Unit 7: Website Management and Authoring Tools

Overview

Web authoring software is introduced late in this course, so that students become proficient in code without relying on these tools. Again, this curriculum is written in a vender neutral manner, so the instruction is fairly general and simply describes features that are common to most if not all web authoring products. By now you presumably will have selected a specific product in order to provide hands-on experience to students, but if not several products are listed under the heading GUI Web Authoring Software on the Software and Hardware Requirements page. To prepare for this unit, you will need to familiarize yourself with how the tasks in this unit can be performed on your particular software.

If students pursue a career in web design or development, they are not likely to be coding by hand, but will almost certainly be using various web authoring software applications. It's important therefore for students to be exposed to these tools and to have an opportunity to play with them, but if you are running short of time, this module could be scaled back in order for students to have time to proceed with Unit 8, their client website.

Estimated time required: 3 to 6 hours

Learner Outcomes

Students will:

• have a basic understanding of the features that are common to most web authoring software programs.
• be able to add HTML elements to a web page using web authoring software rather than writing code.
• be able to modify the attributes or properties of HTML elements using web authoring software.
• be able to control and manipulate the style of HTML elements on a web page using web authoring software.
• be able to describe the benefits of using web authoring software for managing websites.
• be able identify features within their web authoring software that facilitate site management.
• be able to answer the question "How do websites get on the Web?"
• be able to help a friend, family member, or client shop for a web service provider.
• be able to describe the differences between content management systems, blogging software, wikis, and website publishing tools.

Modules

• Module 1: Web Authoring Software
• Module 2: Publishing on the Web
• Module 3: Reflections

Assessment

See the Unit 7 Question Bank for sample questions, organized by module. These questions could be used as needed for quizzes and exams. See also our Recommended Assessment for the overall course.