Overview
This unit provides a practical introduction to web design and development, beginning with the basic technical concepts that make the Web possible. You will learn how to create web pages with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), and how to redefine the way browsers display web pages with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Using software tools such as Adobe Photoshop, you will prepare graphics for web pages and develop an understanding of image file formats and colour models. You will learn how to apply principles of visual design, usability, accessibility and information architecture to web design. With the aid of a front-end web framework, you will learn how to create responsive web pages that automatically adapt their appearance and behaviour to provide an optimal viewing experience across a wide range of devices.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Students who have completed MMST11002 Web Design may not enrol in this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Teaching staff
This unit would benefit from the provision of free web hosting space for students on a university server.
Investigate the possibility of providing free web hosting space for students on a university server.
- explain the basic technical concepts that make the Web possible
- prepare web graphics with an understanding of image file formats and colour models
- apply principles of visual design, usability and accessibility to web page design
- create web pages with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- create websites with an appropriate organisation scheme, structure, and navigation system
- create responsive websites with the aid of a front-end web framework.
Not applicable
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 30% | ||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 40% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||||
| 11 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| 1 - Practical Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 2 - Practical Assessment - 30% | |||||||||||
| 3 - Practical Assessment - 40% | |||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
A Study Guide will be provided through the unit website.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
- Adobe Acrobat Reader (free browser plug-in)
- Adobe Photoshop (Adobe Creative Cloud student subscription recommended)
- Google Chrome
- Microsoft Word
- Mozilla Firefox
- Digital camera (cameras built into mobile phones are suitable)
- Plain text editor such as Notepad (Windows) or TextEdit (MacOS)
- Visual Studio Code with Live Preview code extension (free software)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.pace@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 09 Mar 2026Module/Topic
1. Introduction to the Web
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 1
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 2
Begin Date: 16 Mar 2026Module/Topic
2. Design basics
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 3
Begin Date: 23 Mar 2026Module/Topic
3. Typography and page layout
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 3
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 4
Begin Date: 30 Mar 2026Module/Topic
4. Images and colour
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 4
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 5
Begin Date: 06 Apr 2026Module/Topic
5. HTML
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 5
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 6
Begin Date: 13 Apr 2026Module/Topic
6. CSS
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 6
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 20 Apr 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 7
Begin Date: 27 Apr 2026Module/Topic
7. Bootstrap
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 8
Begin Date: 04 May 2026Module/Topic
8. Layout with Bootstrap
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 9
Begin Date: 11 May 2026Module/Topic
9. Revisiting CSS
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 9
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 10
Begin Date: 18 May 2026Module/Topic
10. Site design
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 10
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 11
Begin Date: 25 May 2026Module/Topic
11. Navigation with Bootstrap
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 11
Events and Submissions/Topic
Week 12
Begin Date: 01 Jun 2026Module/Topic
12. Further exploration
Chapter
Study Guide chapter 12
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 08 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation/Exam Week
Begin Date: 15 Jun 2026Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
REQUIRED RESOURCES
You must have access to the following resources for this unit.
UNIT WEBSITE
The unit website provides essential resources for the unit such as a Study Guide and an online discussion forum. It can be accessed at https://moodle.cqu.edu.au
STUDY GUIDE
The online Study Guide will direct you to all of the essential readings, discussion questions and activities for each module of the unit. The Study Guide is available in Adobe Portable Document format (PDF) from the unit website.
DISCUSSION FORUM
An online discussion forum will be provided through the unit website for discussing matters that relate to the unit. The discussion forum is the primary means of support for online students who want assistance with tutorial activities and assignments.
DIGITAL CAMERA
You will need a digital camera to take photographs for the assignments. Most mobile phones have a built-in camera that can be used for this purpose.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
You will need Adobe Photoshop, a popular image-editing software tool. Photoshop is available in the on-campus digital media labs. It can also be purchased at a discounted education price as part of an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription from the Adobe website (https://www.adobe.com/au).
VISUAL STUDIO CODE
You will need Visual Studio Code, which is a free code editor that can be used with a variety of languages including HTML and CSS. Visual Studio Code can be downloaded for Windows or macOS (https://code.visualstudio.com). You will also need a free Visual Studio Code extension named Live Preview, which can be downloaded from the Visual Studio Marketplace website (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode.live-server).
TEXT EDITOR
You will need a plain text editor such as Notepad or TextEdit. Notepad is distributed with the Microsoft Windows operating system. TextEdit is distributed with the macOS operating system.
WEB BROWSERS
You will need a recent version of Google Chrome (https://www.google.com/chrome) and Mozilla Firefox (https://www.mozilla.org/firefox) to explore the Web and test the pages that you create. Online students are encouraged to install the latest versions of these browsers. On-campus students may use whichever versions are installed in their local computer lab.
ADOBE ACROBAT READER
You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is a free program that lets you view, navigate and print PDF documents like the DGTL11005 Study Guide. Adobe Acrobat Reader can be downloaded from the Adobe website (https://www.adobe.com).
WORD PROCESSOR
You will need a word processor such as Microsoft Word for writing parts of your assignments. Microsoft Word is part of Microsoft 365, which is freely available to CQUniversity students at https://cqu365.cqu.edu.au. Sign in with your student email address and password to install the software on your computer.
1 Practical Assessment
This assignment requires you to create a mockup of a single web page that satisfies a supplied design brief. The mockup should be created with Adobe Photoshop, and the page layout should conform to the 960 grid system. The mockup should be saved as both a Photoshop PSD file and a PNG image file. You must also write a report about your design choices. Please refer to the unit website for the assignment details.
Within this assessment, the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) is as follows:
Gen AI for Drafting and Refinement (Level 3)
You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining, and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity. Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions.
Week 5 Friday (10 Apr 2026) 9:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Please refer to the unit website for the detailed assessment criteria.
- explain the basic technical concepts that make the Web possible
- prepare web graphics with an understanding of image file formats and colour models
- apply principles of visual design, usability and accessibility to web page design
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Practical Assessment
This assignment requires you to design and build a single web page that satisfies a supplied design brief. The web page must be implemented using HTML, CSS and the Bootstrap front-end web framework. The web page must have a responsive layout that automatically adapts its appearance to provide an optimal viewing experience on the device on which it is being viewed. You must also write a report about your design choices. Please refer to the unit website for the assignment details.
Within this assessment, the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) is as follows:
Gen AI for Drafting and Refinement (Level 3)
You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining, and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity. Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions.
Week 9 Friday (15 May 2026) 9:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Please refer to the unit website for the detailed assessment criteria.
- explain the basic technical concepts that make the Web possible
- prepare web graphics with an understanding of image file formats and colour models
- apply principles of visual design, usability and accessibility to web page design
- create web pages with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- create websites with an appropriate organisation scheme, structure, and navigation system
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Practical Assessment
This assignment requires you to design and build a website comprised of multiple pages that satisfies a supplied design brief. The website must be implemented using HTML, CSS and the Bootstrap front-end web framework. Each page in the website must have a responsive layout that automatically adapts its appearance to provide an optimal viewing experience on the device on which it is being viewed. Please refer to the unit website for the assignment details.
Within this assessment, the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI) is as follows:
Gen AI for Drafting and Refinement (Level 3)
You may use AI to assist with specific tasks such as drafting text, refining, and evaluating your work. You must critically evaluate and modify any AI-generated content. Any misuse or lack of disclosure regarding AI tools will be considered a breach of academic integrity. Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions.
Week 12 Friday (5 June 2026) 9:00 pm AEST
2 weeks after submission
Please refer to the unit website for the detailed assessment criteria.
- explain the basic technical concepts that make the Web possible
- prepare web graphics with an understanding of image file formats and colour models
- apply principles of visual design, usability and accessibility to web page design
- create web pages with the Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
- create websites with an appropriate organisation scheme, structure, and navigation system
- create responsive websites with the aid of a front-end web framework.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
