An Introduction to Web Development: A Conceptual Approach

An Introduction to Web Development: A Conceptual Approach introduces students to essential concepts of web development like design, copyright, netiquette, accessibility, and privacy and to essential content types like text, image, animation, sound, and video. 

Students explore topics such as: Internet cookies and how these may help or harm; avoiding Internet-based threats, like viruses, ransomware, and phishing attacks; ethics of image editing and selection; how web filtering provides different results of searches, newsfeeds, and other recommendations based on user characteristics; and the role of web-based applications and fake news. 

The second edition features new content focused on recent web-based threats to democratic societies. Events involving ransomware attacks, fake news, Russian dysinformatyea campaigns, United States voter manipulation, social media-based harassment of individuals, as well as the consequences of phishing certain high-profile individuals are discussed. Additionally, concepts central to media literacy are covered to help students counteract the influence of fake news and voter manipulation. Each chapter concludes with a self-quiz that contains topics for further discussion. The second edition contains an added chapter that introduces students to coding and web interactivity by encouraging students to adapt simple examples. 

By making use of free software in the embedded examples, An Introduction to Web Development allows students to learn important web development tools without incurring excessive expenses. The text effectively blends technical information and practical instruction. The book can be used in courses on introductory web development, digital literacy, and computer literacy with an internet focus.

Evelyn Stiller holds a Ph.D. in computer science from Florida State University. She is a professor of digital media at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, where she has developed courses in software engineering, systems and administration, technology and society, introductory and interactive web development, animation programming, and animation-based communication. Dr. Stiller’s research interests include educational games and animation, diversity issues in technology, and the gendered nature of computer-mediated communication. Her professional writing regularly appears in the Journal of Computing in Small Colleges, and she is the co-author (with Cathie LeBlanc) of Project-Based Software Engineering: An Object-Oriented Approach. She is also the founder of Program2Play, an initiative that introduces programming to students through gameplay.