Winter 2019
Tues, Thur 6-8pm, HUNT 100
Office Hours: Online and By Appointment
Megan Otis
Seattle University
otism@seattleu.edu
206-296-6354
This course introduces students to common solutions for hosting Websites and Web-based applications. Students will learn about how a server works, experiment with local Web servers, and engage with the world of Web hosting services in order to understand how those systems work in the professional world. Students will also gain an understanding of principles at work in cloud-based hosting solutions.
Domain Management
Students are able to use the common functions of domain management services to properly acquire and configure a domain to serve their website. Rubrics based on master of:
-
Acquiring Domains
-
Configuring Custom Domains
Project Planning
Students plan web projects using common techniques, approaches, and tools. Rubrics base on mastery of:
- Information Architecture
- Project Definition
- Project Planning
Serving Web Content
Students are able to use the appropriate web server(s) to serve their web apps and content. Rubrics based on mastery of:
- Acquiring Hosting Services
- Basic Server Configuration
- Caching and Optimization
- Cloning Code Repositories
- Configuring Hosting Services
- Securing Web Apps
- Setting File and Directory Configurations
Unix/Linux Usage
tudents are able to use Unix and Linux operating systems to manage key details of their projects and servers in order to develop and deploy websites. Rubrics base on mastery of:
- Common Command Line Utilities
- Completing All Requirements
- Navigating the Command Line
- Text Editors
- Transferring Files
System Operations
Learn how to publish websites online so they can be accessed by anyone
in the world, and how to leverage free software that can transform your
business or creative potential.
Assignment instructions will be found on Canvas and in the github.com/suwebdev account. Most weeks you will be working on a project that is defined in a github repository. During the last three weeks of the course you will work on your own project and there will be a week for design, a week for build, and a week to share your work.
Discussion Board
You are required to post a response to the weekly Discussion prompt and then respond to and/or incorporate feedback for other student responses. Discussions take place in the Canvas application online. Discussions are graded according to whether or not you make a post addressing the topic requested in the assignment description. For the most part this is a participatory grade, and all students are expected to make earnest efforts to keep up with discussions and be responsive to fellow students.
Synchronous Check In
Every two weeks you must complete a synchronous check in. This can be done by attending lab or meet-up, a phone call, a face to face Zoom meeting online, or a synchronous chat on Slack.
Project Assignment
Project assignments are work done to exercise some specific technical skills and requirements. These assignments share many qualities that make them similar, but each assignment also has unique requirements designed to hone in on specific skills and abilities. These are listed in the rubric for each assignment. The rubric will show you how the assignment will be graded and what Learning Outcomes each assignment relates to. Reading the rubric when you first look at the assignment is a good way to gain a better understanding of the goals and purpose for the assignment.
Projects 60%
Discussion 20%
Check In 20%
The following policies govern this course and comply with Seattle University policies.
If you have, or think you may have, a disability (including an "invisible disability" such as a learning disability, a chronic health problem, or a mental health condition) that interferes with your performance as a student in this class, you are encouraged to arrange support services and/or accommodations through Disability Services staff located in Loyola 100, (206) 296- 5740. Disability-based adjustments to course expectations can be arranged only through this process.
Be sure that you understand the following university academic policies, posted on the Registrar's website:
-
Academic Integrity
-
Academic Grading Grievance Policy
https://www.seattleu.edu/redhawk-axis/academic-policies/
If you are unable to complete course requirements because of extenuating circumstances, please notify the instructor on or before the date the assignment is due and provide relevant supporting documentation (e.g. doctor's note, note from counselor).
An agreement to receive an Incomplete (I) grade may be negotiated if your circumstances do not allow you to finish the course on time. The Incomplete Removal Policy of the university is available on the Office of the Registrar web site: Incomplete Grade Policy.
Assignment deadlines are visible on both the Course Syllabus and the Assignments list (as well as the individual Assignment pages themselves). You can always find links to those two pages in the left sidebar of the course.
Due to the nature of the work, and the online structure of the course materials, assignment deadlines will be automatically enforced. Generally, there will be no extensions to the assignment deadlines, primarily because falling behind on work in this course makes it exponentially more difficult to complete the course successfully.
If you have an obligation or responsibility that makes any deadline on the schedule an issue, please bring up this fact to your instructor as soon as possible. Your instructor will work with you to accommodate your other responsibilities, but any accommodation should be planned ahead of time in collaboration with your instructor.
You are expected to budget a minimum of 10 hours per week for this course. For the most part, 10 hours will be adequate time to complete all of the requirements for each week. However, given the nature of the material in these courses, it is likely that some weeks will be more time-consuming than others due to complexity of concepts. Please communicate openly with your instructor about how the course is going and let your instructor know if you are regularly spending a lot more time to complete work. Additional tutoring or other assistance may be available depending on the nature of the issue. You are also encouraged to review the calendar at the beginning of the quarter to flag any weeks that seem to you to be especially full or challenging.
In order to complete the work in this course, you will need to have a few services at your disposal:
You will use your Github account to access project resources, to host your working repositories, to publish your working web pages, and point your base domain at your professional portfolio. Github is a service that allows you to store and share your work with other developers. It is a commonly used tool in web development, and an essential part of these courses.
In order to provide more immediate help and assistance, you are invited to join the SU Web Development Slack server, which provides you with persistent team chat with other SU Webdev students. You can use this tool to reach out directly to your instructor, communicate with fellow students, facilitate private chats, share files/links/code snippets, and much more. It's a very handy communication tool.
You can sign up to Slack with your @seattleu.edu email address, but please be aware that SU email sometimes eats emails from the Slack servers. We have not been able to resolve this issue so far. If you sign up with your @seattleu.edu email and you do not receive the email validation to complete your signup on Slack, then please send your instructor your personal email address and request access. We will send you an invite to your personal email address and you will be able to access our Slack server.
Anyone taking courses in King County (which includes anyone enrolled at SU) can access Lynda.com courses through the King County Library website. Lynda.com provides video courses covering many of the topics we will cover in this quarter. You are encouraged to use Lynda.com resources to fill in your knowledge or provide extra practice where needed. Engaging with Lynda.com courses is entirely optional, but they can be a more reliable resource for information than just looking up tutorials on Google or Youtube.
To access Lynda.com courses, you must do so through the King County Library System or Seattle Public library system. You will need a King County Library Card or a Seattle Public Library Car, which you can apply to get on the King County Library System website. Once you have your library card, you can access Lynda.com courses.
This is the service we will use throughout the quarter for hosting our servers. If you sign up for the Github Student Developer Pack you will receive access to the best developer tools all in one place, and specifically for Digital Ocean you will receive a $50 credit to use throughout the quarter.
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is an open source integrated development environment (IDE) used extensively for the development of applications in many languages. It is particularly friendly and useful for Front End Web Development. You need to install on your local workstation or laptop and we have instructions for both in FAQ and Video Format.
The SU Web Development Certificate program maintains a Youtube channel that hosts videos useful for our students. You will find assignment summaries, technique demos, and all sorts of information useful to many assignments. Most assignments link directly to specific videos that are useful for that assignment, but it's recommended that you subscribe to the Youtube channel for two reasons: 1) You will get updates about new videos as soon as they are available. 2) You can more easily access the videos through the Youtube apps on many different devices (your TV, Roku, Xbox, PS4, etc.).
WATS Lab Assignments require setup, configuration and processing. This FAQ is a place to search for and locate instructions in a "How To" format. Look here for instructions on operations such as creating a gh-pages branch, setting up a local environment and more.
| Week | Topic and Assignments |
|---|---|
| 0 | Topic: Course Information |
| Discussion: Say Hello | |
| 1 | Topic: Domains and Hosting |
| Project: Establish a Personal Domain | |
| Discussion: How did you choose your domain? | |
| 2 | Topic: Introduction to Unix |
| Project: Unix Command-Line Basics | |
| Discussion: Favorite command | |
| Check-in | |
| 3 | Topic: Moving Files |
| Project: Moving Files & Cloning Repositories | |
| Discussion: How do you imagine organization? | |
| 4 | Topic: Command Line Text Editors |
| Project: Manipulating Text on the Server | |
| Discussion: Favorite Command Line Text Editor | |
| Check-in | |
| Discussion: How do you imagine organization? | |
| 5 | Topic: Serving Static Content |
| Project: Serve a Static Website | |
| Discussion: The Static Website Trend | |
| 6 | Topic: Serving Dynamic Content |
| Project: Simple Dynamic Page | |
| Discussion: What frameworks/webapps are you curious about? | |
| Check-in | |
| 7 | Topic: Installing Web Apps |
| Project: Install a Web App | |
| Discussion: The Static Website Trend | |
| 8 | Topic: Serving Dynamic Content |
| Project: Simple Dynamic Page | |
| Final Project: Planning Phase | |
| Discussion: Most Useful Documentation | |
| Check-in | |
| 9 | Topic: Caching and Security |
| Project: Final Project: Caching, Optimization, and Security | |
| Discussion: Most effective speed or security enhancement? | |
| 10 | Topic: Final Project Sharing |
| Project: Final Project: Completed Website Deployment | |
| Final Project: Planning Phase | |
| Discussion: Final Project Sharing | |
| Check-in |