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COMS 326 pages -- Unix intro -- Using MyRU Files -- Site Review Asmt -- Site Structure
COMS 104 pages

Final projects for COMS 326

Design a working website using all of the competencies you have covered in the course. The site can be for an organization, individual, or business. Some students have made their project an electronic portfolio that provides evidence of their academic coursework, projects, and skills. Others have made both a project and a portfolio to showcase it and work from their other classes.

For a project site, add a folder called "project" (lower case) in your public_html/coms326 folder. For the portfolio site, add afolder called "efolio" or "folio."

  1. Content (25pts): It's useful, informative, entertaining etc.
    The purpose of the site should be clear.
    Use good taste and professionalism in relation to text, images, and subject.
    The content should be accurate and relative to the website subject or theme.
    Grammar, spelling and punctuation should be carefully checked.
    Style for use of numerals, abbreviations, etc., does not have to be "Associated Press" or "Chicago Manual," but should be consistent.
    No copyright violations or plagiarism; attributions and permissions should be clear.
  2. Layout (20pts): It looks good.
    Must be attractive and consistent with design basic principles. (Robin Williams' "CARP" guidelines, etc.) Pages should be readable and useable at most popular screen sizes, not just on big-screen iMacs. Text should be kept to readable widths, sizes, contrasts and color combinations.
  3. Functionality (25pts): It works.
    There should be no broken links or "image not found" icons.
    Image file sizes and any video or sound samples should be optimized for the Web.
    The site should be easily accessible via any browser at any bandwidth. (Test on Internet Explorer, Firefox and Safari.)
    Page titles, navigation menus, link-text and graphic links should be "Don't Make Me Think" clear. (No "mystery meat navigation.")
  4. Creativity (20pts): It didn't come in a generic box.
    Use individual creativity while also utilizing techniques from the course and texts. Do not overuse standard templates.
  5. Evaluation (10pts): It took some thought.
    A public "about this site" page identifying the author, course, purpose, sources and inspirations. Discussion of possible site enhancements or features, with an evaluation of the project, can be on this page, an instructor-only page, or a combination. (See below.)

Project Contents:

Must be an unified and complete Web site with a minimum of one main page and at least five more "content" pages including the "about this site" page. No "demo" menu items that go nowhere; no "lorem ipsum" or other filler.

The site must be hosted on the student's RU hosting space and at least TWO other hosting servers (ex: Freewebs, GoDaddy, Hostway, Yahoo, Google, Free Servers, a CMS, etc.)

Caveat: Because this is a public project that future employers may stumble upon, DO NOT publish anything that does not "work" or that will get you listed at "WebPagesThatSuck.com"

If something is broken and you can't figure out how to fix it, simplify that page or feature until everything works. When you're done, write an evaluation of your own site and project that explains anything you were trying to do that didn't quite work. Also say what worked best, what was the most satisfying thing you discovered or learned? What other features would you add to the site if you had more time, an assistant, more software, more money etc.? And why would those be good additions to serve the site's intended audience?