CS 295 -- HTML and the Web

CS 295 is a class to teach about HTML, the World Wide Web, and related subjects.  Appropriately, the official version of the syllabus is online.  You can see it at http://euclid.nmu.edu/~randy/Classes/CS295.  You can learn about the teacher at http://euclid.nmu.edu/~randy. I can be contacted at randy@euclid.nmu.edu.

This class is designed for the intermediate computer user.  I assume you know how to work a keyboard, and how to turn on a computer, and what the word 'boot' means.  However, I also assume that you are not a computer science student, and don't know how take a computer apart with your eyes blindfolded.  I understand that there are varying levels of computer knowledge.  If I'm about to cover a topic you already know, feel free to come and ask me if you should skip that particular class.  You won't hurt my feelings.

If you must miss a class for whatever reason, check with me on your return to see what you missed.  Please don't miss tests without good cause.

This class is an experimental class; it has never been taught before.  Please approach it with a sense of exploration.  This class will be a very hands-on class.  We will be in the computer lab often, and spend a lot of time in front of computers.  There will be some theory, but mostly the class will consist of a hands on exploration of what computers can do and how to do those things.

Tentative list of topics
 

  1. Hardware Basics
    1. Basic vocabulary
    2. The parts of a computer
    3. Garbage in garbage out
    4. How to pick the right computer for you
  2. Network Basics
    1. More vocabulary
    2. Routing and the Domain Name System
    3. Domain names and copyright law.
    4. Time (why the *&*& network is so slow)
      1. Ping and traceroute
    5. What is this PPP thing and why is my modem blinking
  3. Email
    1. How does it work
    2. How do I send and receive email.
    3. Sending complex documents over email.
    4. e-mailing-lists
    5. Email viruses
  4. World Wide Web and the Hypertext Transfer Protocol
    1. What is the WWW
    2. Browsers and Servers, what's the difference
    3. Accessing a server without a browser
    4. Counting web hits
  5. HTML Basics
    1. Your first HTML web page
    2. Fonts and stuff
    3. Text types
    4. Meta-tags
  6. Copyright Law
    1. What can you use?
    2. What is 'fair use'?
    3. What is 'public domain'?
  7. Questionable Material, Kids and the Web
    1. Cersorware
    2. The adult verification systems.
    3. Dan's Gallery of the Grotesque Images and Sounds
    1. JPG vs GIF, which is better
    2. Sound on the web page
    3. Smell and other cool web add-ons
  8. Tables
  9. Forms
  10. Frames
  11. Style sheets
  12. VRML -- The virtual reality modeling language
    1. Working with a graphic editor
    2. Manual coding
  13. Network news
    1. How it differs from email
    2. Why it's useful
    3. What can I read on it.
  14. FTP -- The file transfer protocol
    1. Why do you care?
    2. What can you do with it?
    3. How?
  15. CGI-scripts
  16. Javascript
  17. Java applets
  18. XML???