LIS 390W1A - Schedule

Introduction

• Introductions
• Brief Overview of the Class
• Administrative Stuff
• Assignments & Grading
• Expectations & Philosophy

Lab

Lab 1: Introduction to HTML: How Easy is Easy?

We'll need to setup your GSLIS I: drives for you to complete the lab.

How Computers Work

Quiz

There will be a short Quiz on Monday about how computers work, so pay attention in class.

Required Reading

• Basic Computer Tutorial

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

Lab

None. Instead we'll be having a Quiz on Monday.

How the Internet Works

Quiz 1

Today we will be taking Quiz 1 at the beginning of class.

Required Reading

• Shuler, R. (2002). How does the Internet Work?
• Horton, M. (1986) What is a Domain?

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

Lab

First, we'll need to setup your GSLIS I: drives. Then we can start on the labs.

Lab 2: Shuler's "Check It Out" Exercises

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.

Finish Lab 2: Shuler's "Check It Out" Exercises

Lab 3: Downloading and Uploading an HTML File

No Class!!!

URLs, paths and links

Required Reading

• Graham, Ian (1998). Uniform Resource Locators
• Mapping URLs to Filesystem Locations

Lab

We'll have to do the quick admin work and do Lab 3, then we'll move on to Lab 4: File Systems and Decomposing URLs.

Hyperlinking, navigation and information organization

Required Reading

• Raggett, D. (2005). Getting Started with HTML

Start reading:

• Graham, Ian (1998). Introduction to HTML
  • Start here.

Useful Reference:

• W3 Schools
• W3C HTML Working Group

Lab

Lab 5: Hyperlinks and the Anchor Tag

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)

• XHTML Standard

Lab

Lab 6: Writing Valid HTML/XHTML

Markup and HTML

Required Reading

• Resseler, S. (1996). The Art of Electronic Publishing. Section 4.3
• On Semantics and Markup
• HTML DOM

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 7: Kinds of Markup

More HTML

Required Reading

Continue Reading:

• Graham, Ian (1998). Introduction to HTML

Start reading:

• Raggett, D. (2005). More advanced features

Useful Reference:

• W3 Schools

Lab

Lab 8: Writing More HTML.

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

Lab 9: Writing for the Web.

Note

Quiz 2 (50 points) is on Wednesday.

HTML & CSS

Quiz 2 (50 points) is Today

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

No lab. Quiz 2 is today.

More CSS

Required Reading

Continue readings from last class.

Lab

Lab 10: Messing with CSS.

Test page from 2009's lecture on this topic.

Test page from 2007's lecture on this topic.

Web Usability

Slides

Slides for the usability lecture.

Required Reading

• Usability 101
• Usability Misconceptions
• Usability Testing

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. Work on the Website Made to Order Assignment due next week Wednesday.

History of the Web

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
  • More Sources for Internet and Web Statistics
• 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

None. Keep working on your Website Made to Order Assignment due Wednesday.

HTML Tables

Required Reading

• Graham, Ian. (1998). Introduction to HTML. Chapter 4. Tables
• W3C HTML Tables
• W3C Tables and CSS
• Table tutorial - especially useful for understanding how to use <thead> and <tbody> and <tfoot> tags.

Related Readings (Optional):

• CSS Tables by Robert Denton
• W3Schools CSS: border-collapse

Lab

Lab 11: HTML Tables.

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 12: More CSS.

HTML Forms

Required Reading

• W3 Schools (be sure to click through and read the examples at the bottom)

Related Readings (Optional):

• HTML Code Tutorial - Forms
• HTML Forms

Lab

Lab 13: Forms.

Quick Overview of Javascript & PHP

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 14: Introduction to Javascript & PHP

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

• Javascript and XHTML
• Scripting vs. programming: is there a difference?

Lab

Lab 15: Variables, Arrays & Basic Functions

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 16: Loops & Conditionals

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

Lab 17: More Functions

Technological Foundations of the Web: HTTP & HTTPS

Slides

• PDF version
• LaTeX version

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.
  • If the link above does not work, try this one or this one.
• When to use GET
• UTF-8, UTF-16, UTF-32 & BOM

Lab

Lab 18: HTTP Get.

Website Design

Required Reading

• None yet.

Lab

None currently scheduled.

Copyright, Fair Use, and other Legal Considerations

Required Readings

• U.S. Copyright Office - Fair Use
• Copyright and Fair Use Overview - Stanford Cyberlaw Website

Related Readings

• Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center
• Stanford Cyberlaw Website
• Creative Commons

Privacy, Trust, Security, and Policy - Related Readings

Not exactly the same topic, but here in case you are interested in them.

• OCLC. "Sharing, Privacy and Trust in Our Networked World."
• Children’s Internet Protection Act

Lab

No Lab.

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)

• Tripod (Lycos)
• Yahoo! Geocities

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

• Slicehost
• Dedicated Hosting Services
• Virtual Private Servers

Other hosting (-like) services

• Amazon EC2
• Google App Engine

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)

• Dropbox
• Opendrive

Lab

No Lab.

More CSS: Three columned layouts and more...

No readings.

Lab

Lab 19: Three Columned Layout

Optional Exercise

Exercise: More CSS Practice

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
  • Firefox site

Lab

Lab 20: Using Accessibility Validators.

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.

Final Project Presentations

Exact Scheduling to be determined