Week 1: Before We Begin

About Me

My name is Chris Kim, and I will be serving as your (virtual) instructor for the next six weeks.

Formally trained in media production (RTA School of Media) and information visualization (Ontario Tech University), I currently work with institutional stakeholders, including University of Toronto, DARPA, and MIT, to build platforms that democratize AI and promote human-in-the-loop automation. Personally, I am infatuated with retro pop culture, jazz music vinyls, and general artsy things.

Course

This course is all about front-end web development: page layout, content publishing, and usability. By the end of this 6-week course, I hope that you will be able to:

• Gain basic understanding of front-end development
• Apply existing knowledge of graphic design (ex. typography, colour, and layout) to web development
• Obtain practical skills and strategies for building a basic website
• Establish general perspective on the shifting landscape of digital media

This course is split into six distinct parts, each consisting of a concept lecture (like this one) as well as a coding exercise with a screencast accompaniment. You are expected to join the course with no prior experience with web development.

Finally, you will need the following applications as you proceed with the course:

• Code editor: Adobe Dreamweaver (application featured in tutorial) or equivalent
• FTP client: FileZilla Client
• Web browser: Google Chrome