the class

Communication 3413:Writing for New Media concerns writing for the computer screen, most frequently for the World Wide Web. We'll address several topics related to writing for the Web in this class, including usability, effective Web design, and accessibility. We'll also work with the basic Web coding language HTML, as well as some new developments in HTML such as Cascading Style Sheets and XHTML (the most recent version of HTML and a bridge to XML). We start with discussions and analysis of Web sites. As we get more into the technical end of things, we'll start spending more time on design, writing, and code, and the class will become more workshop than lecture/discussion.

Therequired textbook for the class:
XHTML/CSS Basics for Web Writers by Margaret Batschelet

You'll write four assignments for this class, three of them parts of the same, large-scale Web site. The fourth assignment will be a proposal for your Web site in which you'll discuss your topic, the goals of the site, your probable audience, other, similar sites you can use for inspiration, and a rough outline for the site's organization--all points you'd need to consider before undertaking the design of a large site.