrator! Finally please note that on any one of the pages, you can use the two logos at the top of the screen to jump straight back to either the front page (the spider), or out of this site and back to the main ACOM site (the ACOM logo). Accessibility IssuesThis site has been deliberately written to be accessible to as wide an audience as possible. It should be compatible with all major web browsers. (See the page on browser compatibility for why this matters.) At points in the site I introduce techniques that some browsers may struggle to cope with, such as frames, or JavaScript - the reason I introduce them is to teach them, they are not otherwise an integral part of the site. If you know your browser cannot cope with them (and if you're reading this from a Leeds University computer, you'll have no problems anywhere), best just to avoid those topic pages. They won't crop up unexpectedly. People with restricted vision, or anyone who, for any reason, might like to increase the text size on their browser window, can do so on this site: at least, with the main body of the text on its pages. In Internet Explorer, click on the View button in the top menu bar, then Text size. (You can also decrease the text size in a similar way.) In Netscape you can produce a similar effect by pressing the Ctrl key along with the [ key (one key right of the P) to make the font smaller, or Ctrl + ] to make it larger. In Opera, use the Zoom box (to the far right of the location bar). This issue is covered in more detail on the page about how text is handled. All images have ALT attributes and the site will therefore still make sense if you browse it with images turned off, if you want to speed up your browsing, or if you are using a text-only browser. As is the online convention, ALT+1 then Return will always return you to the site's home page. If there are any parts of this site which any reader, anywhere, struggles to view for whatever reason, I want to know about them - please e-mail me to let me know how the site fails to meet your needs. For more information see the page on accessibility issues. Credits and DisclaimersSee also the About the Author page. This site was first written in summer 2002 by Dr. Drew Whitworth of the School of Computing, University of Leeds, U.K. All material on it is © Drew Whitworth and the University of Leeds. It was written using the web authoring tools, HTML and Notepad. This is effectively the third version of this site. Because I believe that another serious problem with much web-based material is a lack of archiving, and hence a lack of any appreciation of the development of texts, the previous version of the site is available here. The very first version of this site covered only the more advanced topics and was written by Hannah Dee: some material from that site still survives into this version. Thanks to all other members of the ACOM team for help, advice, criticism, beer, etc. Also thanks to Clare Whitworth, Doug Paulley, Chris Boswell, Stephen Sobol and David Gauntlett. This site is written for students at the University of Leeds, but of course it is in the public domain, and anyone should feel free to use the site as a resource in their own web design work. However, though I might respond to simple, informal enquiries from non-students, I cannot give you any detailed advice on problems you might be experiencing on your web pages if you are not an ACOM student. Nor can I or the University take any responsibility for any issues whatsoever which may arise from the design and publication of any web site which has been written by following advice contained herein. |
Material on this site is © Drew Whitworth and ACOM, 2002. Permission will usually be given to reproduce material from this site for non-commercial purposes, if credit is given. For enquiries, e-mail Drew at andrew [dot] whitworth [at] manchester [dot] ac [dot] uk.