COMMSTUD 306 - Website Assignment - Fall 2011

Goal: To provide students an opportunity to create an original website.

Overview: You will create a website by using Dreamweaver CS5. The assignment is worth 150 points and it will be due on the last day of class. When your website is completed, you won't hand in anything. I’ll grade it by looking at it on the Internet. Also, at the beginning of the last day of class, volunteers will informally present their website to class and can earn up to 15 points of extra credit.

Dreamweaver CS5 should be located on every computer on campus by going to Programs and Clicking on the “Remote App and Desktop Connections” folder. If you have Internet access at home, you can remotely access a BU computer and work at home.

I. Step 1 - Complete the Dreamweaver tutorial handouts.

In class, we will work through various tutorials to help you setup your site and help you become more familiar with Dreamweaver.

II. Step 2 - Create your own website.

The website you create can be a personal website, a website for a club or organization, or a website dedicated to a particular topic (i.e. save the environment, rock music, dog breeds, movie star fan club, your favorite hobby, travel destination, etc.). Do not take all of your content from another person’s website. If you like what another website has on it, then link to that website.

A. When you're planning a website, it's important to establish the goal of the website first. Here are some good tips for creating a goal for your site:

·  Make sure you know who your audience is. For example, is your site intended for customers? employees? students? friends? family?

·  Keep your goal simple. A couple of sentences or a short paragraph is enough. If your goal is too long, your site will end up looking like it's trying to do too much.

·  Here are some sample goals:

1. To show my friends and potential friends more information about me.

2. To show potential employers my capabilities so I can improve my chances of getting a job.

3. To help recruit new members to my organization, and to help current members find important resources.

4. To make people of all ages laugh. (A humorous website).

5. To help my company increase sales.

B. Once you have a goal, sketch out the structure of your site. Use the “Website Worksheet” (a separate handout) to help you plan your site. It will save you a lot of time to do this on paper before your site is constructed.

III. Requirements for your website – Your website must have:

1.  Original content to keep a reader’s attention. Do not create a content-free website that has lots of bells and whistles.

2.  At least 5 pages (for example - index.htm, resume.htm, links.htm, photos.htm, Bloomsburg.htm, hobbies.htm, etc.) Note that all your pages end in “.htm” or “.html”

3.  At least 6 photographs, illustrations (i.e. clip art) OR animated gifs).

4.  Add a link to your e-mail address on your index page or a contact page if you have one.

5.  Include navigation bars on each page. (Navigation bars have hyperlinks to other pages within a website, i.e. can a reader move from your photo page to the Index page?). Identify what you are linking to. (For example - don't have a link that says "See page 2," instead - have a link say "Hobbies").

6.  At least 5 hyperlinks to other websites.

7.  NO spelling, punctuation, or grammar errors. Don’t lose points here.

8.  On the Index.htm page, add the date so it readers can see when the page was last updated. (i.e. “Updated November 15, 2011”). Go to Insert menu and click on Date.

9.  Have a graphical theme for the website (so it’s not a black and white website). You may use a template if you like. Make sure that the background that you choose does NOT make the text difficult to read.

10.  A pleasant looking design (i.e. use horizontal lines, appropriate headings, styles, appropriate fonts, etc.) Consider how the colors look - don't have colors that clash, are difficult to read, or look tacky. Don’t forget what you’ve learned about page layout and design from earlier in the semester!

IV. Hints

1. Make your changes to your website and save often to your local disk (your P drive). Publish (Put Files) to the server only after you have made significant changes.

2. To see your changes to your website in Internet Explorer: save your changes to your local disk, Put File” (publish) the files to the server, than refresh the page in Explorer to see your changes.

3. Make sure you preview your website and test all of your links in a web browser.

4. Always keep in mind that that anyone can view your website as soon as you “publish” it. Everyone’s website can be seen from my website if you want to see how creative your classmates are.

5. Finding images and graphics -- You can get illustrations and pictures from images.google.com and office.com. To find moving images, do a search for “animated gifs,” or “animations” or try http://www.animation-station.com, www.flamingtext.com, or www.bellsnwhistles.com. You can add background images, animations, colorful rules, bullets, etc., the same way that you would add a regular photograph.

6. If you have trouble with this assignment, please don’t panic, just ask for help.

V. Website Address - Once you publish your site, your website URL address is http://myweb.bloomu.edu/username (your user name). For example: http://myweb.bloomu.edu/jrs15447

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