Building  a Website

Part1. Planning your project
Part2. Building a web site
Part3. Inserting Dynamic Content
Part4. Developing Web Applications
Part5. Site administration (Publishing and Management)
(Parts 3 and 4 : next course)

Part 1

1. Planning and preparing for a web project:

Big picture:

1. The content: What is your site going to do?
2.  Functionality: Who is going to use it?
How does it have to work?
How should it be organized? Or: How your site’s info is organized?
3. Accessibility: See: www.webaim.org   .See the site and listen to students with impairments ….and  what they say about the sites’ accessibilities.
4. Esthetics : How should it be like? Examples of good and bad sites.
5. Ethics

B.     Discuss about Internet:

1. How to search- to be efficient: (see the links from my blog)
2. Evaluating the sites….the 5 W :

Five criteria for evaluating  web sites:
Resources
Thinking Critically About World Wide Web Resources
Why We Need to Evaluate What We Find on the Internet (pdf)
Critically Analyzing Information Sources
University at Albany Libraries. Evaluating Internet Resources
The Web as a Research Tool: Evaluation Techniques

1. WHO is the source of information? Who has the authority and what gives the person behind the web page the authority to write?

• Responsibility for the content of that web .How info about author, organization –is stated.( name, address including postal code or tel. no/email address)
• Credibility of the author or organization ( as I know, link search).
•  Do the authors have any authority or expertise

2. What am I getting?

• What is the main purpose of the site : to inform, to persuade, or to sell you something:

• Objectivity: What is the author's point of view? What is the purpose of the site? Access to alternate viewpoint.
• Reliability/ accuracy (supportive evidence for  conclusions). Is it any ambiguity , manipulative reasons or bias? See assumptions!! Compare the info in the site with info in other sites or with other sources for accuracy. Is supportive evidence provided for  conclusions? The links to other sources…what sources, how reliable they are….what do they say about the site I use.
• Thoroughness
• Organization and delivery : Are there misspelled words or examples of poor grammar? Do the links work? Is the site well organized? The depth of the info. How is the language used ( technical, simple, not understandable)? Graphics is just for decoration or it serves a purpose?
• Presentation

3. When was the site created?

• If the site was updated

4. Where am I?

• Knowing that the URL contains the domain name of the person or organization hosting the website and what type of organization is that, might be useful info.
• Is this a commercial, governmental, personal, or academic Web site?
• Was this page designed for the Web, or is it something else, such as a government document or a journal article, that happens to be available through the Web?

5. Why am I there?

• What is the value of the site?
• Is the Internet search efficient for my work?
•  Does the site address the topic I need?
• Is it informative, unique, or insightful?
• What opinions do others have about the web site?

Examples of good websites:
http://www.howstuffworks.com
http://www.wikipedia.com
http://www.blueseventy.com
http://www.fade2.co.uk/intro.html
Examples of bad(suspicious) websites:

1. www.dhmo.org
2. http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

C.   Presenting the ITC blog with Syllabus of Daily Class Topics and Assignments

D. Creating students’ blogs