Table of Contents
- Week 1 - Mon 8/25/2008 & Wed 8/27/2008
- Week 2 - Wed 9/3/2008
- Week 3 - Mon 9/8/2008 & Wed 9/10/2008
- Week 4 - Mon 9/15/2008 & Wed 9/17/2008
- Week 5 - Mon 9/22/2008 & Wed 9/24/2008
- Week 6 - Mon 9/29/2008 & Wed 10/1/2008
- Week 7 - Mon 10/6/2008 & Wed 10/8/2008
- Week 8 - Mon 10/13/2008 & Wed 10/15/2008
- Week 9 - Mon 10/20/2008 & Wed 10/22/2008
- Week 10 - Mon 10/27/2008 & Wed 10/29/2008
- Week 11 - Mon 11/3/2008 & Wed 11/5/2008
- Week 12 - Mon 11/10/2008 & Wed 11/12/2008
- Week 13 - Mon 11/17/2008 & Wed 11/19/2008
- Week 14 - Thanksgiving. No Class!!!
- Week 15 - Mon 12/1/2008 & Wed 12/3/2008
- Week 16 - Mon 12/8/2008 & Wed 12/10/2008
Related Pages in the LIS390W1A Site
Week 1
Introduction
See the course narrative for more details.- Introductions
- Brief Overview of the Class
- Administrative Stuff
- Assignments & Grading
- Expectations & Philosophy
Lab
Nothing due.
How Computers Work
Required Reading
Related Readings (Optional):
- Shuler, R. (2002). How does the Internet Work?
- Horton, M. (1986) What is a Domain?
- A Brief History of the Internet
- Windbigler, K. Exploring the Domain Name Space
- Gilbert, H. (1995). TCP/IP
- http://www2.rad.com/networks/1994/osi/layers.htm
- An example of how traceroute can be useful
Lab
Lab 2: Shuler's "Check It Out" Exercises has been postponed to next week. For homework, write down your impressions from today's class so that you can include them in the lab write-up.
Lab 1 due.
Week 2
No Class!!!
Nothing due.
How the Internet Works
We will finish what we did not get to last week today, especially regarding the Schuler reading and the accompanying lab.
Required Reading
Related Readings (Optional):
- Basic Computer Tutorial
- A Brief History of the Internet
- Windbigler, K. Exploring the Domain Name Space
- Gilbert, H. (1995). TCP/IP
- http://www2.rad.com/networks/1994/osi/layers.htm
- An example of how traceroute can be useful
Lab
First, we'll need to setup your GSLIS I: drives. Then we can start on the labs.
Nothing due. Lab 2 has been moved to next week.
Week 3
Fun with Technology!
We will be learning how to use all the main technologies that we will be using in this course, including text editors, web browsers, ssh, webdav, netfiles, I: Drive, etc. We ought to finish with these technologies today.
In this class, we will be utilizing the Course Technologies section of the course website a great deal.
Lab
For anyone who has not already done so, we'll need to setup your GSLIS I: drives, and then we'll need to do a bit of quick admin work. Then we can start on the lab.
Lab 2 due.
URLs, paths and links
Required Reading
Lab
Lab 3 due.
Week 4
Hyperlinking, navigation and information organization
Required Reading
Start reading:
Useful Reference:
Lab
Lab 4 due.
The Importance of Standards & HTML Validation
Required Reading
- Boudreau (2002). The Importance of Web Standards.
- Richmond, A. HTML Standards Compliance - Why Bother?
Also, check out the W3 HTML Validator
Related Readings (Optional)
Lab
Lab 5 due.
Week 5
Markup and HTML
Required Reading
Related Readings (Optional):
- Markup Systems and the Future of Scholarly Text Processing by James H. Coombs, Allen H. Renear, and Steven J. DeRose (1987).
Lab
Lab 6 due.
More HTML
Required Reading
Continue Reading:
Start reading:
Useful Reference:
Lab
Lab 7 due.
Week 6
I will be out of town on Wednesday of this week attending a conference so you will be having a guest lecture. Dan Wright will lecture on HTTP on Wednesday.
Last year, the attendance at guest lectures was dismal. Therefore, this year, attendance is required. Attending class will be worth 15 points.
Writing for the Web
Required Reading
- Nielsen (1997). How users READ on the web.
- Morkes, J., Nielsen, J. (1997) Concise, SCANNABLE, and Objective: How to Write for the Web
Lab
None. Work on the Website Evaluation Assignment due next week Wednesday.
Lab 8 due.
Technological Foundations of the Web: HTTP & HTTPS
Slides
Required Reading
- Berners-Lee, T.J., Cailliau, R., Groff, J-F., & Pollerman, B. (1992) World-Wide Web: The Information Universe, Electronic Networking: Research, Applications and Policy, 1(2), 52-58.
- HTTP 1.1 RFC (Sections 5, 6, 9, 10)
- Secure Sockets Layer (wikipedia); take a look over the whole thing, but pay attention particularly to the sections "Description" and "Applications".
Related Readings (Optional):
- Berners-Lee, T.J., Cailliau, R., Luotonen, A., Nielsen, H.F. & Secret, A. (1994) The World-Wide Web, Communications of the ACM, 37(8), 76-82.
- When to use GET
- UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32 & BOM
Lab
Lab 9: HTTP Get. Lab 9 will not be due for a week. Quiz 1 (50 points) is on Monday so study for that instead, and the first major assignment is due on Wednesday.
Note
Quiz 1 (50 points) is on Monday.
Nothing due.
Week 7
History of the Web
Quiz 1 (50 points) is Today
Required Reading
- A Brief History of the Internet
- Try this link if the above link does not work.
- Bush, V. (1945) As we may think, The Atlantic Monthly, July 1945.
Related Readings (Optional):
- Licklider, J.C.R. (1968). The Computer as a Communication Device. Science and Technology. April 1968.
- O'Neill et al. (2003) Trends in the Evolution of the Public Web. D-Lib Magazine, 9(4).
- Size and Growth from OCLC Web Characterization Project
- Hobbes's Internet Timeline
- Jules Verne bibliography
- The Visible Man: An FBI Target Puts His Whole Life Online - The tale of Hasan Elahi.
- A Decade of Internet Evolution by Vinton G. Cerf.
- A Decade in the Life of the Internet by Geoff Huston
Lab
No lab. Quiz 1 is today.
Nothing due.
HTML & CSS
Required Reading
- CSS Zen Garden
- Raggett, D. (2002). Adding a touch of style
- Learning Cascading Style Sheets - Pick one or two things to skim
Lab
None.
Week 8
Lab 9 due.
HTML Tables
Required Reading
- Graham, Ian. (1998). Introduction to HTML. Chapter 4. Tables
- Layout Tables - I don't recommend using tables for these purposes, but you should be aware of how many people still use tables, and why they see using tables in this manner as advantageous.
Related Readings (Optional):
- W3C HTML Tables
- W3C Tables and CSS
- Table tutorial - especially useful for understanding how to use <thead> and <tbody> and <tfoot> tags.
- CSS Tables by Robert Denton
- W3Schools CSS: border-collapse
Lab
Lab 10 is due.
Week 9
CSS: Relative Layouts
Required Reading
- Zeldman, J. From Table Hacks to CSS Layout: A Web Designer's Journey
- Korpela, Jukka. (2001). Why style sheets are Harmful
Related Readings (Optional):
- A List Apart
- W3 Schools
- Newhouse, M. Practical CSS Layout Tips, Tricks and Techniques
- Holzschlag, M. E. Thinking outside the Grid
Lab
Lab 11 is due.
HTML Forms
Required Reading
- HTML 2.0 Forms and Obscurities: read Chapters 4 - 8 (PDF) Unfortunately the old HTML version has disappeared. You can access an HTML page that links to it here.
- W3 Schools (be sure to click through and read the examples at the bottom)
Related Readings (Optional):
Lab
Lab 12 due.
Week 10
Quick Overview of Javascript & PHP
Slides
Javascript Introduction Slides
Required Reading
- Check out these JavaScript tutorials at Quirksmode
- Check out PHP.net - Skim the site, get a sense of what is there.
For the following sites, check them out to see what is possible with javascript:
- How to add a google map to a web page in 10 minutes
- Add Digg to your homepage
- Geotagging: Flickr and Google Maps
- Mappr
Examples of Javascript
- http://maps.google.com/maps
- http://www.walterzorn.com/dragdrop/dragdrop_e.htm
- http://script.aculo.us/
- http://dojotoolkit.org/demos
- http://jsmsxdemo.googlepages.com/jsmsx.html
Lab
Lab 13 due.
Javascript & PHP - Variables, Arrays & Basic Functions
Required Reading
- Check out these JavaScript tutorials at Quirksmode
- Check out PHP.net - Skim the site, get a sense of what is there.
Related Readings
Lab
Lab 14 due.
Week 11
Javascript & PHP - Loops & Conditionals
Required Reading
- Javascript and XHTML
- Scripting vs. programming: is there a difference?
- Check out these JavaScript tutorials at Quirksmode
- Check out PHP.net - Skim the site, get a sense of what is there.
Lab
Lab 15 due.
Javascript & PHP - Functions
Required Reading
- Check out these JavaScript tutorials at Quirksmode
- Check out PHP.net - Skim the site, get a sense of what is there.
Exercises
Nothing due. Keep working on Lab 16 and your Personal Website Assignment.
Week 12
I will be out of town both Monday and Wednesday of this week attending another conference so you will be having guest lecturers both days. Hong Zhang will be guest lecturing on Monday on XSLT, and Andrew Wadsworth will be guest lecturing on Wednesday on usability.
As mentioned previously, last year the attendance at guest lectures was dismal. Therefore this year attendance is required. Attending each class will be worth 15 points.
Overview of XSLT
Slides
Required Reading
XSLT References:
Lab
None currently scheduled.
Lab 16 due.
Web Usability
Slides
Slides for the usability lecture.
Required Reading
Related Readings (Optional):
- Nielsen, Jakob. "About Us Pages."
- Nielsen, Jakob. "Why This Site Has Almost No Graphics."
- Play with Speed Reader
- "Usability", from Wikipedia
- "Vincent Flanders’ Web Pages that Suck."
Lab
None currently scheduled.
Week 13
Encoding, Unicode and HTML Entities
Required Reading
- Korpela, Jukka. (2001). A tutorial on character code issues Read up to the section titled "More about the character concept"
- Character references explained
Related Readings (Optional):
- UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32 & BOM
- Korpela, Jukka. A table of Character and entity references
- Korpela, Jukka. Test page for 8-bit encodings
Lab/Assignment
No Lab. Instead, brainstorm ideas for the final project on the Final Projects Forum. Start talking to your fellow students on the final projects forum to find partners for a final project group.
Nothing due. Instead, brainstorm ideas for the final project on the Final Projects Forum. Start talking to your fellow students on the final projects forum to find partners for a final project group.
Functional Accessibility Design and Testing using Web Standards
Required Reading
- Section 508, Subpart B, §1194.22
- UIUC Web Accessibility Best Practices - Read all the Overview sections (skim the tables), skim the Requirements section
- How to design web accessible pages for the colorblind
If you have time, also take a look at the Functional Accessibility Evaluator
Related Readings (optional)
- The Accessibility Board Section 508
- Web Content Accessibility Guide
- Web Accessibility Initiative
- State of Illinois Web Accessibility Standards
- ITTATC links page to Disabilities Related Laws
Accessibility Evaluators
- Cynthia - Section 508 Validitator
- Webxact
- The WAVE Accessibility Evaluation Tool
- Functional Accessibility Evaluator
- CITA firefox extension
Lab
Week 15
More CSS: Three columned layouts and more...
Below are links to the files I created in class:
No readings.
Lab
Optional Exercise
Lab 18 due.
Copyright, Fair Use, and other Legal Considerations
Required Readings
Related Readings
Privacy, Trust, Security, and Policy - Related Readings
Not exactly the same topic, but here in case you are interested in them.
Lab
No Lab.
Nothing due.
Week 16
Data Management & Hosting Your Own Site
Brief review of strategies for Data Management: organization, backup, etc. Also, brief overview of different options for personal web hosting.
Issues:
- Storage & Bandwidth - and the pricing model
- CGI & Scripting support (PHP, Perl, Java, etc.)
- DB support: MySQL, PosgreSQL, others?
- File access via the web vs. ssh/ftp access + web access
- Domain registration & management
- Email support
- Mailing list support, and more importantly, with what software
- Pricing model, generally: Setup Fees are often sketchy, pro-rated cancellation is also good, monthly fee vs. pay-for-use.
- Long-term reliability of the hosting
- Piecemeal services vs. all-in-one
Free Web Hosting (you get what you pay for)
Web Hosting Solutions:
- Nearly Free Speech.net
- Dreamhost
- Bluehost
- Go Daddy
- Laughing Squid
- A Small Orange
- Yahoo Small Business Web Hosting
Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated Servers
Other hosting (-like) services
Automatic Backups
- PC Magazine: The Best Online Backup Services (04.29.08)
- But also a question of business model - how long will these services last, and what do they do with your data when they fail?
- SOS Online Backup
- Mozy
- Elephant Drive
- Gmail Backup
Other Backup Solutions (hacks)
Lab
No Lab.
Nothing due.
Final Project Presentations
Exact Scheduling to be determined
Final Projects due.
Not a Week
Grabbag of Topics
Required Reading
Read one of the following and be prepared to explain it to your classmates (25 points).
- Image Spam
- XML.com - What is RSS?
- RSS Protocol
- Netscape. Client-Side State - HTTP Cookies
- Berghel, H. (2001). Caustic Cookies. Communications of the ACM. 44(5). May, 2001.
Related Readings (Optional):
Lab
None.
copyright data preservation over time data preservation and back-up strategies Install web software * Wordpress * mediawiki * joomla * drupal
Affordance Analysis, Systems Analysis & Design
Readings to be added
Required Readings
- Affordance Analysis article on the GSLIS Wiki.
Lab
No lab.
Wikis
Required Reading
- Wiki article in Wikipedia - the most famous wiki.
- Wiki Wiki Web - the first wiki.
- Browse both wikis. Be prepared to discuss your experience.
Lab
No lab.
Blogs
Required Reading
- Blog article in wikipedia.
- Find one blog of interest, and one article about blogs, and come in prepared to discuss them. Please email me your choices (with links) by the Wednesday before class.
Lab
No lab.
Content Management Systems
The readings for today will change.
Required Reading
Related Readings (Optional):
Lab
No lab.
Web Mashups
- Programmable Web - browse the site, see what you find. In particular, you might want to check out the following:
Nothing due.
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