Final projects for COMS 326

While original work is preferred, seniors and others NOT planning to take the Web Portfolio or Journalism Portfolio course may do a smaller project plus an employment-oriented electronic portfolio, as long as the combination meets the six-page minumum and the other criteria above. The portfolio should have a unified design that brings together coursework and professional projects, along with a resume. Such a site should include updated pages adding more professional polish to projects done for your courses in Digital Imaging, Web Production, advertising or journalism.

Either way, put your final-project or final-portfolio work in a folder called "final" in your public_html/coms326 folder. (For a portfolio site, you may prefer to add a folder called "efolio" or "folio," or make your personal /myname Radford page the portfolio.)

Link the project and all work done for this course to your coms326 page and send Bob a full URL list when you're done. (A final checkout sheet will be posted.)

Project grading

  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.
    Both main site and mirror or supplementary 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 along withtechniques from the course and texts. Do not use standard Dreamweaver templates without substantial graphical and CSS customization.
  5. Evaluation (10pts): It all took some thought, and you shared those thoughts.
    Include a public "about this site" section (part of the home page or a pop-up window, extra page, etc.) identifying the author, course, purpose, sources and inspirations. Also discuss possible site enhancements or features in an evaluation of the project, which can be on the same page, an instructor-only e-mail, or a combination. Either the about page or the exit-memo to the instructor should identify anything used that was not the student's own creation -- such as themes, templates, layouts, graphics, Content Management Systems, javascript libraries, etc. (See "Exit strategy" below.)

Project Contents & Hosting

The project must be a unified and complete Web site with a minimum of one main page and at least five more "content" pages including the "about this site" section. 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 one other hosting server (ex: Freewebs, GoDaddy, Hostway, Yahoo, Google, Free Servers, a CMS, etc.) If you can afford it, buy a domain of your own.

Exit strategy: When you are done, write an evaluation of your own site. Part of this may be public and part turned in as a written or e-mail "exit memo" report to the professor. Explain what you planned and accomplished, but also describe anything you were trying to do that didn't quite work and had to be abandoned. Say what worked best, what was the most satisfying thing you learned, and what other features you would add to the site if you had more time -- or an assistant, a programming staff, more software, more money etc. Say why you would add those features, especially how they would serve the site's intended audience.

Caution: 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. Mention the problem in your exit memo. If a "finished" page does not represent your best work, take it off the network after the project is graded.

updated Apr. 11, 2013