MDST110 Information Technology and Digital Media Studies Prof. David Golumbia	University of Virginia Fall 2005
	MDST110 main page — MDST110 syllabus

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Lab Assignment 1. Personal Web Page

This assignment involves technical skills, conceptual skills, and some sensitization to design and communication issues. The assignment is to assemble any kind of simple web page that conveys something about you: it can be a traditional "personal home page" or any sort of variation on the theme. The page should have at least one image and should include at least one hypertext link with your email address. Think of the web page as a virtual snap shot or portait of you or some aspect of your character. What is it communicating? How is it doing this? Is this what you want it to communicate?

Technical skills

• Learn HTML coding and develop ability to create a web page
• Study source code and develop “reading” knowledge of it
• Develop confidence in basics of file storage and browser display
• Develop comfort level with changing, updating HTML files
• Acquire basic skills of “publishing” a web page

Conceptual issues

• A web page is a public document – what public image does it display of you?
• What information should be public? Private?
• What persona does your page project?
• What kind of design features reveal aspects of identity?
• To what extent is the page communicating effectively?
• How much control do you feel you have over the design?
• How strongly do you think your design communicates your intentions?

Design criteria

• Legibility (color, size, scale)
• Fit on screen (visible/invisible, scrolling etc.)
• Use of screen real-estate (hierarchy of information)
• Aesthetic properties and communication
• Browser variation (Mozilla, IE)
• Information content and fit with design
• Font management and use
• Image management and use
• Liveliness, originality, clarity, other properties

Page location

You should put your page in a directory that has the following form (where "yourid" is replaced with your UVa ID for your home directory):
http://www.people.virginia.edu/~yourid/mdst110/lab1/index.html

Project timeline: Your Personal Web Pages are to be finished and submitted by the beginning of lab during the week of September 26. You will have a group critique and discussion of your pages next week and be introduced to the Resource Site project. IF you are having trouble with your web page project, please be sure to come to lab this week and get assistance. You are only being asked to do the simplest page, you do not need to have images, dancing bears, vibrating banners, pop-up ads, or any other special effects. You only need to demonstrate that you know how to use HTML, to read code, and to make a simple, clean design.