Problem Set 8: Homepage

Unlike previous assignments in the class, Homepage is an entirely open-ended assignment. Besides a handful of simple quantitative goals (at least 10 different tags, 5 different CSS selectors, etc.), the end goal of the assignment will differ radically from student to student.

Evidence of a 5-point submission

  • An exemplary submission; a webpage that demonstrates an organic and thorough integration of the week’s material, and doesn’t just feel like it was cobbled together to the minimum specifications of the rubric. Any kind of website can meet this requirement (i.e., an about-me website, an informational website explaining some situation or cause to an audience, etc.), as pretty much any of these ideas can ideally be executed with enough care and professionalism to warrant a 5.
  • Shows care for the user experience, even in fringe cases; has fast loading times, clean and logical visuals, and easy navigation, even for small screens or old computers
  • Might go above and beyond by seamlessly integrating an advanced web-design concept not covered in class. It should be possible to achieve a 5 without learning a whole new topic alone, but if the student takes the time to include something they learned about themselves, that’s certainly worth factoring in.
    • One example of this might be professional-looking graphics; but again, note that a 5 should be possible without this kind of visual flair, and the inclusion of said flair shouldn’t guarantee a 5 either

Evidence of a 4-point submission

  • A good submission; handily dispatches the quantitative elements of the rubric, while making a site that would stand alone outside of this particular assignment
  • Clear navigation, aided by clean visuals. The site needn’t look beautiful (good scores should be attainable even for those of us who aren’t exactly artistically inclined), but the visuals shouldn’t actively hamper the user’s ability to navigate and enjoy the site. And it should be clear where you are and where it’s possible to go at all times
  • Clean coding; the source code follows the idioms of HTML/CSS/JavaScript to a tee, places JavaScript and CSS files in separate files, cascades style properties effectively, well-commented where it needs to be, and so on
  • Handles mobile devices case

Evidence of a 3-point submission

A good submission with a few problems that make it impossible to award a 4. For instance:

  • The website might clearly be catering to the exact quantitative specifications of the rubric; i.e., there’s really arbitrary HTML tags used to get up to 10, or really arbitrary CSS selectors used to get up to 5. Really, the quantitative specifications are just a way to enforce a bare minimum scope for the assignment; if you feel the site is lacking in scope, that’s worth considering
  • Slow loading times
  • Breaks in the case of smaller/mobile screens
  • Unintuitive/inaccessible source code
  • Navigation is strained, due to occlusive visuals or any other reason
  • Might fail to meet one or two of the quantitative criteria. Again, this isn’t the most important thing, but worth considering nonetheless

Evidence of a 2-point submission

A lacking submission; a website with many of the problems listed above, or with severe deficiencies in scope or usability. If you feel that the site is just not extensive enough to demonstrate a full grasp of the week’s concepts (perhaps it misses many of the quantitative marks if that is the case), or the user experience seems to have gone unconsidered (perhaps the visuals make the site impossible to navigate or use), this may be an appropriate score.

Evidence of a 1-point submission

A minimal submission; a website that significantly undershoots the benchmark for scope, or is largely unusable in its current state, or both.

It’s difficult to give comparative code sample demonstrations for this assignment, again due to its inherent open-endedness. Your grades, then, will have to be holistic evaluations of the design of each student’s submissions, and what you consider for your score might depend on what each submission contains.