Certificate in Web Site Design 

Program Description

The courses offered in the Web site design certificate provide students with the skill necessary to design sites that are visually attractive and emphasize the human-computer interface aspects of Web sites. The content of the program emphasizes basic principles of attractive design and teaches students the techniques for using graphics on interactive, presentation, and commerce Web sites. Students are encouraged to use their creative skills and artistic ability to design pages that are unique, attractive, and effectively use both text and graphics for navigation and linking. The program includes practical experience with numerous hands-on and real-life projects.

As businesses and organizations are developing and maintaining Web sites at an astonishing rate, more artistic and design expertise is required for those who develop and maintain these sites. The Web site design certificate is intended to meet that presentation need.

Minor may be taken in lieu of the certificate program. Students may choose to receive the minor or certificate but not both.

Learning Outcomes

• Students will demonstrate critical thinking skills.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to solve problems related to the program content.
• Students will be able to explain the concepts and features necessary for Web site development and deployment.
• Students will design and build Web sites.
• Students will be able to demonstrate the ability to create user-centered Web sites.

Requirements

18 required credit hours

Course Requirements

Electives

*Students that can demonstrate HTML proficiency may choose a course substitute from the approved elective list.

All courses available via the Internet.

COAP 2000 Introduction to Web Programming (3)
(previously XHTML Programming)

HTML is the programming language used to develop home pages on the Internet. This course covers the most current tools available for developing HTML documents and posting pages on the World Wide Web. This course covers the basics of XHTML (Extensible HTML).

COAP 2110 Web Animation (3)

This course covers animation techniques used in the creation of Web pages. Students will use a current animation tool for Web page design and Animation development. Prerequisite: COAP 2000 (or concurrently) or HTML proficiency.

COAP 2120 Web Editors (3)

In this course students learn methods of building, maintaining and supporting a Web site. The content created, to include documents, workbooks, presentations, and databases, will be built and published using a current Web editing tool. Prerequisite: COAP 2000 or XHTML proficiency.

COAP 2150 Design Principles I (3)

This course covers the analysis and design process for creating successful Web sites. Students will learn various methods for implementing web site navigation. Basic design principles useful in laying out professional and appealing pages including graphic file formats and design techniques such as web typography and color theory will be covered. An introduction to the internationalization of web sites and web accessibility will be introduced. Prerequisite: COAP 2000 or HTML proficiency and COAP 2170.

COAP 2160 Advanced Web Animation (3)

This course is a study of Web publishing with an emphasis on mastery of animation using Flash and the internal scripting capabilities of Flash, ActionScript. Animation on Web sites will be studied via splash opening home pages, animated navigation graphics, and interactive animations developed as the primary content of Web sites. Students will learn the basic commands, functions, and operators used in ActionScript, building on their introductory knowledge of Flash to work with code that extends the boundaries of Flash's built-in tools, objects and properties. Prerequisites: COAP 2000, COAP 2110 and COAP 2130.

COAP 2170 Web Usability and Accessibility (3)

This course introduces the student to the area of web usability, including web accessibility. Students will learn how to design usable and inclusive user interfaces for web pages and sites. Prerequisite: COAP 2000 or HTML proficiency.

COAP 3120 Designing with Style Sheets (3)

This course covers the styling of Web pages as laid out in the latest CSS specifications. Through the use of hands-on projects and code samples, the students will create style sheets in real-world exercises and master the skills to create effective style sheets on the Web. Prerequisites: COAP 2150 (or concurrently).

COAP 3150 Design Principles II (3)

Continuation of COAP 2150. Students will implement the design from COAP 2150 into a complete web site with documentation. Digital graphic techniques such as the use of layers, masks, filters, and other special effects are covered. Students will also learn to work with scanned images, manipulate color contrast and balance, and handle various graphic file types. Prerequisite: COAP 2150 and COAP 3120 (or concurrently).