This is a repository for the Spring 2016 web funamentals class in the Journalism + Design program at Eugene Lang College, The New School for Liberal Arts. All assignments will be posted to this repository's wiki. In addition, slides from classes can be found at newschool-webfundamentals.github.io
This class is specially designed for people who think code, math, and computers in general are intimidating. Through a series of playful challenges, you will learn how computers, code, and the Web actually work. Along the way, you will pick up valuable skills and knowledge that will allow you to do more complex interactive projects in the future. It’s strongly recommended that this class be taken along with the appropriate News, Narrative & Design class.
By the successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Create, structure and style websites using HTML and CSS
- Understand and apply the fundamentals of JavaScript to create interactive web-based experiences
- Independently learn frontend libraries like jQuery and Bootstrap
- Have a basic understanding of how the World Wide Web works
- Be comfortable reading and dissecting someone else’s code
Students will be required to complete all in-class and homework assignments. Assignments must be posted on GitHub for grading. In addition to weekly assignements, students will be responsible for completing supplemental readings. Late assigments may be subject to the deduction of half a letter grade for every day that it is late. Midterm and final projects make up a large portion of grading and are to be completed on-time for in-class demos.
Students will build and host on GitHub Pages a mock newspaper website. They must use HTML and CSS to structure and style a homepage, section and article for the newspaper. Students will be graded based on completion of the requirements, creativity, hierarchy of information and design. The website must include:
- Homepage
- Title of newspaper
- Navigation bar with sections (NY, politics, opinion, tech, etc.)
- List of articles
- Section
- Title of newspaper
- Title of section
- Related articles
- Article
- Headline
- Byline
- Date published
- Body text
- Image
Students will reimagine a feature article–to be hosted on their portfolio website, which will be built and maintained throughout the duration of the course. Students will not be expected to report a new feature article, but to bring to life a previously published piece. They are expected to treat this article as if it were to be published online in a publication such as the New York Times, New Yorker, NPR, The Guardian–today. The feature should contain:
- A captivating introduction (hero image, video, etc.)
- Written body
- At least three images
- Pull quotes (blockquotes)
- An interactive component
- Map
- Audio
- Video
- Form inputs from user
- Chart
Suggested articles will be provided, though students are encouraged to submit pre-written pieces.
| Description | Percentage of grade |
|---|---|
| Participation & attendance | 15% |
| Assignments | 30% |
| Midterm | 20% |
| Final | 35% |
| Total | 100% |
- iTerm
- Text editor (suggested: Atom, Sublime Text)
- Access to a computer
- GitHub account
- HTML & CSS: Design and Build Websites - Jon Duckett (PDF provided)
- JavaScript & jQuery: Interactive Front-end Web Development - Jon Duckett (PDF provided)
Note: Assignments are subject to change based on the speed of the course. All assignments will be posted on this repository. Please keep up with the wiki to view the most recent assignments.
Topic: Introduction, syllabus handed out What is code? What is GitHub? Assignment: 300-500 word written assignment, prompt provided. Read “How the World Wide Web Works”