Course Information

• Course Number : ENGH 375
• Course Title: Web Authoring and Design
• Semester: Fall 2014
• Class Day/Time: Monday, 4:30 - 7:10
• Instructor: Douglas Eyman
• Textbooks:
  1. The Elements of User Experience, Second Edition, Jesse James Garrett, Textbook Website
  2. HTML & CSS - Design and Build Websites, Jon Duckett, Textbook Website
• Catalog Info: ENGH 375

Web Authoring and Design

The worldwide Web just turned 25 years old and according to a PEW research study, 87% of American adults and 97% of Americans between 18 and 29 use the Web. In fact, most Americans rely on the web in many aspects of their daily lives. So as more people rely on the web, it becomes increasingly important that websites be well-designed.

ENGH 375, Web Authoring and Design, is a course that teaches the fundamentals of good website design. The class textbooks, The Elements of User Experience by Jesse James Garrett and HTML & CSS - Design and Build Websites by Jon Duckett, and numerous supplemental resources describe the steps and process to be followed in order to create good website designs. Garrett stresses that web design must focus not only on the product objectives, but just as importantly on user experience. He describes five levels of development and says that user experience must be considered at each level. The five levels (he calls them planes) are:

1. The Strategy Plane
2. The Scope Plane
3. The Structure Plane
4. The Skeleton Plane
5. The Surface Plane

The Strategy Plane is the most abstract level and is where the design process starts. Each level becomes less abstract until we hit the final, most concrete, Surface Plane, where we actually place the content on the pages.