Schedule (updated for 2011)

See individual weeks for assignments and deadlines. See Required Work for details about assignments.

Key Dates

Classes begin: Wednesday, Jan. 5
Classes end: Wednesday, April 20
Final exams: April 23, 25–29

UF Holidays

MLK Jr. Holiday: Monday, Jan. 17
Spring Break: March 7–13

Week 1 | Jan. 6

> Details

Introduction to the course. Examples of online portfolios by students and professionals. (You will be submitting an online portfolio at the end of this course.)

Week 2 | Jan. 10

> Details

Examples of online design: fonts and typography. Web constraints for font families; best practices in CSS.
Due: CSS Exercise 1

Week 3 | Jan. 17

> Details

LAB DOES NOT MEET this week; Monday holiday.
Use of Photoshop for Web typography. Layout and composition; examples.
Due: CSS Exercise 2

Week 4 | Jan. 24

> Details

Usability in Web site navigation. Use of color, Web constraints; examples.
Due: CSS Exercise 3

Week 5 | Jan. 31

> Details

CSS practice with absolute positioning; margins, padding. Web site planning; wireframes. INTRODUCTION TO FLASH: Examples of recent news packages that use Flash.
Due: CSS Exercise 4

Week 6 | Feb. 7

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Drawing, symbols, and simple animation in Flash. Lessons 1 and 2 (book).
Due: CSS Exercise 5

Week 7 | Feb. 14

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Flash Timeline, frames, symbols, the Motion Editor. Examples of animation in news packages. Lesson 4 (book).
Due: Flash Exercise 1

Week 8 | Feb. 21

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Buttons; controlling the Timeline in Flash (use of frame labels); introduction to ActionScript 3.0. Lesson 6 (book).
Due: Critique 1

Week 9 | Feb. 28

> Details

Movie clip symbols in Flash; Timelines inside Timelines. Also: PORTFOLIO WORKSHOP.
Due: Flash Exercise 2

Spring Break | March 7–13

No classes. Have fun!

Week 10 | March 14

> Details

Controlling sound and video in Flash. Lesson 7 (book). Plus advanced ActionScript 3.0 sound controls (not covered in the book); the SoundChannel object (AS3).
Due: Critique 2

Week 11 | March 21

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Use of Movie Clip Symbols to embed complex functionality in Flash. Sliding panels. Pop-up information panels. Planning a news package; working with maps.
Due: Flash Exercise 3

Week 12 | March 28

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Working with dynamic text, components, and XML (not covered in the book) in Flash; the XML object (AS3). Lesson 8 (book). Loading external images and text into Flash.
Due: Critique 3

Week 13 | April 4

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Modular Flash packages: Loaded SWFs (and masks); the Loader object (AS3). Also: Work on your Flash Project. Lesson 9 (book).
Due: Flash Exercise 4

Week 14 | April 11

> Details

Flash on Web pages: Positioning Flash movies with CSS; Flash version detection; demystifying the Flash object parameters. SWFObject 2.0. The Bandwidth Profiler. Lesson 10 (book).
Due: Nothing

Week 15 | April 18

> Details

Career directions for you now. Also: PORTFOLIO WORKSHOP. Class meets Monday and Tuesday only.
Due: Flash Project

Finals Week | April 25

Due: Portfolio (see assignment)

NOTE: There is no final exam in this course.