Monash University

Leader: William Lay & Ruben Hopmans

Offered

Caulfield First semester 2008 (Day)
Caulfield Second semester 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

This unit will develop the basic concepts of website authoring, from design to implementation. Students will develop skills in creating digital content which is authored to deal with the particular issues of web publishing. The unit will examine HTML/XHTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) and JavaScript as the fundamental website authoring suite. In addition HTML embedded script languages, such as ColdFusion, will be used to create dynamic database driven content. The unit will also introduce wider W3C standards, web usability and web design specification.

Objectives

At the completion of this unit students will have a theoretical and conceptual understanding of:

1. the characteristics of commercial web sites and the authoring/management issues associated with them
2. the features and applicability of a range of software tools which are used in the development of websites
3. internet standards and protocols, in particular the impact of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards in this area
4. a web based document as an instance of the W3C Document Object Model
5. website usability issues
6. the role that products such as Macromedia Flash can play in web authoring
7. copyright related issues as they apply to web authoring.

At the completion of this unit students will have developed attitudes that provide them with:

8. the flexibility required in dealing with clients in a variety of situations encountered in the tendering/authoring process
9. a critical attitude towards assessing the success of websites
10. a recognition of the strengths and weaknesses of information technology in the context of the development and use of web based multimedia systems.

At the completion of this unit students will have developed skills to enable them to:

11. create and manipulate digital content for websites, including basic audio and animation
12. code web pages using standard HTML/XHTML, including tables and forms
13. make use of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to add style to web documents
14. use JavaScript to add interactivity to HTML pages
15. access and manipulate DOM objects in a web document
16. write HTML embedded script code (such as ColdFusion) to produce dynamic database driven web documents
17. produce design specification documents applicable to a web site authoring task

At the completion of this unit students will have developed the teamwork skills needed to

18. work as a member of a project team

Assessment

Practical assignments: 60%
Examination: 40%

Contact hours

4 contact hrs/week (comprising 2 hrs lecture, 2 hrs tutorial) plus 8 hrs/week of self-directed study and project work.

Prohibitions

MMS1402, FIT1012 (Translation Set: MMS9401)