It was great to see how quickly some of you worked your way through the tasks in CSS workshops this week. If you’re feeling confident during our in-class exercises, that’s a good sign. At this point, we’ve covered the basics of HTML and CSS markup, and your Unit #1 projects should be going from good to great as you apply these concepts to your sites.

During Week 4, you will put the finishing touches on your Unit #1 site, then carefully review your markup. (The W3C Validator is a harsh master!) Here’s how we’ll spend our time in class:

• By Tuesday, you should have a complete draft of your Unit #1 site. Please be ready to show it to your peers during class. This means it should be “live” and functioning properly on your Reclaim Hosting site. (If you haven’t been able to connect to your Reclaim Hosting site via FTP, please follow these instructions). In addition, we will experiment with a few advanced typographic strategies and apply those strategies to your Unit #1 sites. Before you come to class, please review Chapter 12 in Learning Web Design (you’ve read this before, but you should know it inside and out by Tuesday), then read and/or explore the following resources:
  • “Web Design is 95% Typography,” by Oliver Reichenstein
  • “Best Practices of Combining Typefaces,” by Douglas Bonneville
  • The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web
  • Beautiful Web Type
  • The Web Font Combinator
  • [Update: When you get to class, download our typography workshop files.]
• Your Unit #1 project is due before you come to class on Thursday. Please review the assignment details before you submit your project and don’t forget the final piece of the assignment: a one-page memo explaining and justifying the choices you made as worked on your site. During class we will hold a review session for our first exam, which will take place the following Tuesday, so be sure to bring your book to class.

I know we’ve been moving very quickly through a lot of material lately, but these first few weeks in class are designed to help you master the key concepts of HTML and CSS, then apply those concepts to your Unit #1 project. If you’re not sure where you should be focusing your energy between now and February 12 (when Unit #1 is due), here are a few tips:

• Two of the most basic aspects of style sheets are color and typography, so I’ll be looking for evidence that you know how to go beyond the default colors and fonts imposed by your browser.
• We haven’t spent much time on CSS positioning (and getting positioning right can be really tricky), so I don’t expect to see incredibly complex page layouts. Your résumé doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective.
• Along the same lines, remember that you’re creating a professional résumé designed to be seen by potential employers. Yes, you should inject some of your personality into the design, but a résumé may not be the best place to take big risks with an outlandish design.
• This first assignment is intended, in part, to see how well you’ve been paying attention to the readings in our textbook. Your markup should be clean and well organized, and your HTML and CSS should validate.
• If you aren’t comfortable with moving files from your computer to your Reclaim Hosting account via FTP, practice this skill. (Reminder: the “public_html” directory is where your “live” files should go.) If you need help with this, make an appointment to see me outside of class.

If you have any questions about where we’re headed, or if you want to reserve a time to see me during office hours (T 2–5; W 9–12), just let me know.