Office Hours: 4:30-5:30 p.m. MTW; and by appointment

Choose one of the following two texts:

• Karen Schriver. Dynamics in Document Design. New York: Wiley, 1997.
• Kostelnick and Roberts. Designing Visual Language: Strategies for Professional Communicators. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1998.

Choose one or two of the following texts:

• Maran Graphics. Teach Yourself FrontPage 2000 Visually.  Foster City, CA: IDG Books, 2000.
• Donna J. Wainio.  FrontPage 2000 and FrontPage 2000 Camp. Youngstown, OH: YSU, 2000.
• Elderbrock and Karlins.  Microsoft FrontPage 2000 Bible.  Foster City, CA: IDG Books, 1999.

You must also have the following materials:

• One 3 1/2" IBM-formatted high-density floppy disk
• a zip disk 
• an appropriate portfolio folder

COURSE OBJECTIVES

In English 944, you will explore and apply principles of document design. Objectives include the following:

• to explore principles and characteristics of printed document design;
• to focus on principles and characteristics of online document design, especially Web design;
• to explore the role of typography, spacing, and color in document design;
• to explore how documents are produced;
• to become competent in a common web-design program: FrontPage 2000;
• to evaluate existing web sites, applying the knowledge you have gained;
• to produce a professional web site, applying the knowledge you have gained.

REQUIREMENTS
 
 

To get all the help you need and to take full advantage of the course, you need to be here! Regular attendance is expected. Considerable work will be done in class, where you can ask for help and consult your colleagues.

GRADING

Late assignments will not be accepted unless you have received prior approval; they may result in a “docked” grade (one letter grade per calendar day).

The number at the end of each line indicates the total possible points for that assignment or series of assignments. The final grading scale is as follows:  900–1000 points, A; 800–899 points, B; 700–799 points C; 600–699 points, D; and fewer than 600 points, F.  Failure to complete all of the projects will result in an automatic F.

Plagiarism may result in an F on the assignment, an F in the course, and/or a report to the university discipline officer. An incomplete (I) can be given only under extreme circumstances, if you request it, if you have completed almost all of the course requirements, and if you are passing at the time you request it. Auditors should let me know which of the projects they plan to complete.

• Read your FrontPage 2000 text(s).
• Read Shriver, pp. 390-407 and Appendix C (pp. 506-17)

• Turn in your typed, documented compilation of principles of good and bad web design (approximately five pages) by the end of class on Thursday, July 20. After your introduction, you may introduce each section of the paper with a short paragraph and then use list form for the principles themselves. You might want to use headings and subheadings to separate your lists into categories. Your bibliography or list of sources at the end of the paper should be in current MLA style. You may work individually or in groups of no more than three students.

• overview of what Shriver calls the "craft," "romantic," and "rhetorical" approaches to document design
• overview of HTML coding, designing a web site, and preparing a site with the unix environment in mind (see http://netcenterbu.builder.com/Authoring/Basics/?tag=st.bl.3880.spot.bl_Basics  for a primer on HTML coding)
• introduction to FrontPage 2000

• introduction to printed document design, presented by Kathy Leeper, Coordinator of YSU Graphic Services
• explore document-design web sites (look at these links, but also do a search for sites on good and bad web design)
• continue working with FrontPage

• Shriver, chapter 5: "The Role of Typography and Space" (pp. 249-359)
• Kostelnick/Roberts, chapters 2, 3, and 4 (pp. 47-159)

• Turn in your typed group evaluation of an existing professional web site (based on the documented compilation(s) of principles of good and bad web design you did earlier) by the end of class on Thursday, July 27.  Work in groups of no more than three students.  Here are some guidelines for the evaluation:

• Choose a corporate or organizational site, not an individual's homepage.  The site should not be a site critiqued by existing sources (such as those you used to compile the list of qualities of good and bad web design).
• Use the print-screen function (or print out examples) to create figures that show the qualities you are describing in the evaluation.  Label the figures and refer to them in your evaluation.  If you need help using the print-screen function, let me know.
• Include a list of the sources at the end of the paper (most of these will probably be the list of sources you compiled for the first paper, but also include the site you are critiquing).  Use MLA format.
• Type the evaluation.  The paper should be at least four pages of text, plus the graphics and list of sources.

• Shriver, chapter 6: "The Interplay of Words and Pictures" (pp. 361-441)
• Kostelnick/Roberts, chapters 7, 8, and 9 (pp. 263-386)

• be composed in FrontPage 2000
• contain at least three levels of pages
• contain working internal and external links
• contain working "bookmarks" or "anchors"
• contain other navigational tools as appropriate (unified in terms of design)
• contain at least one working downloadable file
• contain at least one e-mail link
• load reasonably quickly on the lab computers
• contain appropriate, integrated graphical elements
• use grammar and spelling appropriate for a professional site