In-class activity

Just while we give folks a bit of time to make their way here, please complete the in-class activity for today (available for pick-up at the front of the class).

In preparation for lecture...

Please close up any laptops, cellphones, Razrs, Steamdecks and other 'beep-boop' devices.

Your teaching team

Wave here.

Andrew Hawryshkewich

Meet your neighbours

We are going to take a moment to meet your neighbours. Find someone sitting next to (or near to) you that you have not met before and:

1. Introduce yourself (Hello, my name is INSERT_NAME_HERE!)
2. Describe any previous experience with graphic design or web development (I built a website for my dog...)
3. Explain why you are interested in this course (I am in this course because I really want to learn about octopods...)
4. Share a fun summer anecdote (I didn't know it was possible to be attacked by so many mosquitoes...)

You have 5 minutes.

Contacting your instructors

A friendly how-to

Andrew is available via:

• Email at ac.ufs@h_werdna
• Our Discord course chat (sign-up on Canvas)

Office hours

Please send an email or message indicating you'll be attending.

Andrew's office hours:

• Mondays from 10:00 - 11:00am online via Zoom (linked through Canvas).
• Mondays from 8:00 - 9:00pm online via Zoom (linked through Canvas).
• Thursdays from 10:00 to 11am online via Zoom (linked through Canvas).

Email rules

Chat conduct

Please treat our online interactions the same way you would in-person interactions.

If you have concerns about anyone's conduct at any point, please direct message or email Andrew.

Illness policy

If you are ill, stay home. You are able to watch the lecture recording later, and follow-up with Andrew to arrange an alternative time for critique.

If you will be ill for a prolonged period of time (more than a week) please email Andrew to arrange accommodations.

If the teaching team is ill, we will notify you via Canvas and course chat by 10:30am on the day of class.

Lectures

This class is a 'studio' lecture - a communal space we meet to cover theory, practice, critique and software for web design and development.

Lectures

What to expect

Our class will involve a number of activities:

• Explanation of theory and practice
• Discussion
• Code tutorials
• Critiques
• Open work time

Workload

A reminder that this course expects about 2-5 hours of work outside of class time.

If you ever have concerns with workload please email Andrew.

Canvas

Our main course-site

Andrew opens up Canvas and briefly introduces it here.

Projects

1. Process — 10% (Individual)
2. Company — 35% (Group)
3. Portfolio — 35% (Individual)

80% of your grade.

Group Work

A quick note

Project 2 (Company) will be done in groups. Contracts, reflection and/or evaluations will be used to clarify expectations and outcomes between teammates.

Remember, you are responsible for your own work.

Readings

Fee-free!

Readings are available entirely digitally.

Canvas has PDF copies of all readings.

Coding quiz

Details of the coding quiz will be discuss closer to it, but it typically focuses on your ability to think through a problem with code.

10% of your final grade.

Coding and other exercises

Code exercises are practice for the web-coding you are doing in the course.

10% of your final grade.

Exercise rules

1. You can use online resources, course materials, and class-mates for support.
2. You must cite any knowledge that is not yours in a comment in the code.
3. If work has been copied without citation the exercise grade will be zero.

Plagiarism

This course has a zero tolerance policy for plagiarism on projects. If you are found presenting work that is not your own or resubmitting old work without notice, you will receive a failing grade on that project. No exceptions.

AI tools

You are welcome to use AI tools unless specified in a project, quiz or exercise brief, and with the following conditions:

• You must state how you generated the result you are working with (i.e. prompt, which tool, etc)
• You must develop the idea further — an AI generated result cannot be your final submissions
• You must be able to make an effective case for why the AI tool enhanced or improved your work

Code review

As part of P3: Portfolio you will be required to complete a code review. This will be a meeting between us to sit down and discuss your submitted code to ensure you understand how/why it is behaving the way it is.

Code check

If there are materials in your project submission that are not cited and seem beyond the scope of what we have covered in the course you may be required to complete a 'code check'.

A code check will require you answer specific questions of how the code is working and why it was built this way. If you are unable to effectively explain this the code grade for the project may become a zero, at the instructor's discretion.

Late or problematic submissions

Late submissions receive 10% per day late.

Problematic submissions — i.e. we can't open the URL or the wrong files were submitted — receive an immediate 20% off plus late penalties on the resubmission.

Concerns with grades

Please notify Andrew of any grading concerns within 10 days of the grades being released. This can include just getting some further feedback and/or wanting to have something regraded.

Course overview questions?

If you have any questions that linger about the course overview, please feel free to email Andrew or ask during our lecture time.

The ever-changing demands of the web

Oh, how things change!

Our goal here is to give the theory, fundamentals of coding for web and an understanding of how to develop your skills beyond this course.

This course is biased towards building accessible and fully responsive websites.

IAT-235 and IAT-339

For those students who have taken IAT-235 with me, you may find the first couple weeks a bit repetitive. This is intentional.

Do keep track though, as things may have changed.

Web toolkits

Prepped and ready to go

Available on Canvas are links to programs for your first 'web toolkits'. They should contain:

• Cyberduck (an FTP/WebDAV client)
• Firefox or Google Chrome (a web browser)
• Visual Studio Code (a code editor)

Firefox or Chrome

Why?

The developer tools in Firefox and Chrome are reasonably easy to access and have the features we need for the term.

Coding applications

VS Code, Atom, Sublime Text, Bracket, Notepad++, etc

We are working with code-only applications in this class, as you need to understand the code to be an effective web designer.

I will be teaching using Visual Studio (VS) Code.

No Illustrator, Photoshop, Figma, or Sketch mockups permitted

We will not critique designs that use mock-up tools. We are going to work purely in-browser for when we start designing and critiquing things.

This is to get you into the habit of working within the medium.

No frameworks until the final project

For P1/P2, you are required to make your own code. In the final portfolio project, you will be allowed to work with existing frameworks should you so choose.

This is to ensure you are practicing the development.

Why no React, Angular, etc?

Even if working with React, Angular (and other JavaScript libraries or frameworks) you still need to understand HTML and CSS to accessibly define the content, and style it.

Why We Style Guide

Style guides help us to:

• Document our design
• Test cross-browser
• Avoid duplicates
• Create a common language
• Work in teams

Mailchimp Style Guide

Let's take a look at the The MailChimp Style Guide.

Break-time

Runaway! Runaway...

See you in ten minutes.

Please make sure you have:

• VS Code (or similar code editor)
• Firefox or Chrome
• Today's tutorial starter kit (available at 339.ah.link/t01)

The Document-Object Model (DOM)

Our standard in delivering HTML

This week you will be building your first HTML pages, this involves the DOM, which put simply is a collection of objects (ie. navigation, headings, paragraphs) that resemble the document it is modelling.

Semantics

We want to pick the most appropriate HTML element to define the content, not the most stylistically appropriate element.

Semantic markup

Telling the computer the pieces

HTML elements are (most frequently) comprised of an opening, and closing tag — i.e. <p></p> — using triangle brackets and a forward-slash to denote that they are HTML elements and not content.

Oops, this code did not quite load. Please view it at https://codepen.io/andrewhaw/pen/cd0509d108d9292b031bc4b78d14a596

Semantic Markup

Markup should help us understand the content.

Oops, this code did not quite load. Please view it at https://codepen.io/andrewhaw/pen/cca86d1438b4958efddeb5178290d02b

Common Coding Errors

Since we will be starting some scripting this week, please keep an eye out for:

• Typoess: This is handz downe teh most commmon prublem.
• Forgetting brackets: Not ending or closing an element will lead to
• Forgetting to save: The file won't be able to update if not saved.
• Files and folders matter: The naming of files and folders (and where you put them) is very important.

Having coding concerns?

Let us know!

Let us know sooner rather than later that you are having concerns with coding.

We can often answer code questions in the chat as long as you provide a link to the webpage.

Time to code

Please open up this week's "starter package"

Appropriate Alt Text

Do your images have appropriate alt-text? Does it describe the content or the function of the image?

Labels Tied to Inputs

HTML questions

I maintain a Codepen collection that (ideally) answers the most common HTML questions. It is linked on Canvas and available at ah.link/qhtml

Next week

Sign-up for critique times starts at 4:30pm and you will need to make it in by 4:45 to secure a time-slot. Lecture will start at 4:45pm.

Next week's lecture

Styling the Webs

Thinking about our websites as modular components and the fundamentals of styling websites.

Code tutorial recordings will typically become available the day after the lecture.