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 Ratings
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| Reviewed: |
Feb 21, 2006 by Information Technology Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
This site provides a set of extensive Web development tutorials on these 8
subjects: XHMTL/CSS, JavaScript/DHTML, ASP.NET1.1, ASP.NET2.0, ASP, PHP5,
VB.NET, and XML. While they were designed to support classes taught at Macon
State College, but they can provide a detailed look at these topics for anyone
interested. Each tutorial is composed of between 20 to 100 documents organized
into appropriate subtopics. They might, in fact, be thought of as eight online
textbooks. Four of the tutorials also include extensive assignments. Reference
and examples are frequently provided. Interactive elements allow the student to
demonstrate the effects of code examples and to experiment with different
values.
Simple guides for using Java Script,PHP,XHTML,ASP,XML,and VB. The tutorials are
provided to help students get a handle on using these web tools. |
| Learning Goals: |
Learn or reinforce knowledge of any of the eight Web languages mentioned above:
XHMTL/CSS, JavaScript/DHTML, ASP.NET1.1, ASP.NET2.0, ASP, PHP5, VB.NET, and
XML. |
| Target Student Population: |
College students or higher interested in Web development. |
| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
The tutorials can serve as review and enhancement for classroom instruction.
Students will need the basic skill of using a text editor. While access to a
server is not necessary, students of server-side languages will benefit from it.
It assumes that the student already has familiarity with the eXtensible
Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML),
basic programming skills, and with the
rudiments of database design and Structured Query Language (SQL). |
| Type of Material: |
Tutorials and online reference book. |
| Recommended Uses: |
The scope of the material in each tutorial ranges from beginning to advanced.
It can be used as the basis for lectures, to reinforce material taught in the
classroom, or to augment the student's knowledge. |
| Technical Requirements: |
JavaScript should be enabled. |
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| Strengths: |
The quality of the content is excellent. The scope ranges from beginning to
advanced, covering essential and interesting uses of the language. Tutorials
are comprehensive. The XHTML/CSS tutorial, for examples, starts with a
discussion of Internet history and then presents chapters on document layout, styling, text formatting, images, special styles, links, tables, frames, forms,
multimedia, and designing Web sites. A section on accessibility is also
included. Appendices provide reference on XHTML, CSS, color, and special
characters.
In this tutorial, each subtopic includes a discussion of deprecated tags. This
is important, but often overlooked, information to help developers enhance the
uniform display of their Web pages in a variety of browsers.
Well written and easy to follow. Good navigation between topics. |
| Concerns: |
Some content is browser- or browser-version-specific, but not necessarily
labeled as such.
The intro sections go into far too much detail. |
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
Rating:  |
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| Strengths: |
The material is comprehensive ranging from beginning to advanced and up-to-date.
The PHP tutorial is for PHP5, currently the latest version. Tutorials are
clearly organized into chapters composed of several documents. The presentation
in each document is also well-organized. Explanations are clear and thorough.
Interesting examples of code and their results are demonstrated.
It can be used to provide the basis for lectures or for independent
reinforcement of lecture content.
The interest level in each document is maintained through images, table, code
results to break up the text. The student is further engaged by the presence of
interactive elements sprinkled generously throughout the documents giving
students an opportunity to see the results of code samples and to experiment
with different property values.
The ease of navigation,
interactive elements, and linked references all provide
advantages of this format as compared to a textbook covering the same material.
Assignments area available in the XHTML/CSS, JavaScript/DHTML, ASP.NET2.0, and
ASP.NET1.1 tutorials. |
| Concerns: |
Chapter summaries could be helpful.
The length and comprehensiveness of some documents may not be ideal for
beginning students.
Seems to be a lot of reading that may slow some students use. Could use more
hands on practice / examples. |
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
Rating:  |
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| Strengths: |
Material is well-organized. A table of contents for each tutorial is in a side
frame provides clear navigation to successive chapters and documents.
Material is self-contained.
While the material is too extensive for me to have tried all links and
interactive elements, the ones I tried worked effectively. |
| Concerns: |
Since the tutorials are so comprehensive, it may be difficult to re-locate
desired content. A search feature for each tutorial would be valuable.
Students who wish to print out documents will need to deal with a frame-based
presentation. A print format alternative would be helpful.
The same comprehensiveness that makes this a rich site may make some documents
too long. |
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