Technical Assignment 3

Advanced Design Techniques

Due Saturday, December 9

This assignment focuses on the following range of techniques:

• Randomly-selected content
• Javascript processing of form input
• State tracking with invisible forms, frames, or cookies
• Layout manipulations with Cascading Style Sheets
• Element replacement with DHTML
• Z-index layering with DHTML

Some of these techniques will not be discussed in detail until late in the term. See me for suggestions if you would like to work with one of the later items on the list.

Part A: Construction

Choose a subset of the technical features listed above: at least two but not necessarily more than three. Apply these techniques to the design of a small Web site consisting of no fewer than 3 and no more than 10 pages (or major components, if pages are not an appropriate measure).

As in the previous Technical Assignment, the content of these pages need not be extensively developed, though there should be enough to establish a clear connection between the techniques you use and the purpose of your design. Once again, integration of content and technique is a primary focus of the assignment.

Examples of possible projects:

• A randomized, automated catalog browser for a retail Web site that displays goods in highly variable sequences and presentation styles, the better to hold the attention of shoppers;



• A drill-down information system using form completion to help users find needed information in a large information-base (which you may suggest or simulate);



• A "stretchtext" overview of your group's research project, presenting key topics that may be expanded for greater detail;



• A document whose content changes or develops depending on how many times the user has accessed it;



• A creative project (poetry, narrative, collage) in which some form of user action steers an initially random presentation toward greater coherence.

You are not limited to these suggstions.

The first technical element in each of these ideas should be obvious. It will be harder to determine how others should come in. Font and layout control with style sheets or DHTML may be an obvious choice for additional elements, but try to think beyond the simplest solution.

Part B: Description and Analysis

As in the previous assignment, write a brief memo (1-3 paragraphs) summarizing the concept behind your work and the way its technical features contribute to your objective. Be sure to mention what you consider the strongest or most inventive aspects of your project.

Technical Requirements:

All work must be placed in a new directory within your personal directory on Crow. Name this directory assignment3. There must be an index page (index.htm) within the new directory.

Criteria for Grading:

1. Integration of content and technique.
2. Completeness, technical proficiency and absence of errors.
3. Sophistication of information design.
4. Quality of graphic design and writing.

These are the same four criteria used for the previous assignment, but note that the order of the first two items has been reversed.

Deadlines

Please make every effort to complete your work by December 9. I will grant extensions of up to one week on request; but that's perilously close to the end of the course, so beware.