Revised: October 5, 2004

George Mason University

Dreamweaver MX, EDIT 772 Section 5T4, Fall 2004, Tuesdays 7:20-10PMPM, October 5-December 14 (no class October 12), Robinson A 352, 2 credits
Instructor: Dr. William M. Pegram, wpegram@nvcc.edu

Web Site for Class: www.nvcc.edu/home/wpegram

Course Description:

This course is a follow-on to the beginning EDIT 772 course. In previous years, the follow-on course was entitled advanced. I intend the current course to be an advanced HTML/web design course with particular emphasis on Dreamweaver MX. The general approach will be to learn the tool but to understand what is going to behind the tool in the code. Because two topics (JavaScript and database-driven, server-side-scripting websites) are each the subject of a 10 week course at GMU and semester courses elsewhere, in those areas you perhaps will not totally understand what is going on, but in every other area we will aim for a pretty thorough understanding of the code. Because of the complexity of the database-driven web sites topic, whether or not we do that section of the course will be mutually agreed on.

In the beginning EDIT 772 course, there is typically not enough time to cover all of the following topics from a semester length HTML course:

The class schedule was developed under the assumption that all students will have previously covered the first five topics, but that some may not have covered the last four. I will assess student background in the first class meeting and adjust the schedule accordingly.

Prerequisites

The first EDIT 772 course (currently called HTML 4.0/XHTML 1.0) or equivalent knowledge is a prerequisite for this class -- see above for more detail. 

Software

The software in Robinson A-352 is Dreamweaver MX and the text is oriented toward this version of the software. MX was released in May 2002 and is the second-most-recent version of the software available. The most recent version is MX 2004 which was released in September 2003 and is available as a 30 day free download from the Macromedia site. Dreamweaver MX 2004 is available for purchase in several academic versions: (1) separately for $99 list, (2) as part of Studio MX 2004 (including Flash, Fireworks, and Freehand) for $199 list, and (3) as part of Studio MX Pro 2004 which is Studio MX 2004 plus Flash MX 2004 Professional for $249 list. The MX trial (as opposed to the MX 2004 trial) is no longer available from Macromedia. To obtain a MX trial, I would suggest doing a search on Amazon or elsewhere for a book that would contain the trial software.

The version previous to Dreamweaver MX was Dreamweaver 4. Dreamweaver 4 will be adequate for much of the course except for the database-section of the course (the database capabilities were then in a separate product (Ultradev) which was folded into Dreamweaver MX).

Office Hours: Before or after class.  Other times by appointment.

Communication with Instructor: In addition to office hours, all class periods will have time for substantial one-on-one assistance from the instructor.  Asking questions in this way is generally more efficient than email.  

Texts:

Dreamweaver MX: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland, edited by David Pogue, Pogue Press, O'Reilly, 2002, ISBN 0-596-00349-8, $35. 

Required Host for Web Page:

If you will not be hosting yoiur work on the Mason server, please email me the URL where I can find your work.     

Grading Policy:

Tutorial (25%), Homework (40%), and Final/Project (35%).  The tutorial is one or more web tutorials created by the student on a web design topic that has been approved in advance by the instructor.  Doing the tutorial will give you practice with Dreamweaver, and the tutorial should provide a useful resource for current and future students.

Comments to William Pegram, wpegram@nvcc.edu