Facebook tabs

Here are the files you need to create your Facebook tabs for class:

Facebook tab files.

The first step is to download the index.html file and start to design your page using that file.

Remember that you must be an admin of a Facebook page to add a custom tab. Feel free to make a new page if you're not an admin already.

Wordpress sites for Fall 2012

Monday/Wednesday class
McKenzie Anderson
Meghan Berry
Rebecca Boneschans
Paige Burchstead
Ethan Clevenger
Kristin Doherty
Yijie Du
Jacob Fross
Jordan Gover
Brianna Laubach
Cecily Miniaci
Tyson Mitchell
Tyler Mosier
Jeff Nelson
Nathan Paulson
Lillian Schrock
Zachery Schrom
Kathleen Sheridan
Emily Tozer
Grace Wenzel


Tuesday/Thursday class
Bailey Berg
Max Cavett
Andrea Crowley
James Glade
Heather Hall
Alec Hamilton
Katherine Kalmes
Jessica Leoh
Mark Lesser
Frank Merchlewitz
Brooke Porter
Sarah Sager
Brianna Shawhan
Anthony Thomas
Lauren Turner
Carlos Velastegui
Ashton Weis
Ben Wildner
Laura Wittren

Wordpress plugins

Plugins can extend Wordpress to do almost anything you can imagine. They can help you track visitors. They can allow readers to rate your posts. They can protect you from spam. They can allow visitors to easily like your content on Facebook. They can help you create photo galleries.

And there are thousands of them. Find them all here.

Here are some plugins that you should consider for your portfolio or blog site you are creating this semester. We will go over these in class on Monday and Tuesday.

If you missed class, here are step-by-step instructions on how to install Wordpress plugins.

• Akismet - blocks spam
• Google Analytics for Wordpress (required) - tracks your page views, visits and more
• Addthis - lets readers share your content on social sites/email
• Wibiya - Adds a toolbar to the bottom of your site
• WPTouch (required) - make a mobile-friendly version of your site
• Like - puts a "like this on Facebook" button on your posts and pages
• HelloBar - Adds a promo bar across the top of your site
• Snow, balloons and more - adds snow and balloons to your page
• Greetbox - suggests to your new visitors that they follow your RSS feed
• Wordpress SEO - give you more control over the SEO on your site
• Shareaholic - give you stylish social sharing buttons
• Digg Digg - add a floating bar of sharing buttons
• Social Sharing Toolkit - add social buttons to your site
• All in one video pack - helps you put videos on your site
• Wordpress audio player - lets you embed audio file on your site
• NextGEN Gallery - creates photo galleries
• Photo Galleria - create a slideshow
• Portfolio Slideshow - create a slideshow
• GD Star Rating - lets readers rate your posts
• FD Feedburner - Converts your RSS feed to a Feedburner feed (which give you analytics)
• Search and replace - find code and replace with something else
• Relevanssi - better Wordpress search
• Quick Page/Post Redirect - redirect one URL to another
• Maintenance mode - take your site offline to work on something
• Social Metrics - track how much your content is shared on social media
• Social profiles - link to our social sites in your sidebar
• Simple Social Icons - Display your social networks in a widget
• Plugin Performance Profiler - find out which plugins are slowing down your site
• Pinterest-related plugins - for your pinning pleasure
• Simplereach slide - recommends related posts on your page
• Simple Facebook Comments - add comments via Facebook to your site
• SocialBox - display your social follower numbers via a widget
• Livefrye - advanced commenting functionality
• Simply Instagram - display your Instagram feed

How to turn in your redesign

Your website redesign is due on either Wednesday or Thursday (depending on which day you have class). I'll go over how to actually make it live on your website at the start of class.

In order to make sure you're ready to get it uploaded, please bring a folder with your entire site saved in it to class. You should name that folder redesign (notice it's all lowercase). You'll also need your MDD Hosting username and password.

A great way to bring your site to class is to create a free account with Dropbox and upload your folder there. It's like having a flash drive that you never leave plugged into a computer.

Files for class Sept. 19-20

FTP/file structure.

Files for class Sept. 17-18

Boxes. Navigation.

Signing up for web hosting

In a few weeks, we'll transition from HTML/CSS to creating our Wordpress sites in J105. So that means it's time to purchase our domain names and hosting.

We will purchase this in class Sept. 19 & 20, but feel free to buy yours ahead of time (especially if you want one of your parents to put it on their credit card).

To sign up, go to the MDD hosting web site. Under "hosting" in the top navigation, click on "shared hosting." The Basic plan will suffice for our websites.

When you are ready to pay, use the code WHT50 to get your hosting for half price. Remember you'll be buying hosting and a domain name. The domain name should cost $15/year, and hosting will be $38 for the first year (using the couponcode above).

CSS files for class Sept. 10-11

CSS files.

Files for class 9/6

Download these files.

Welcome to Web Design for fall 2012

Welcome to a new semester of J105: Web Page Design at Drake University.

In the first few weeks of class, you will learn to create web pages using HTML and CSS. After that, we will turn our attention to creating websites using the Wordpress content management system. You'll purchase a domain, create a site, create content for that site and modify the design of the site using your HTML and CSS skills.

Along the way, we'll learn about the skills required to be an online editor at a media site (search engine optimization, analytics, social media, etc.)

This blog will be a place to share information for the class. I will post assignments, important information and questions here.

Basic class info can be found using the links above.

Take a minute to join our class Facebook group. We will use that for class discussions throughout the semester.

Websites for spring 2012

Here are links to student sites for the spring 2012 semester of J105.

We are just getting started, so sites are very much a work in progress.

Lindsay Dressen
Lauren Ehrler
Jacqueline Grewe
Chris Hanson
AJ Harrison
Lauren Horsch
Jared Jang
Shannon Kerr
Alex Kuberski
Jonathan Landy
Kayleigh McCullough
Katelyn Philipp
Ben Sabal
Lindsay Scarpello
Noelle Smith
Lindsay Susla
Jess Walther
Kathleen Wiseman
Christy Wittmer