Schedule

• CMS history • CMS platforms • Introduction to Wordpress Web Culture Reading: ­Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 1: Introduction to WordPress and Chapter 2: Getting Started and IA Chapter 1 Case study: TBD Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 1
 * Week 1 | May 10th Content Management as Paradigm **

** Week 2 | May 12th Planning a Web Project ** • Wireframes & outlines • User testing/input/consultation • Web design as foresight Web Culture Reading: Dennis G. Gerz, __ “On the Trail of the Memex: Vannevar Bush, Weblogs and the Google Galaxy”. __ (2003) Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 3: Creating Blog Content and IA Chapter 2 Case study: TBD Lab exercise: A simple wireframe, Wordpress Overview

** Week 3 | May 17th Web Typography I ** • History of web typography • CSS review – reverse engineering with firebug • Font stacks – best practice Web Culture Reading: Michael Bierut, __ “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Typeface” __, // Design Observer //. (2007), Information Architects, __ “Web Design is 95% Typography” __ (2006) Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 4: Creating Blog Content and IA Chapter 3 Lab exercise: John Kane’s ‘Apple Tart’ type exercise revisited with CSS ** Case Study Due: 10% **

** Week 4 | May 19th Web Typography II ** • The importance of readability • How to select typefaces for a site • @Font-face – type hosting service overview Web Culture Reading: Jon Downer __ “Call It What It Is” __, // Émigré //. (2003) Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 5: Pages, Plugins, Image Galleries Menus, and More and IA Chapter 4 Case study: __ http://nytimes.com __ Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 5

** Week 5 | May 24th Visual Design for the Web ** • Classical grid layouts and the web • Integration of text, image and multimedia • Interactivity – Flash, HTML5 and jQuery (comparison) • Creating standardize templates Web Culture Reading: TBA Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 6: Choosing and Installing Themes, and More and IA Chapter 5 Case study: __ http://infosthetics.com __, __ http://flickr.com __ Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete Chapter 6

** Week 6 | May 26th Navigation, Taxonomy & Categories ** • Keeping things organized – taxonomy & categories • Structural, associative and utility navigation • Global vs. local navigation • 404 pages Web Culture Reading: Cory Doctorow, __ “Metacrap: Putting the torch to seven straw-men of the meta-utopia” __. (2001) Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 7: Developing Your Own Theme, and More and IA Chapter 6 Case studies: __ http://delicious.com __, __ http://archigram.westminster.ac.uk/ __ , __ http://reuters.com/ __ Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete Chapter 7 ** Quiz #1: 15% **

** Week 7 | May 31st Users & Community Management ** • User generated content – a new paradigm • Social architecture: keeping a site under control • User permissions & security concerns Web Culture Reading: Geert Lovink & Ned Rossiter, __ “The Digital Given: 10 Web 2.0 Theses” __, // Fibreculture // 14. (2009) Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 8: Feeds and Podcasting, and More and IA Chapter 7 and 8 Case study: __ http://wikipedia.org/ __, __ http://huffingtonpost.com/ __ Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 8 ** Flowchart/Wireframe Due: 15% **

** Week 8 | June 2nd Putting the Parts Together ** • Developing a workflow to approach a complex project • Making sense of a client-brief, turning a list of job requirements and a mass of content into a site Web Culture Reading: Clay Shirky, __ “Newspapers and Thinking the Unthinkable” __, (2009) Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 9: Developing Plugins and Widgets, and More and IA Chapter 9 Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 9

** Week 9 | June 7th Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ** • Why designing for search is good design • Google PageRank unpacked • Web Analytics Web Culture Reading: TBA Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 10: Community Blogging and Chapter 11: Creating a Non-Blog Website, and More and IA Chapter 10 and 11 Lab exercise: Based on Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 11

** Week 10 | June 9th In-Class Final Project Help ** Web Culture Reading: Review Technical Reading(s): Wordpress 3 Complete, Chapter 12: Administrator’s Reference and More and IA Chapter 12

** Week 11 | June 14th ** • Class discussion about the assignment • Term test preparation Web Culture Reading: Anne Helmond, __ “Lifetracing: The Tracing of a Networked Life” __, in // Networked. // (2009) Technical Readings: Review for test ** Final Project Due: 35% **

** Week 12 | June 16th Final Term Test: 25% **