Transcript After Your First Web Course

After Your First Web Course;
Where to Go from Here
Bill Pegram
April 23, 2014
Importance of Having Real Clients
• The remaining slides indicate some of the
possible paths for further work with the web
• Whatever path you take, having real clients can
be very helpful
– Develop a portfolio of work to show a future potential
employer
– Give you experience in working with a client (e.g.
what they see on their machine may not be what you
see on yours)
– Keeps it grounded to the goals/purposes, target
audience, etc.
Writing for the Web
• NVCC English 123 - Writing for the World Wide
Web
http://www.nvcc.edu/academic/coursecont/s
ummaries/ENG123.pdf
Design
• Visual Design Principles – repetition, contrast,
proximity, alignment
• Color choices
• Navigation design
• Text design
• Design for accessibility
• ART 116, 117, ART 220 – Advanced Design for
the Web
Accessibility
• GMU Courses on Web Accessibility and Design
• http://cehd.gmu.edu/courses/EDIT-426
• http://cehd.gmu.edu/courses/EDIT-526
Online advertising
• Google AdWords
HTML WYSIWYG Editors
• Allow one to produce web sites more quickly and
with fewer errors than coding in a text editor, and
allow one to focus more on content
• Dreamweaver CC – free 30 day trial, student
version lowest price is $200-240/year
• Microsoft Expression Web – free download at
http://www.microsoft.com/enus/download/details.aspx?id=36179
• ITE 170 at NVCC, IT 213 at GMU
Client-Side Programming (JavaScript)
• Programming code that runs in the browser –
used for form verification, image rollovers,
and other things (e.g. the HTML5 shiv that
allows pre-Internet Explorer 9 browsers to
apply styles to HTML5 tags is written in
JavaScript)
• NVCC – ITP 225. GMU – EDIT 530
Server-Side Programming
• Various uses:
– Interact with databases
– Execute code that you don't want to run in browser
• Variety of programming languages used
–
–
–
–
–
PHP (taught in ITP 225 at NVCC and IT 207 at GMU)
ASP.NET (C# or Visual Basic)
Classic ASP (VBScript or JavaScript)
Cold Fusion
Java Server Pages
• Not all programming languages will run on all
servers
Databases
•
•
•
•
Database design
Structured Query Language (SQL)
ITD 256 at NVCC, IT 214 at GMU
Extensive database knowledge needed for
optimal performance
Content Management Systems
• Allows those not familiar with HTML to enter
content that is then displayed as part of web
page (thus) relies on databases
• WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, SharePoint are
the leading ones
• IT 335: Web Development Using Content
Management Systems (GMU) – Joomla! and
SharePoint in Spring 2014
HTML5 and CSS3
• A lot of new stuff, only partially supported in
current browsers
Websites for Mobile Devices
• Lower screen resolution
• Smaller device (if you have a lot of pixels,
things can be very small)
• Slower download speed
• Need for simpler site
Integration with Social Media
• Facebook, Twitter
Cellphone Apps
• When does doing a cellphone app in addition
to a website make sense? How should it be
different