Web Technologies (CITS1231)

Overview

The Web is booming, with new technologies enabling interactive web sites that connect millions of people and create billion-dollar industries seemingly overnight. These web sites use a rich mixture of rapidly evolving technologies to provide the secure, interactive and personalised online experience that today's users enjoy.

Web Technologies (CITS1231) provides students with a broadly based understanding of these technologies and how they are most effectively combined, along with hands-on experience in their use. Fundamental topics covered in this unit include the client/server paradigm, the internet protocols used to transmit web pages, the markup languages (HTML, XHTML and XML) used to describe document structure and the styling language (CSS) used to control a document's appearance. Building on these topics, the unit describes how web sites achieve interactivity and personalisation through server-side scripting languages such as PHP or Perl, client-side scripting languages such as Java Script and the combined approach known as AJAX, which is one of the core enabling technologies for Web 2.0.

Getting Started

The handbook entry and general unit policies are all available from the online unit outline. You should make sure you read and understand this document, particularly the rules defining satisfactory progress. In addition, please be aware of the timing and significance of both the HECS census date and the deadline for withdrawal without academic penalty.

Contact Hours

With regards to formal contact hours, you will be required to attend two 1-hour lectures (starting from Week 1), one a one 3-hour laboratory per week (starting from Week 2).

A six-point unit is deemed to be equivalent to one quarter of a full-time workload, and so you will be expected to commit 10-12 hours per week to the unit, averaged over the entire semester. Careful attention to time management will be needed to ensure that you are not overloaded when deadlines approach.

Assessment

The assessment scheme for CITS1231 consists of one midterm test (see Calendar) conducted druing a lecture, in-lab and final assessment for a project, and a 2-hour examination during the June Examination Period.

Passing this unit requires achieving a 50% overall mark, with a minimum score of 40% in both the final examination and the in-semester coursework (midterm + projects mark).