In this lesson we will learn about how to set up your computer for web design, understanding the File System, and get set up with GitHub, the system we will use for submitting our work.

Due Today

• Bring your computer.  Make sure you installed Google Chrome on it.
• Sign up for GitHub.  Create a free account. Email me your username.
• **Install GitHub for Mac or GitHub for Windows on your machine.
• Wayback Machine written assignment

Presentation

History of the Web

• Do you think Tim Berner-Lee's vision of the web has held true?

Web Standards

• As we progress through this class, I will be referring to web standards.
• Web standards were introduced as a response to the "Browser Wars" of the 1990s
• Why are they important?
  • Achieve a More Stable Web
  • Reduce Development and Maintenance Time
  • Allow Backward Compatibility and Validation
  • Increase Search Engine Success
  • Graceful Degradation Now, and in the Future
  • Common Knowledge
• Move the Web Forward
• Web Standards Project
• W3C Standards

Things that are NOT standards compliant (if you see a tutorial that tells you to do one of these things, run away!)

• using tables to lay out pages (example)
  • Why are tables bad for layout?
• using frames (example)
  • why frames suck most of the time
• using invisible gifs as spacers
  • a nostaglic look at pixel gif spacers
• save as HTML from a word processor (like Microsoft Word)
  • Posting Content: Don't Compose in a Word Processor!
• create websites using Adobe Flash (example)
  • The Gradual Disappearance Of Flash Websites

Your filesystem

• You may be used to thinking of your computer as a series of applications, plus your media and files.
• Depending on how organized you are, you may be used to the concept of organizing your files into different folders.  On your OS, you probably have special folders already created: Pictures, My Documents, and so-on.
• We are going to organize everything you work on in this class into a folder in your computer.  I recommend setting up a folder in your home directory called Sites.  You may find this folder is already created - if so, great!  If not, create it now.

Assignments

1. Read

Read Robbins, 3-32