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Web Unit Criteria and Stretch Goals

Work to have done:

  • Finish at least the assigned chapters of the internetingishard tutorial
  • Work on your website portfolios, and push a preview to GitHub: project folder (probably named ‘docs’), work-in-progress screenshot from the browser, optional screenshot of your editor setup, and text description, plus updated list of assets/credits.

Plan for the Day:

  1. Reflective writing on current projects (5 min)
  2. Reflective writing on websites we’ve liked (5 min)
  3. Gathering criteria (45 min)
  4. Sharing insights (10 min)
  5. EXT: Studio

1. Reflective writing (5 min)

In your own space – you won't have to share this unless you want to – do a little writing about your website portfolio in progress. What's exciting about it? What's challenging about it? What are you unsure of?

2. Websites we’ve liked… within reach (5 min)

Shift now in your writing to think about the websites you navigate every day. What seems to make them easy to get through, to find what you need? What causes frustration? How do you think its structure might be related to its audience? Jot down some notes.

3. Gathering criteria (45 min)

Primed now by that writing and thinking, I’m going to ask you to get in groups and brainstorm in pursuit of baseline and aspirational criteria for this unit.

Remember to talk to each other about what you value!

3a. Crowdsource ideas (15-20 min)

You’re used to this process by now, yes?

In breakout rooms, take 10ish minutes to make some lists in the class google doc: given the goals of the unit, what should we set as our minimum criteria for full credit? What are some ways we might push beyond that minimum – not merely in terms of quantity, but in terms of quality or challenge level?

That is, I really want you to see these aspirational goals as opportunities to stretch yourselves and your skills, not just to do more of the same. Think about what would be new and potentially exciting – but not required for everyone.

EXT: If your group feels finished, skip ahead: read through other groups’ notes, respond to their questions on yours, or start discussing thoughts and questions on how to achieve your preferred aspirational goals.

3b. Comment and Discuss in the Doc (15-20 min)

As you finish up, read through the other groups’ notes, adding collegial comments in the margins to upvote, ask for clarification, or propose modifications. As I see consensus forming, I’ll propose an official version for our list of shared criteria. If debates emerge, we can hash them out, or maybe set mutually exclusive aspirational goals!

ALT: If you're joining us asynchronously, please also leave comments, especially with questions or suggestions. Should something currently baseline be moved to aspirational? You will be held to these criteria, so make your voice heard!

I’ll work solo to write up a list that reflects your consensus in the comments, while you move to the next section.

4. Sharing insights (10 min)

If we have time left, make two quick lists (just about a minute each):

  1. Things I’ve learned about layout (or responsive design)
  2. Questions I have about layout (or responsive design)

Share within your group, using what you’ve learned to try to answer each others’ questions.

Questions your group can’t answer? Post them to the google doc, and see if another group can answer. I’ll look there, too.

EXT: Check to see if you can answer questions in the doc; otherwise, use any remaining time as a studio: work on your projects and any needed tutorials.

NB: If you're joining us asynchronously, use this as studio time: please do add your goals and reflections to the doc, as usual, whenever you're able to "do" today's lesson.

For next time:

We will not meet on Zoom on Tuesday, to allow maximal flexibility for any in-person voting or other election-related activities you have planned. Instead, we'll have a fully asynchronous workshop. Aim to provide feedback before Thursday's class, when we'll resume the normal schedule.

To double-check that your partners will see the files as you intended, please download a .zip from your GitHub.com repository to a second location on your computer. Does your site open in a browser? Does it look right, or did you forget to push the latest changes?

  • Work to push a full draft to GitHub by 10:00am Eastern Time on Tuesday, Nov 3: a solid attempt at a complete website, ideally meeting baseline criteria. Rough edges are still welcome.
    • Don’t forget to update your source credits and permissions / license to use them. You can include these right on the website, or link from the website to a file (credits.md, or even README.md) in your repo.
  • If you’re pretty sure by Monday dinnertime that you won’t be ready to turn in a draft, please let me know asap so that I can responsibly rearrange peer-review groups.
    • That said, remember that pretty much any start, however rough, will count here. Even placeholder content with navigation lets us see the parts you’re thinking about, and maybe we can help you move forward from there.
  • Continue taking periodic screenshots and posting meaningful commit messages as you go
    • Remember that you can track changes to multiple files within the same commit – if you use GitHub Desktop (or command-line git) rather than the GH website

NB: If GitHub is giving you trouble with large files, you can try Git Large File Storage (git-lfs). See the section on the Resources page about What to do if your files are too large for GitHub.

And if all else fails, you can use Box instead. Just make sure that you...

  • add a link to the Box folder at the top of your GitHub README.md file.
  • grant the organization, which is Pitt, Downloader or Editor permissions in the Box folder
  • include all the same files as you would have if you were only using GitHub.