11 November 2004
Today's Topic: Final Practical Exam
The final practical exam will cover all material since the beginning of the year.
This is a pass/fail practical exam; if you do not pass this exam (with 14 out of 20 points, or 70%), you cannot pass the class. There will be a "second chance" practical offered during exam week for those who do not pass the first time--that exam will be very similar, but will require 16 out of 20, or 80%, for a passing grade.
9 November 2004
Today's Topic: Simple Javascripts & Exam Review
You'll learn a little about Javascript, and how to use it to open a new window.
The second half of class will be a review session. We'll discuss the final exam and the material it will cover, and then you can take a "practice" practical to prepare for the final (pass/fail) practical exam.
4 November 2004
Today's Topic: Image Slicing & Rollovers
A common technique for optimizing web images, and providing interactivity on the page, is "slicing" the image into separate pieces, and then reassembling it in a table on the page. This allows each separate "slice" to be properly optimized, and also allows some of the slices to have interactive behaviors assigned to them (most commonly "rollover" behaviors that change the image when the mouse "rolls over" it).
We'll discuss the reasons for using this approach to images, and then work with Fireworks to slice an image and add rollover behaviors.
2 November 2004
Today's Topic: GIF Animation
Animation is a powerful tool. While GIF images aren't hard to create (particularly when using tools like Fireworks), they are hard to use effectively.
We'll discuss principles and uses of animation on the web, and then discuss creation and optimization of animated GIFs using Fireworks.
28 October 2004
Today's Topic: Web & Vector Graphics
Images intended for display on the web have specific requirements in terms of format and size. We'll look at Fireworks as a tool for creating and optimizing images.
We'll also talk about the difference between bitmapped and vector graphics, and explore Fireworks' vector-based tools.
26 October 2004
Today's Topic: Image Compositing
When creating new images for the web (or other multimedia environments), you'll often need to combine elements from existing images--photographs, logos, etc. We'll look at tools and techniques for compositing, and spend some time putting Photoshop through its paces.
21 October 2004
Today's Topic: Digital Color
Color is a challenge in a computer environment. We'll discuss color models (RGB, CMYK, Lab, etc), color palettes, color gamuts, "web safe" colors, and factors influencing color display on computer screens.
19 October 2004
Today's Topic: Digital Image Concepts
In this class, we (finally!) start talking about digital images. We begin with an in-depth discussion of image resolution and file formats, and a first look at Photoshop as an image editing tool.
14 October 2004
Today's Topic: Site Design & Navigation
Most web pages don't stand alone--they're part of a larger site. We'll discuss design issues for sites versus pages, focusing on navigation issues.
We'll discuss HTML frames as a navigation tool, including the disadvantages of that approach. We'll also talk about advanced techniques for consistent navigation, approaches that are covered in more detail in the advanced web design courses.
12 October 2004
Today's Topic: Web Page Layout
Most of the web design principles we've talked about assume that you can control the placement of elements on your page. However, basic HTML doesn't give you much control over page layout.
Today we'll talk about the use of tables for layout of web pages. Until fairly recently, this was the standard tool web developers used to control placement of elements on pages.
As CSS has become more powerful, and better supported, it has become a better solution for controlling layout on web pages. However, use of CSS for positioning elements is beyond the scope of this class, so we'll limit our class discussion to the use of tables.
7 October 2004
Midterm Exam
You will have 30 minutes for the midterm exam, which will cover the material from 9/8 through 10/5. The focus will be on material presented in class and in the readings.
Topics included will be history and major figures associated with the Internet and the web, underlying protocols and operation of Internet and mail traffic, and basic HTML and Unix functionality.
You will be allowed to bring one hand-written, single-sided, 8.5x11" sheet of notes with you to the exam--the notes will be turned in with the exam, and returned to you with your graded exam.
This exam is worth 15% of your final grade.
5 October 2004
Today's Topic: Basic Web Design Principles
Being able to design a decent web page doesn't require innate talent. But it does require an understanding of basic design principles. We'll talk about the principles outlined in Williams & Tollett's The Non-Designer's Web Book.
We'll critique some web pages together as a class, and then break into small groups to formally evaluate others.
30 September 2004
Today's Topic: Color, Type, and (CSS) Style
Now that you know how to create a basic web page, we'll talk about how to format it a bit. If you're already in the habit of using tags to format your web pages, you'll need to unlearn that habit quickly.
In today's class we'll talk about the separation of content (your HTML and text) and presentation (the way you want those to look on the screen). We'll discuss use of color and type in the context of page design, and then you'll learn how to use CSS to change the appearance of your pages.
We'll only be talking about CSS for formatting--use of CSS for positioning items isn't covered in this class. (We cover it extensively in the concentration-level web design class, 4002-409.)
Vote! Win!
Have you registered to vote? If so, that's great! If not, it's not too late.
Either way, go...now...to VoteOrNot, and enter to win $100,000, just for being or becoming a registered voter. Then refer your friends...if someone you referred wins, you both win $100,000. What's not to like?
28 September 2004
Today's Topic: Paths and Permissions
In this class we'll tackle two concepts that are central to web publishing.
The first is file addressing--relative versus absolute paths. This has its roots in the Unix operating system, but is also important in HTML, particularly when building complex sites. You'll learn the difference between relative and absolute addresses, and how to construct relative paths.
The second is permissions--how to allow selective access to files and directories for reading, writing, and execution.
23 September 2004
Today's Topic: Basic Unix & FTP
Your web pages will be published on RIT's main web server, which uses the Unix operating system. You'll have to learn how to prepare your account for web use generally, and for the class projects specifically. That means creating files and directories, changing permissions, and editing files on the server.
The Unix commands you'll learn in order to accomplish these tasks will also be useful to you in other IT courses--from programming to database to networking, as well as in downstream multimedia courses.
We'll be connecting to the RIT server using the Terminal application in OS X. On the lab PCs, you'll want to use the PuTTY application. On your own PC, you can do telnet from the Start-->Run command box, or you can download PuTTY or any of a number of other Telnet/SSH clients.
21 September 2004
Today's Topic: Basic HTML
This is where we'll start talking about HTML, the underlying markup language used to create web pages. Even if you've written HTML pages before, you'll need to pay attention to the lecture and the readings--our goal is to get you writing clean, standards-compliant HTML code, which most people don't start out with.
The text editor that we use in class, BBEdit, has good built-in tools for HTML markup and validation. If you use the PCs in our labs, the text editor installed on those computers is UltraEdit; as far as I know, it does not have HTML validation tools built into it.
Regardless of what you use to create your code, you should always run your HTML pages through the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Validator before submitting them for grading.
19 September 2004
Avast, Ye Mateys!
Yesterday (Sunday, September 19th) was International Talk Like a Pirate Day.
Just thought you'd like to know. Mark your calendars for next year!
16 September 2004
Today's Topic: Electronic Communication
A discussion of the underpinnings of electronic communication, focusing primarily on email at RIT. We'll look at your various email options, the RIT LDAP directory, and the IT department FirstClass conferencing system.
We'll also have a brief discussion about other kinds of what's being called "social software," including weblogs, wikis, and other interactive environments.
14 September 2004
Today's Topic: Internet History & Protocols
A brief historical overview of important figures, events, and technologies related to the Internet and the web.
As promised, here are the powerpoints from the class. The files are in Quicktime Movie (.mov) format, and can be viewed in any browser with QuickTime support, or downloaded to your local computer for playback using a QuickTime player. (Right-click on the link to download the file.)
9 September 2004
Today's Topic: Research, Copyright, and Ethics
In preparation for the research paper you'll be writing for this class, we'll discuss effective Internet search techniques, copyright restrictions (both for materials you find online, and materials of yours that you publish electronically), and academic ethics (specifically understanding and avoiding plagiarism).
wikipedia
It's worth taking a look at the wikipedia as a source for information on topics assigned in class.
Lately, the wikipedia has gotten a lot of attention from people wondering just how reliable it really is--since a key aspect of a wiki-based website is that anybody (even you!) can edit any page. Can you find any of the recent weblog posts or articles discussing its reliability? Would you trust it as a reference source?
7 September 2004
Introductions
I'm going to do my best to get to know you all by name before the end of the quarter. That'll be a lot easier if I have some context for you. Use the comment feature on this entry to introduce yourself and tell me (and the rest of the class) something about yourself.
If you have a web page of your own already, include the URL. (If you don't have a web page already, don't panic! That's often a good thing, because it means you won't have to unlearn any bad coding habits...)
Not sure what to write? At a minimum, tell us where you're from, what you're interested in studying, where you're living this year (home? dorm? which one?). Adding a little about your interests would be nice, too. Are you an avid sports fan? A video-game-aholic? A gourmet chef?
Today's Topic: Course Overview
We'll discuss the course syllabus, the course outline, this weblog, and what "multimedia" means in the context of the IT curriculum.
15 August 2004
welcome!
This will be where I post readings, assignments, and information about the class.
Use the "Quick Links" menu at the top to navigate to specific sections (like the syllabus and the course outline), and the calendar on the left to find materials related to a specific class meeting.