work
requirements
There are four preliminary, one major assignment, and a blog required for the course. All of the assignments should be part of a website (a web portfolio) that includes a home page and navigation to the various assignments. At the conclusion of each assignment, the link to the assignment should be forwarded to the instructor for inclusion on the instructor’s course page. This site should be separate from your final project, although elements of the preliminary assignments may appear in your final project. In addition, you are required to make one post to your blog each week as well as one comment on another’s post each week. Those who make more than one comment will have their names writ in heaven, e.g. the gradebook. Reference your comment by furnishing a text link (Comment on Steve's Post, #2: Loving Design) in your own blog to the permalink of the post.
The course assignments will be weighted as follows: (1) CSS Assignment (15%); 2) Type Project (15%); 3) Image Project (15%); (4) Design Project (15%); (5) blog—including posts and comments (15%); (6) final project (25%); and (7) a self-evaluation (1 page, typed, single-spaced) assessing your performance in the course (not graded but required
1) css assignment (preliminary)
Part 1. Using an example from “McFly” at Project Seven, one of the examples from StyleMaster (if you purchased it), or other publically available template, create a web page that includes your content. The page should contain a header, nav, content area, and footer. Once you have finished, revise the template, making, at a minimum, the following changes:
- replace the header graphic with one of your own as a background image
- alter the color scheme
- change the font
- float an image
- add a list
- add a new DIV with its own CSS style
- validation badges for XHTML and CSS
Part 2. Create a standards-compliant, XHTML/CSS home page for your portfolio that includes a header, footer, content area, and nav. Concentrate on creating a solid layout and visual identity for your portfolio site. You might want to discuss the process for Parts 1 and 2 in your blog.
2) type assignment (preliminary)
The goals of this assignment are to demonstrate that you are aware of word processing conventions, CSS, and can use type as both an element in information and aesthetic design. For this assignment, create a web page that includes (or takes into account) the following:
- title
- navigation
- subheads
- leading
- line length
- margins/padding
- a pull quote
- a rule
- an image
- endnotes
- a block quotation
Because this assignment is meant to underpin your final web project, it would be a good idea to think about your project’s time period or subject and look for fonts that can contribute to the “look and feel” as well as the “legibility and readability” your project. One “page” of the project should be added to your web portfolio. You might find a good fonts at one of the following:
- Adobe
- Fonts & Things
- The Font Fairy
- fonts.com
- Web Page Design for Designers
- Atomic Media (very small screen fonts)
- myfonts.com
- t26
- Pixel Fonts
- P22
- LTR
- Walden Fonts
- Scriptorium
- TexasHero.com (historical script)
- Letterhead Fonts (19th century)
3) image assignment (preliminary)
The goals of this assignment are to demonstrate your mastery of image editing skills, color, and composition as well as the use of images to tell or illustrate a historical narrative. The narrative should be an account of the steps that you took to achieve the effects. Note that combining techniques in a single image is perfectly acceptable. For this assignment, create a web page that includes the following:
- cropped & resized image
- a restored photograph
- a hand-colored photograph
- a vignetted photograph
- a matted engraving
- a “before & after” of two examples
One “page” of the project should be added to your web portfolio. Although there are any number of image sources, these are among the best:
- HarpWeek (Thomas Nast)
- American Memory ("pictorial envelopes" for engravings, nineteenth-century periodicals for engravings, photographs of all kinds)
- National Archives (images galore)
- New York Public Library Digital Collection (tons of good stuff)
- Illustrated Envelopes
- stock.xchange
- iStockphoto ($ very good but very inexpensive)
- Corbis ($$ but doesn't hurt to look)
- Veer ($$ but doesn't hurt to dream)
- Mary Evans Picture Library ($)
4) design assignment (preliminary)
The goals of this assignment are to demonstrate your understanding of design and its application to the presentation of history on web. To that end, choose a historical period or topic and develop a web page design appropriate to the period. For example, if you elect to do a colonial site, the fonts, layout, illustrations, colors, and layout should reflect the colonial period. In other words, compose a web page that integrates a design theme into its typography, composition, color, and layout so that it enhances the presentation of the historical content and creates a visual identity for a prospective site. The assignment should also implement correct typography and layout strategies. Once you have finished, add the page to your class web portfolio. You may find some design inspiration at the following:
5) project (final)
The overarching goal for the major project is the creation of a modest, reasonably sophisticated history web site. First, the content should be solid and engaging. Second, the site should be clear in its purpose and potential audience. Third, the site should demonstrate standards-based, accessible design, including a print style sheet. In other words, the site should have passed validation tests for both its XHTML and CSS. Fourth, the site’s design should also reflect knowledge of typography, layout, color, and graphic design. Finally, there should be some effort make toward interactivity or online community building.