Web Development Project

Web Development Project

Paul Wenke

MIT 490

Table of Contents

Introduction of Project

Project Summary

Project Area

Project Overview

Technical Overview

References

Project Uses

Life After Completion

Introduction of Project

Web development has rapidly grown since the introduction of the internet years ago. In this day and age, almost every hand held device has wireless capabilities, connecting the user to the internet to surf the web, download applications and much more. For my senior project I will be developing a theology website around Professor Sivalon’s specifications. Recently, the university has updated their website as well as any departments to a uniform design. In an attempt to develop the theology website with a consistent look and feel of the university’s, I will be using the Kania School of Management’s index page as a template. The image to the right shows KSOM’s index page. For this project I will be using the following languages: HTML, PHP, CSS, and AJAX and possibly others. My development environment will consist of the following programming utilities: Apache web server, Eclipse-PHP, and Adobe Photoshop. To ensure cross-browser functionality and quality, I will use Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Internet Explorer to debug any problems which may arise.

Project Summary

The purpose of this project is to develop a dynamic website which can be used to enhance the learning experience in and out of the classroom. This task will be accomplished by providing the necessary materials on the website for the students and any faculty member. In order for this website to be truly user friendly for university students, the interface will be a close replica to the university’s and other departments. This will provide the user with a familiar atmosphere so the user can navigate the site with confidence instead of having to become accustomed to a new interface. In order to have this website function properly I will be keeping the same navigation options available as well as introduce a secondary menu which will allow the user to navigate to class-related material. Possible materials include PowerPoints, embedded videos, pictures and other media which may become necessary for the class.

Project Area

This website will offer a broad range of information in the areas of world culture and religion. Possible religions are Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Jainism, Sikh and Buddhism. World cultures include Brazilian, Mayans, Aztecs and Native-American. These topics are subject to change as new materials may be introduced.

Project Overview

Development of this project will begin by splitting the website into five main sections; header, left navigation, main body, right navigation, and footer. The header will contain the Scranton logo, search bar, main navigation, a rotating picture as well as the sub-navigation. The left navigation and the body will change according to the link chosen in the sub-navigation. The right navigation will provide some information about the theology department and the footer will contain the website’s disclaimer and site index. I will develop each section individually then combine them into one index page. This method of development will make expansion easier and more efficient. The only information required to recreate the layout is the height and width of each section, for everything else I will use my own methods. I will start development with the header section and work my way down the page. After the layout has been developed, the site’s information will be included then any necessary adjustments will be made. I will constantly check my development with the University’s for layout consistency and quality.

Technical Overview

The reason for splitting the page into sections is primarily due to expansion and maintenance purposes. If later development required another page to be created, the developer would only need to use include statements to bring the new page together. Time spent on updating or maintaining the website would be dramatically cut since the developer would only be required to change one page per section. This leads to the possibility of a higher quality site since the developer can spend more time insuring clean code and inconsistencies from page to page are no longer a factor. Other problems which can arise during the development of this project are cross-browser cascading style sheet bugs. Browsers such as Firefox and Chrome behave in a similar manner when dealing with CSS, but Microsoft’s Internet Explorer contains bugs which are specifically to that browser.

There are a couple methods which can solve this problem relatively easily. One method would be to create two external CSS documents; one which would be applied when the user is using Internet Explorer and another or other browsers. Some drawbacks to this method are website inconsistencies and longer time spent maintenance. The developer will need to apply the same changes in both documents then debug them. Depending on possible issues, the time required for development can quickly rise. The second method for solving cross-browser compatibility is having additional CSS statements inside one document. The most common drawback for this method is how the additional statements affect the already existing code. Depending on how extreme the necessary changes are, the new code could drastically alter the website. If there is a minimal affect on the page, this may be the preferred method for cross-browser compatibility.

I have considered two methods for developing this website, the first being object oriented programming and the second using a content management system. If I choose to go down the oop path, I will be developing my own classes and methods. If this is the case, I will program the methods in a manner to keep the logic and rendering processes separate. This coding method creates the possibility to recycle code more often. If I choose to develop the website using a content management system, all logical coding is created by the cms. This will allow the website to be changed by users with little or no programming background.

References

There will be three main sources for referencing code during this project. For any PHP reference, I will be using Larry Ullman’s book PHP for the World Wide Web. Any JavaScript or Ajax answers will be solved from Tom Negrino’s book JavaScript & Ajax. All CSS questions will be answered from Cranford’s CSS and DHTML book. If any questions remain unanswered from these references I will be using W3Schools.com as well as Tizag.com.

Project Uses

This project will be primarily used by the theology department’s faculty and students. The website’s main content will contain necessary documents for various classes and allow communication between the faculty members and their students. Depending on the course this projected intended for, material inside the website can include sacred texts, course PowerPoints, religious videos as well as student presentations. With these sources readily available on the internet, students can work more independently since the need to rely on the teacher for some material has vanished. With course PowerPoints available, students have access classroom material before and after class.

Life After Completion

After the website is launched, any updates and expansions can be easily made. With the bones of the website already developed, any new material in years to come can easily be added by a developer with the proper background in web development. This website will have the potential to be incorporated into other theology based classes and possibility used throughout the whole theology department. Since the website is split into sections, only the pages which require changing are the left navigation and the body. With about three fifths already developed, expansion is made quite simple.