Last week we finished off our group lectures and got our first assignment.

Brent gave an incredibly interesting lesson on coding- I got a great review of basic html and learned some of the finer points of css.

Take home points include:

Firebug is a very useful application that allows you to inspect elements of a web page and see the various code it is composed of.

“@font-face” is a trick used to download fonts to the client browser cache- so that you can use non-web fonts in layouts. It is awesome not only because it loads faster than an image, but it counts as body text, improving SEO for the page as well.

Search Engine Optimization is like doing your taxes. You’re encouraged to ‘optimize’ as much as possible- but ‘cheating’ is strictly prohibited. If caught ‘cheating’ (hidden tags, excessive self-promo, etc.) a site suffers a huge penalty from Google.

Our project is to create a web layout using the 960 pixel grid system. Basically the page needs to be 960 pixels across- including 5 pixel margins and 10 pixel gaps between columns. There’s a great explanation of how this system works here.

I’m planning on creating a new layout for The Gainesvillains. I want to have a maintain the minimalist design but integrate better design elements. My home page’s layout will be able to be constantly updated- keeping the main page fresh, not only keeping fans updated with the latest of Villainous activity but also contributing to SEO.

Stay tuned to see my designs and comments on the critique next week!