Online Class Location:
You will log in using your G number (student ID) and your Web Access password (by default it's your birthday mmddyy).
Please contact me ASAP if you have trouble logging in at castillod@smccd.edu
You will get all messages for this class at your MySmccd Gmail Account. Please make sure you enable it and check it often. http://my.smccd.edu/
Message sent to the class on Saturday, Jan 24th 09
Hello Students!
I have been checking the forum and have only seen 13 posts in a class of 32, so yeah, just a little reminder to make sure you log into your Web Access account and check to see if you are enrolled in the CSS class. If it doesn't appear on the left side of Web Access as one of your classes you will have to go self-enroll by clicking on Cañada College Classes and finding mART 680CE Cascading Style Sheets in the list.
Also, if you need to drop the class, please make sure you drop yourself through WebSmart or at the Cañada admissions office.
If you need any help navigating the system or finding Unit 1 and what to do please contact me so we can schedule office time. I would be happy to walk you through it.
Thanks a bunch and I'm really looking forward to this semester!
Dani Castillo
Message sent to the class on Tuesday, Jan 20th 09
Hello Class!
Welcome to the CSS Online Class, my name is Dani Castillo and I will be your instructor. You are getting this email because you registered for the class and this will be one of your best modes of communication with me. Please make sure you keep checking your new mySMCCD account (http://my.smccd.edu/), as this will be what I will use to send you messages. Please activate your account and make sure you are getting my emails.
The course is a beginning Cascading Style Sheets class designed to get you started using CSS formatting for web design. It is recommended that you have some web design experience, either using Dreamweaver or hand coding. Although the class is a beginning CSS class, it's NOT a beginning web design class, the things you need to be familiar with before you start the class are:
-File management (copy files, move files, locate files, make folders, name folders, etc.)
-Basic web site architecture (how pages link to each other and why)
-How the internet works in terms of information transfer, connection speeds and the difference between a local and a remote copy of a web site
-What does HTML mean?
-File naming conventions for the web
-Web file formats (the most common formats used to build web sites)
-The difference between web page and web site
-Understanding and using at least two web browsers
Class Format:
The class is a fully online class. The way this works is that you will have access to a Course Management System (WebAccess run by Moodle) starting today, Tuesday, January 20th at http://smccd.mrooms.net. You will log in using your G number (student ID) and your Web Access password (by default it's your birthday mm/dd/yy). You will be responsible for checking the course management system several times per week and following the directions outlined for each unit.
Content Delivery:
The units consist of readings, examples, tutorials, videos and various activities ranging from participatory forums to quizzes and homework submissions. The course management system includes a comprehensive training tutorial that you can go through when you have any questions about functionality and procedures when using it. I'm also available for questions by email, chat or in person at school. Don't hesitate to post some of these questions on the general forums as it's very common that other students already went through the same thing and figured it out.
Office Hours:
You can either email me questions (castillod@smccd.edu)
See me in my office during office hours listed on the attached Syllabus.
Catch me on AOL instant messenger (AIM), my screen name is DaniCR
Catch me during Online office hours on WebAccess Chat (we will determine times and dates later)
Required Textbook:
Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns - by Michael Bowers - ISBN-13: 978-1590598047
Recommended Textbooks: CSS Pocket Guide - O’Reilly
Course Content:
I will be sending out a comprehensive syllabus this weekend along with a few other notes, etc. But the class will cover Cascading Style Sheets from the ground up. We will also cover some basic XHTML coding so you can start making very well structured pages before you apply any of the formatting.
Some of the topics we will cover are:
-Cascading Hierarchies
-CSS Structure
-Selectors
-Tags
-IDs
-Classes
-Formatting text
-Formatting boxes
-The Box Model
-Basic CSS Layout and Positioning
-Color and CSS
-Internal, Inline and External CSS styles
-Browsers
-And much more!
Workload:
There will be some homework assignments, lab exercises, one final project, weekly research projects (basically deconstructing other sites or finding examples of particular things we will be covering), reading and Forum Participation.
Please let me know if you have any questions about this email.
Class Info Page: http://canadacollege.edu/multimedia/css/
I'm looking forward to a great Spring term!
Dani Castillo