Spring 2009 week 10: 3/25

Hi everybody, What you are going to start this week at home is the beginning of your final project.    I will give you input over the next four weeks on your color schemes, on your layouts, and on the code that you produce for me. If you show me something new each week, I will let you know what I think of your designs. If you don't produce anything for me in any of the remaining weeks, I will have nothing to say. Each week we will produce a part of the project, which you will complete as homework. You will get a homework grade each week according to how much of the week's work you completed. If you complete it all, then, and at the end of the next four weeks, you should have most of the project completed as well as a decent homework grade.    For this week's class, even if you didn't realize it, we began to create the template that we will use for all the pages of the project. What I wanted you to do was to focus on the design of title of the site and the navigation. Each page will follow the design of this that you produce. In any decent design, the navigation remains constant. This means that you only need to design and make the navigation ONE TIME, and then all you have to do is copy and pste it. After that, all you have to do is add the content for each page. Each page will begin with this template so that all pages will look identical at first. This will make certain that the most important information, as well as the links, remain in the same place on every page. Carter-

1. TOPICS:
   1. Final Project;
      • LINK   Content Requirements;
      • LINK   Technical Requirements;
      • LINK   Design Requirements;
2. HOMEWORK—Final Project, Part I: Starting this week, the homework for each class is part of the final project. Each part will be do one week from the time that it was assigned. This means that the assignment for this week will be due in the next class. Each week I will assign a new part to the website. If you produce these assignments on time each week, you will have accumulated you will receive a decent homework grade.    The site that we are going to produce, as you should know, is for an ART GALLERY named Alpha Gallery. This week, you should design the title and the navigation for the site and keep in mind the comments that I made during class this week.    If you did NOT print out your mockups, if you were late to class and didn't tape up your mockups, or if you were absent, then you must make certain that you bring one printed mockup to tape up at the beginning of class for us to discuss.    If you brought one this week and taped it up and showed it to me and the rest of the class, then you should just continue working on producing your design in HTML and CSS.
   1. Due in class next week: You must produce your design in XHTML and CSS and name it index.html.
   2. Due in class next week: when complete, you must make seven (7) ADDITIONAL copies of this file (copy & paste them) and give them the following names: gal_01.html, gal_02.html, artists_01.html, artists_02.html, about.html, visit.html, and exhib.html. As a result, all the pages will be exactly alike for the time being.
   3. Due in class next week: when you complete the above two steps, you must attempt to design the index page, otherwise known as the home page. SEE BELOW FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE INDEX/HOME PAGE as well as all of the other pages.
3. FINAL PROJECT: Information
   • The site that you are going to produce is for an art gallery and it will have six main parts: the home/index page, two gallery pages, two artist pages, an about page, a visit page, and an exhibit page. Please read the information provided.
     1. CONTENT REQUIREMENTS: 
        1. Part 1: HOME PAGE—this page includes the following:
           1. In this page, you should establish the color scheme that you will use throughout your design for this site. This includes the colors, the fonts, and the particular imagery that you will choose.
           2. The name of the current exhibit: "ART:21 -- Art in the 21st Century;"
           3. Some kind of appropriate imagery of your choice and of your design;
           4. A brief summary, one paragraph of text, of what this current exhibit is about. You should use some of the text from the exhibit page (see below).
        2. Part 2: ARTIST PAGES—these TWO pages will look identical. Essentially, what you will do is have a small picture of one of the works by the artist, his/her name, and a blurb of text about the artist. I will provide you with the text for these two pages in our next class. Each page will contain 10 artists.
        3. Part 3: GALLERY PAGES—These TWO pages will also look identical. They will have thumbnail images of the pictures that I have given you of the artwork. I gave you half of the images in our last class and will give you the remaining images in our next class. Each image should be clickable. When you click on the small thumbnail images, you are linked to a page with a much larger version of the image. Accompanying each large image should be the name of the artist and the title of the work as a caption. Also, when you click on the thumbnail images in the gallery, the pages with the larger image should open up in a separate browser window or tab.
        4. Part 4: CURRENT EXHIBIT PAGE—This page will contain some appropriate imagery (you may use more than one image if you like), the title of the exhibit, and all the text that I provide to you about the exhibit here: Contemporary art speaks directly to the important questions of our time, as well as to the changing landscape of American identity. It is both a mirror of contemporary society and a window through with we view and deepen our understanding of life as it exists today. Who are today's artists? What are they thinking about? How do they describe their work? Why do they do what they do? These are some of the questions addressed in the exhibition: ART:21 Art in the Twenty-First Century. This show presents the artists without interpretive mediation through large presentations of their work. If the unknown is the space in which creativity flourishes, This exhibit desires to bring it forward, illuminate it for others, and revel in it. This is ART:21's work—to reveal the existence of those regions which all the artists traverse, forging paths of exploration and study that take them into uncharted realms of creativity. By revealing the existence of those unknown territories, inhabited by all creative thinkers, I hope to educate, delight, and to provoke the viewers. It is difficult to imagine that anyone works harder than an artist. This—the non-stop work, accumulation of information, concentration, the need to be in the studio—is a continuing mini-theme for ART:21. Most artists experience intuitive leaps of recognition and connection, and find new ideas through introspection and research in many fields beyond art, although the art of the past remains a profound resource. One might say that in order to draw, you have to learn how to see first. Well, what about making drawings and other works of art about areas, about zones and realms that you CANNOT see, about areas hidden from view, about secret realms and invisible places? This is what many of these artists have in common: they are attempting to bring to light and view things that were previously unseen.
        5. Part 5: ABOUT & VISIT PAGES—These TWO pages are NOT required but will be considered extra credit. If you decide to do these pages, the about page should have at least 3 or 4 paragraphs of text as well as an image or two. The visit page should have the gallery hours, it's address, how to get there via auto and public transportation, as well as a map. I don't care where you locate the gallery so long as it is in New York City somewhere. Most galleries in New York are located in Chelsea, not far from TCI.
         
     2. DESIGN REQUIREMENTS: 
        1. Color Scheme—you must choose a color scheme for your web-site that you can show to me or describe to me. My suggestions are to keep it simple, easy, non-complicated. Keep in mind who your audience is and what the subject matter is.
        2. Page Layout—you must use CSS to lay out all pages in a pleasing way. If you are not certain how to do this, consult our past classes and me for assistance.
     3. TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: 
        1. XHTML—ALL CODE for this site must be typed using STRICT XHTML standards. This means the following:
           • that all tags and their attributes must be typed in lower case;
           • that all attribute values must be typed in quotes and with units;
           • that the DTD for strict XHTML must be typed at the top of the document;
           • that all empty tags must be typed with the slash at the end, such as with the <br/> tag;
           • that none of the deprecated inline tags are to be used, such as the <font>, <b>, <u>, or <i> tags;
           • and, in addition, that the <tbody> and the <thead> tags, as well as the height attribute for the <table> and <td> tags, are NOT permitted.
               If you are uncertain about something, you can consult the requirements at the w3schools site (LINK), or you may ask me. Furthermore, the use of DreamWeaver is permitted; however, please note that DreamWeaver does not create strict XHTML. Therefore, you will have to go through the code and edit it yourself to make certain it follows strict standards.
        2. CSS—ALL STYLING must be done using CSS. We have used it extensively in this class, so it is a requirement that this site use CSS for the styling of the page. All three levels of styles may be, and are encouraged to be used. Please consult me if you need additional assistance with this.