Course content

This course presents the different technological trends and tools of web development based on the technology adoption lifecycle model and it explores how they can be used to create low-carbon footprint web solutions.

The course focus on how to develop for sustainability based on the following areas:

• Performance
• Accessibility and inclusivity
• Green hosting
• Carbon emissions
• Maintainability
• User experience
• SEO

Topics

• Sustainable Web design
• Static site generators
• Headless CMS
• Progressive Web Apps
• Performance and optimisation
• New tools for development

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The student knows

• The relation between development decisions and their environmental impact.
• The spectrum of technological choices available for the development of Web resources.
• The trade-offs between server-side and client-side generation of Web applications.
• The impact of various deployment and hosting techniques on the consumption of resources.
• The evolution of Web technologies from ad-hoc servers to datacentres.
• Various facets of sustainability along which a Web application can be evaluated.

Skill

The student can:

• Develop Web applications using different paradigms and technologies, ranging to static Web sites to Progressive Web Apps.
• Measure, recognise and fix performance and sustainability issues

General Competence

The student, upon completion of this course, will know how to:

• Know the different trade-offs in terms of sustainability of various paradigms for the development of Web applications.
• Evaluate the sustainability of a Web application.
• Propose and discuss measures to improve the sustainability of Web applications.
• Discuss the impact that Web development choices have on individuals and the society at large.

Learning methods and activities

• Lectures
• Laboratory work
• Exercises
• Supervision

Compulsory assignments

Students must complete 4 compulsory assignments during the semester.

Compulsory assignments

• Compulsory assignment
• Compulsory assignment 2
• Compulsory assignment 3
• Compulsory assignment 4

Further on evaluation

Methods:

• Compulsory activities: All the compulsory activities must be approved to take the final written exam.
• Mid-term exam (paper + oral presentation): 40%
• on-campus digital five-hour written exam: 60%

Students must receive a passing grade on all assignments in order to pass the course.

Regarding re-sit:

• Next ordinary exam.
• In case of a failed compulsory assignments, all compulsory assignments need to be re-taken the next time the course is running.

Specific conditions

Required previous knowledge

The course is limited to students in the programs Bachelor in Web Development (BWU) who have passed the courses:

• IDG1292 - Web coding
• IDG2012 - Web Accessibility, Usability and Ethics
• IDG1011 - Front-End Web development
• IDG2100 - Full-Stack Web development

Course materials

Will be stated at the start of the semester.