Course Syllabus - Web Design & Computer Principles

Web Design & Computer Principles
New York University
Department of Computer Science

Course description

Introduces students to both the practice of web design and the basic principles of computer science. The practice component covers not only web design but also current graphics and software tools. The principles section includes an overview of hardware and software, the history of computers, and a discussion of the impact of computers and the Internet.

Prerequisites

None.

Fully online modality

This course is fully online, primarily via Zoom. A link to the online Zoom sessions and other hepful links will be shared via email prior to the first class.

see the University’s helpful tips for using Zoom.

Learning objectives

Upon completing this course, students will be familiar with the history and technology comprising The World Wide Web (a.k.a. “The Web”) and will be able to design and implement a web site in a contemporary manner. Specific topics include:

Computer principles - understanding of the key hardware and software components of a computer and the role each plays
Unix command line - knowledge of basic computer commands written as text on a command line interface
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) - medium-level mastery of the main language used to indicate the content of web pages
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - medium-level mastery of the language used to indicate the visual style of web pages
Javascript programming at a level appropriate for designers - the use of the jquery framework to add interactivity to web pages, without the need to fully understand computer programming
Front-end frameworks - ability to use readymade code libraries, such as Bootstrap, to more quickly build and design web pages
Design and wireframing - using design and prototyping tools, such as Figma, to plan the design of a web site without code
Responsive web design - ability to design web sites that work well on a variety of devices, including desktop computers, tablets, and mobile phones
Digital image editing - manipulation of both raster and vector images using industry standard tools, such as Photoshop and Illustrator
Simple animation - how to use Photoshop’s Timeline feature to create simple frame-by-frame animated GIFs
Digital audio and video - use of multitrack audio recording tools, such as Audacity, and basic video production and publishing on the web.
Web hosting - how to publish a web site on The World Wide Web (a.k.a. The Web) so that the public can access and view it.

To achieve mastery in these topics, students will take quizzes and complete exercises corresponding to each lecture topic as well as a midterm and final exam.

Instructor

Amos Bloomberg
amos at cs dot nyu dot edu
WWH 424

Department

This course is offered by the Computer Science Department. For department-related questions or concerns, please see the department’s contact information.

Textbook

Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics, 5th Edition
Jennifer Robbins
ISBN: 978-1-491-96020-2

Getting help

Help resources available to you are listed in order of urgency of your problem:

Messaging

Our course will use a message board (link to be distributed in class) as its main communication channel for announcements and discussion. This is a good place to ask questions that anyone - other students, graders, tutors, or the professor - can answer. This is a resource best used when the answer is not required urgently.

Tutoring

Tutors for this course are waiting to answer your questions, either on our message board or during dedicated tutoring hours. Use tutoring for more involved questions and when you prefer a more immeidate answer.

Tutoring hours (all times in Eastern Time):

Talk with the instructor

For any issues at all, contact the instructor:

see me before class
raise your hand or simply speak during class
see me after class
come to my open office hours - hours to be distributed in class

Additional tutoring resources

Additional academic support is also available through the University Learning Center.

Attendance & participation

Attendance is mandatory. In-class and online message board participation is encouraged. Anecdotally, students who do not attend class regularly and who do not participate in discussions tend to do poorly.

Required software and hardware

All students require access to a desktop or laptop computer on which they can write software using a specific set of applications.

i6 account

In addition to your NYU Home Account, we will be using a special computer account on a Unix Web server named i6.cims.nyu.edu which will be assigned to you automatically based on your enrollment. This is called an i6 account and we will use it to host our websites.

Common questions about i6 accounts are answered on this FAQ page.
If you forget your i6 password and would like to reset it, go to the i6 password reset page for instructions on how to do so.
If you do not receive notification that an account has been created for you, check your spam, and try to reset your password using the link above.

Grading

You will receive a grade calculated mechanically on the following rubric.

15%: Quizzes
35%: Exercises
25%: Exam #1
25%: Exam #2

Notification of grades

Students will be sent their complete individual grades via email approximately once per week.

Quizzes

Quizzes are completed outside of class. You must be logged into Google with your NYU Net ID account in Google in order to view the Quizzes.

Quizzes are submitted by submitting a Google Form.

Exercises

Exercises are completed outside of class. In general, there is one exercises for each main topic of lecture.

All exercises are submitted by pushing code to GitHub.

we will cover how to use GitHub for this course, but the official GitHub Quickstart guide may be helpful.
unless you have good reason to do otherwise, follow best-practices for all basic file names and file extensions

Late policy

All assigned work is due before class on the due date indicated on the schedule

for every 24 hours that work is late, we apply a 10% penalty on the grade, up to a maximum penalty of 30%.
after 72 hours, we will no longer accept the work.

Extensions

Students are automatically granted 2 late assignment extensions of up to 3 days late each, with the exception that all assignments must be submitted before the last day of regular classes before the final exam period.

when submitting an assignment for which you would like to use one of these automatic extensions, you must notify the grader that you are using the extension, otherwise your assignment will be rejected.
for any group work, each member of the group must use an extension (or lose points if none is available) for the entire group to submit work late.
No additional extensions will be granted.

Regrade requests

If a student requests a regrade of any work, we will regrade the work in full, not just the part that the student believes has been mis-graded.

How to study

Everyone has their own style and way of learning. The following is a general study plan that is probably pretty good for most people but probably not perfect for anyone.

Come to class

You can’t realistically expect to do well in a course if you don’t attend and know what is discussed.

Plan to spend significant time alone doing work for the course

Do any required or suggested readings or video viewing, starting from the beginning
Do all of the homework exercises yourself, starting from the beginning
Complete 10 or more practice exercises at the end of each chapter of the textbook

Don’t move ahead until you’ve covered your behind:

work progressively through the material
only move forward once you have mastered the previous material
get help from tutors or the instructor with specific problems you can’t solve or questions you can't answer
try not to go to the tutors or the instructor before you have even tried to solve the problem yourself

Come to class and pay attention:

Print out the class notes, if available, and bring them to class
Write your own notes on this paper.
Turn off your phone in class and when studying
Turn off your computer in class and when studying
Get out of the habit of Googling everything. Try to liberate yourself. Use the knowledge you have from lectures and required or suggested readings or videos to solve problems.

Review anything and everything:

class notes
any examples the instructor has supplied
required or suggested readings or videos
exercises
quizzes

Student Accommodations and Accessibility

Students who believe that they may need accessibility accommodations in this class are encouraged to contact the Moses Center for Student Accessibility at (212) 998-4980 as soon as possible to better ensure that such accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.

Academic Integrity

Working with others and leveraging all resources available to you is a prerequisite for success. This is different from copying, cheating, plagiarism, and mental laziness. All submitted work must be your own. There are very reliable systems we use to detect plagiarism in computer code, such as moss and compare50. If you submit any work that is not your own, you risk failure or worse.

Please read the Computer Science department’s policy on academic integrity and the University-wide policy which supercedes it.