William P. Craft

Special Note:

When you have finished your website, please send an email to the entire class with the address of your site.

This is not mandatory, but, I urge you to do this. It is a lot of fun to see what others have done. Last semester this was one of the most popular parts of the entire course.

This Unit:

This unit we will continue work on the Final Project. In particular, this is the unit to work on the 4th and 5th pages of your Final Project website. The Assignment this unit is worth 20 pts.

Don't forget the W3C Validators for XHTML and CSS are your best friends! They will give you unending feedback. Since they are computer based, they don't run out of time to help.

Reading Assignment, and Quiz:

None this unit.

Discussion:

In Unit One I asked each of you to provide the address of a "good" website and to tell the class why you thought it was good. This unit I would like to ask you the same question, but ask you to answer it using the knowledge you have gained in the class. Now that you know how good websites are made, what is the best website you know and why. You can certainly include more than just CSS and XHTML rules in your answer, but take a look at them along with usability and accessibility to make your final choice.

Next, check out the entries your classmates have provided. At a minimum, you should comment on two sites nominated by someone other than yourself. If you want to comment on everybody's favorite sites, go for it. Because this discussion topic will be a little harder than the others at the start of the course, it is worth up to 4 points. I will grade for content as well as participation.

Assignment:

Using the template that you picked from Freecsstemplates.org or from http://www.oswt.co.uk/xhtml_css_layouts, set up the 2nd and 3rd pages of your Final Project. The 2nd and 3rd pages must meet these criteria:

  1. The pages must validate in the W3C HTML Validator as XHTML 1.0 Strict. They must display styled hotlinks at the bottom of the page to the HTML and CSS Validators at the W3C. The hotlinks must refer the page and its style sheet to the W3C and check the page and sheet automatically. You can see this done on every page of Craftwebproject.com This criteria is mandatory to earn any points. Take this seriously. If the page doesn't validate, it gets a zero.
  2. The Style Sheet for the page must validate in the W3C CSS Validator as valid CSS 2.1. This criteria is mandatory to earn any points. Take this seriously. If the sheet doesn't validate, it gets a zero.
  3. The page must have a valid XHTML 1.0 Strict Doctype.
  4. The page must use folders (i.e., directories). At least one to hold the css styles, and another to hold images. (This will also demonstrate you know how to use paths.)
  5. Eventually, the website must provide a way to navigate smoothly between all the pages using some sort of menu system. Therefore, this page must have the menu system in place with the names of the other pages displayed in the menu system. This can be done the same way the template does it. No java-script should be used to make the menu work. It must be entirely based upon XHTML and CSS.
  6. This page must refer to an external style sheet and must use that sheet for all styles applied to the page (except very minimal and infrequent use of <em> and <strong> around words that you want to emphasize or strongly emphasize). Even for this first page, do not place styles in the <style> element inside the <head> element. Use an external style sheet instead.
  7. The Home Page must contain <img> elements, and use the appropriate src, width, height, and alt attributes.
  8. The Home Page must use the following elements at least one time: <h1>, <h2>, <p>, <q>, <ul>, <ol>, and <li>.
  9. Use class and id attributes correctly.
  10. Use padding, borders, and margins correctly.
  11. Demonstrate some variety of 2 or 3 column layout. (Almost any template at Freecsstemplates.org or at http://www.oswt.co.uk/xhtml_css_layouts will meet this requirement.
  12. New This Unit: ONE (or more) of this unit's pages must use the <a> element to link from one of your pages to an external web page on the Internet. Tell me which page does this in the comments section of the assignment turn in page.
  13. New This Unit: ONE (or more) of this unit's pages must demonstrate the use of a background image. (See pages 404-407 in the text, or you could also use a background image in a <a> element the way I did in Unit 4 with the roll-over on the picture of me where I turn into "Snidely". Feel free to look at my code on the html page and the style sheet—and copy it. Tell me which page does this in the comments section of the assignment turn in page.
  14. You must post the webpages and the attached stylesheet that you made above to your Internet site and tell me the exact address in the comments section of the assignment tool in WebCT for Unit 13. Pages will NOT be accepted by email or zip files or via WebCT. To complete the final project, it must be posted on the Internet on a site that does not add any code to what you have done for the project.
  15. Post this unit's webpages at the same location you have been using for you final project. I still need you to give me the the exact address in the comments section of the assignment tool in WebCT for Unit 15. Don't forget to tell me which pages meet the requirements of Items L. and M. above.

 

Alternative Assignment:

If you want to start from scratch and make your own design, totally on your own, that is fine with me. Just make sure your page meets all the requirements listed above in items A. through O.

Post this unit's webpages at the same location you used last unit for the Home page and attached stylesheet. I still need you to give my the the exact address in the comments section of the assignment tool in WebCT for Unit 15. Don't forget to tell me which pages meet the requirements of Items L. and M. above.

...Bill