Send mail to "jwww@vtopus.cs.vt.edu"
to reach all students in the class and both instructors, and to record
the mail in the mail archive.
What's New
9 December
A 6204 student asked how little animations that are used on Web pages
but which appear to simply be GIF images in the HTML code for the page
work. The GIF89a specification includes a way to "play" a sequence
of images, which results in an animation. The following URL contains examples,
explains the spec, and explains how you can creates such images: Royal
E. Frazier, GIF Animation
on the WWW
6 December
The due date for the Web page design and the Web server or term paper
will be the last day of classes at Tech, which is Wednesday 11 Dec. If
you have trouble completing the project by this deadline, then please send
email to abrams@vt.edu.
27 November
If you still need an account on actor.cs.vt.edu, please send mail
to abrams@vt.edu.
11 November
The requirements
for the Web Server installation has been corrected - corrections are in
red font.
Guides to Using UNIX (e.g., your actor.cs.vt.edu
account)
Minimalist UNIX,
a short introduction to first-time users of UNIX. Some items are specific
to DECstations and DEC alphastations - just ignore that information.
Robert Evans, The
UNIX Shell Commands Reference Card, Univ. of Wales. Provides a good
overview and is very much like what you might read in in introductory text.
Assignments (from Abrams)
Due 19 October 1996
Read Chapter 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7 in the Stein text. Answer the following
questions. Write your answers in the form of an HTML file, and send the
file to abrams@vt.edu with a subject
line of "CS6204 - HW1". (Submitting the file as HTML will give
you a little practice in using HTML. If you're an expert already in HTML,
try using some advanced HTML features to spice up the design of your document.)
Find examples of what you would consider well designed and poorly
designed web pages. Explain why you consider each page to be well and poorly
designed. Be sure to give the URL of each page in your answer. (In fact,
make the URL an anchor using the <A> ...</A> tags so that I
can click on it when reading it!) Don't write more than 500 or so words.
Chapter 7 in the Stein book discusses "hyperspace compass,"
"navigation bars," and Web site organization. Find examples of
three different navigational aids or site maps on Web pages. Include the
URL of Web pages that use the three, and comment briefly on whether they
are effective.
Page 46 in Stein shows you how you can "pretend" you are
a Web browser and actually fetch a document using a telnet session. Do
the same, and fetch the Web page you are reading now. Turn in a transcript
of your telnet session, showing what you typed and the returned Web page,
in the most convenient fashion (e.g., hardcopy of a screen dump, or cut
the text from your telnet session and paste into your HTML document solving
homework 1).
Due by last day of classes (Wed., 11 December)
You must complete a Web page design project. You might redesign a
set of Web pages for your company, or you might create a new set of Web
pages. If you're looking for Web pages to redeisgn, then click
here for a list of clients. Please send email to abrams@cs.vt.edu
with a proposal of what you'd like to do. Your proposal, when approved,
will be noted on a list of redesign projects.
Due by last day of classes (Wed., 11 December)
You must complete one of the following:
Install a Web server, either on a computer at work, or at home, or
on actor.cs.vt.edu. Arrangements will be made for the instructor to try
accessing your Web site to insure completion of this project. Click
here to view the assignment.
Write a term paper on a topic about the Web that interests you. Submit
the term paper by either mailing to abrams@vt.edu
an html file or a URL to your paper.
Send comments to abrams@vt.edu.
[This is http://ei.cs.vt.edu/~jwww/fall.96/index.html.]
