Studio Fundamental: to demonstrate basic html competence by designing a primitive website

Concept: to understand the basics of code-to-browser interpretations; what you write in the abstract code world becomes reinterpreted into the web sites we encounter

--http://www.howstuffworks.com/web-page.htm - A wonderful explanation of how web sites and basic HTML work.

hypertext markup language (html), browser, server, tags, link, source, host, file transfer protocol (ftp) embed,

1. Read through the basic HTML tutorial at HowStuffWorks.com and try doing some basic editing in notepad.

2. Look at some artist websites to see how they lay things out. Pay attention to simpler designs, ignore sites that utilize Flash or Java, those applications are beyond the ken of this course.

3. Create some sketches for a basic site design you'll utilize yourself. Think about navigation, and covering the four other class units: sound, digital imagery, animation, and video. What else might you need a page for (bio, links, etc)? Also, consider color scheme.

4. Use what you learned in the Dreamweaver tutorial and begin crafting your site! Pay special attention to the organization of your website. There should be an index.htm and folders containing the files you'll be using. There will likely be a 'pages' folder, an 'images' or 'media' folder, and potentially more.

5. Burn your entire website (don't add files you don't need!) onto a disc to hand in.

Here are sample questions to use in a critique.

1. Does your site have more to it than the basic requirements? Is it somehow more clever, or involve additional layers of meaning?

2. What is the initial "feeling" or emotional response you get when visiting the website?

3. Can you get a sense of the artist pesonality from the site?

4. What element in this site was the most successful that should be carried into future projects?

5. What element in this site is the least successful that needs more attention?