This is the plan for the JournalismWebClass with Steve Sharp. We will start with a quick and dirty session so that the students can cover the South Pacific Forum, and will then step back to look at the bigger picture of Web Design for Journalism.

Nitty Gritty Web- Friday, 2 August, 11am - 12pm

Materials needed: FTP access, Digital Camera, Typical USP Journo setup

A quick and dirty session how the bascis for getting articles online in the current Wansolwara system, specifcally gaged to cover the upcoming South Pacific Forum

• Photoshop
• FTP
• HTML
• Golive

Front End Design - Tuesday, 13 August 2pm - 4pm

Materials needed: Projector + Computer + Overhead + Internet Connection (M10?)

This session will cover some basic concepts of front-end design and usability for online journalism, and will then apply these concepts to a redesign of Wansolwara Online

Information Architecture: organizing and categorizing your content

• Form follows Function: What is your site for? How will people approach it? Organize your information along those lines. See ShowingStructure for visualisation and InformationArchitecture for links. *Given a task and the first-level of the hierarchy, people should be able to identify the proper category.

Navigation Methods

• Search: sharpshooters: specific goal oriented/ find
• Menu: choosers: prefer directory approach/ categorize
• Content: diggers: (contextual text bites to grab them)/ read

Design

• Establish Focus
• One Concept - not 10, and not 0
• Concept does not mean Gimmick: don't become a slave to metaphor
• Consistency and Contrast

Usability

• the user is never wrong
• Easy to use, easy to read
• Consistent internally and externally (standards)
• Advanced features are available but do not interfere with beginner features
• see also UsabilityTesting

Back End Design - Thursday, 15 August 2pm - 4pm

Materials needed: Projector + Computer + Overhead + Internet Connection (M10?)

This session will cover the thinking of different systems best suited to online journalism

• Separating the levels - a core of text
  • XHTML/ WebClassXhtmlChapter + CSS/ WebClassStyleChapter (+ TXT) + Server-Side Language/ WebClassPhpChapter
• Server-side vs. Client side
• Static vs Dynamic pages
• Templates - front end and back end meet most obviously here
• OpenSourceContentManagement Systems : what is OpenSource and what is CMS?

Practical How to (Front-end) - Tuesday, 20 August 2pm - 4pm

Materials needed: index cards, flip chart or overhead, colored markers, computer + projector (M10?)

This session will be a practical session, putting what we have learned about front-end design/ usability and information architecture into practice

• Architecture - make categories/organise (card and bucket method)
• Storyboard on paper - check for consistency (color block method)
• Back-end considerations - (can it be templated?)
• Agree on conventions - color, position
• Discuss dimensions and font-size issues
• Transfer to photoshop
• Paper prototyping

Practical How to (Back-end) - Tuesday 22 October, 2pm - 4pm

Materials needed: Projector + Computer + Overhead + Internet Connection (M10?)

This session will be a practical session, putting what we have learned about back-end/system design into practice

• Separation of Levels
• PHP Shell
• CSS
• XHTML
• FTP
• Look at an OpenSourceContentManagement

Additional Resources

• See IntrotoMultimediaWorkshop for links and additional information on the process and specialties of New Media work
• The WebClass covers the separation of the levels of Style, Content and Structure in great detail