In this assignment, you will create a personal web page under the URL http://copland.udel.edu/~username/cisc474/index.html, where username is your UD composers account username.
The content that should be on this page is described below.
The purpose of this assignment is to get in touch with static HTML, close up and personal. So, for purposes of this assignment, you are encouraged to hand edit your HTML with a text editor such as emacs or vi.
Later in the semester, it will be perfectly reasonable to use such an HTML editing tool for some purposes—just not for this assignment. Here's why: the purpose of this assignments is to get really familiar with the low level structure of XHTML, because that understanding is needed in order to automate the creation of web pages with Java, JavaScript, PHP, etc.
So, if you use such an editor, you are missing the point of the whole exercise (see page xxvi in the intro of your HFSJ book (Head First Servlet and JSP, the text that starts with "We strongly recommend that you not use anything but a basic editor until you complete this book." Pages 6 and 16 of the Head First HTML book (not required for this course, but a really good book!) also stress this point.)
Yes, using Pico (as opposed to vi or emacs) is also a possibility, but you should really learn a real text editor—folks who only know pico form a kind of "permanent underclass" in the world of "real programmers".)
If you are not familiar with vi or emacs, you really ought to learn it. That's not a requirement of this course—its a requirement of self-respect as a computing professional.
If you already are comfortable with an HTML editing tool and are already very familiar with static HTML—i.e. terminology such as that in the terminology list below, then, well, ok. But if not, then I'd encourage you to drop back for this assignment.
If you do use a tool, I'd encourage you to use the "split" design mode of a tool such as Dreamweaver where you can hand code in one window, and see the result in the other window. One nice thing about that approach is that even as you hand code, the editor does "auto completion" of open/closing tags, attribute values, etc.
I'm skeptical. But, see my advice about GoLive and Dreamweaver. In the end, you should be able to open your code with view source, or with vi or emacs and understand everything you see. The code should "look" as if it might have been hand edited. If you can do that with FrontPage, knock yourself out. If not then set it aside for a bit.
No. This is a spectacularly bad idea. You'll learn nothing about HTML, and end up with terrible code.
You'll need to use the unix chmod command to make the directory readable to the web server.
chmod -R a+rx ~/public_html/cisc474
You might also have to do the following if you've never yet had a web page on copland:
chmod a+x ~ chmod a+rx ~/public_html
The content of your page is very simple at this stage. Include each of the following elements somewhere on your page:
http://copland.udel.edu/~username/cisc474/personal/aboutMe.html
This page should contain some content at your discretion that introduces you to me, your TA, and your classmates. You might write something about yourself, or some other topic that interests you (e.g. movies, books, music, sports). Don't sweat this too much; it is just some "content" to practice writing HTML and to help me, your TA, and your classmates get to know you better.
Add "prev student" and "next student" links to your page, so that we make a web ring of the entire class. Use the order on the wiki page CISC474_07S_NumberedTeams, i.e. clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
In general:
Wrap around between groups 1 and 10. If a group has a "missing card", adjust for that also.
The markup of your CISC474 page should be kept simple. You'll have an opportunity to demonstrate your creativity and mastery of HTML and CSS later on. For now, don't get too fancy.
One strict rule: No use of frames. (We'll discuss why later)
Somewhere between the two web pages (your main index.html page and your aboutMe.html page) you need to include at least all of the following. Your TA/Instructor will use this as a checklist when grading; points may be deducted for any of the following that are not included:
<h1> element on each page.<h2> elements as appropriate.<ul> and <li> elements for your group members <p> element.Include an XHTML comment after the opening <h1> tag that includes your full name, course number, the name of the assignments (in this case H03), and your udel email address.
Do not use headline tags out of order, e.g. do not use an <h4> tag for a headline unless this is a subheadline under an <h3> headline.
Folks who haven't yet learned about CSS sometimes choose the level of headline tag based on the size of the resulting font, but this is an error; headline tag level should reflect the structure of the document. To change the font size, shape and weight of any level of headline, you should use CSS. You can learn more in in Chapter 3 of Sebesta, or at the CSS wiki page.
Try to make the resulting HTML code easy to read (i.e. indent tags properly, use line breaks, etc.)
To get full credit, your web page must validate at validator.w3.org.
Sebesta describes validation in Section 2.4.2. There are also notes about validation on the Spring 2006 topics list. That content is in the process of being migrated to the WIki page Validation, so if you find errors, or useful content to add, put in on that wiki page for choice point credit.
Work with your page, with the error messages you get, and with the material about XHTML in your textbook, and in other resources on the web and elsewhere until your page validates cleanly as one of the following:
Note that this page validates as valid XHTML 1.0 strict, so again, I'm not asking you to do anything I'm not doing myself.
There are some HTML related terms/concepts you need to know for Exam 1 in this course. This isn't necessarily a complete list—let's call it "a good start".
See if you can understand and apply them to:
http://copland.udel.edu/~username/cisc474/index.htmlhttp://www.udel.edu/CIS/474/pconrad/07S/hwk/H03.html, available on copland and strauss as the source file /www/htdocs/CIS/474/pconrad/07S/hwk/H03.html
