Places to go

We will be using this page of the syllabus to go and get or go and see several things over the course of the semester, and we will be adding to this list as we go. It will include resources for code, shape files and data, examples of exemplary work in interactive graphics, and some suggested tutorials to keep you up to speed with HTML, CSS, Javascript and more.

Downloads

Use these links to access code we will need to use for our pages.

Resources

These links will take you to various references for the work we’ll be doing over the next 15 weeks.

Tutorials

There are many places online where you can go and learn how to do all kinds of things with a computer. In our class, we will primarily be using lynda.com, a free resource to you as an IU student.

Exemplaries

Here are few examples of the best interactive graphics being done today. (Note — some of these may be behind pay walls.)

Online tools

These are some of the online graphics tools that you can use to help you create interactive graphics. Many of these do not require a high level or even intermediate level of coding, but some may be less customizable than others. We will be using these and other free tools during unit three of our class.

Accounts you’ll need

On the first day of class, you will create these two accounts (unless you have them already). The first will allow you to create your own website for our class, using the free web hosting available to you as an IU student. The second is a web-based code repository, where you can store and share your code. It is the largest host of source code in the world.

Course material

In this section, downloads of files we are using during in-class activities can be found. These files are in a variety of formats. Just click the link to download as needed!

Reference

This section includes links to PDFs specifically created for the work we do in class. Click on the link to open the PDF, or right-click to save the PDF to your desktop.

Projects

Here you can find one-page prompts to our major projects. We will have two such projects this semester: both will feature a series of interactive charts (at least two) connected to a specific topic, constructed on a standalone page accessible through your projects page. For the first, you will use one of the online services we have studied — Google charts, Highcharts or TimelineJS (or any combination of those), and for the second you will use Javascript libraries (jQuery or D3).