Teaching sustainable methods of web design and development

Abstract

This workshop presents methods for teaching web design at the source level according to the World Wide Web Consortium and Ecma International standards for the Web's core markup, design, and scripting languages. These methods require no specialized technology infrastructure or investment beyond three generic categories of free and open-source software (text editors, web browsers, and web browser add-ons) that provide students with equitable technology access in- and outside of the classroom. Through these methods, writers develop a more comprehensive knowledge of the complex issues of web design and development that Adobe Dreamweaver and other software are designed to obscure. Partially a response to the limitations and professional de-skilling inherent in those types of software and certain content management systems, this workshop presents web design and development methods that are sustainable, in that the methods are based in languages written at the source level, and not the arbitrary, shifting design of software interfaces. The workshop also offers evidence of how these methods and the principles behind them can extend to courses beyond web design to shape digital design and development throughout writing and communication curricula.