Web Development Coursework - Develop a Functioning Website Using Various Technologies

This assessment is coursework based, and has a single main component, worth 100% of the overall unit mark. The tasks you are required to complete for this assessment are detailed in this coursework specification. The assessment requires you to develop a website that makes use of a variety scripting and data-driven techniques to produce a functional system in response to a brief.

Aim
This unit encourages you to gain practical experience of the world of web development. By the end of the unit, the idea is that you have completed development a web application which incorporates several technologies – mirroring the sorts of tasks you would be required to carry out in the role of a web developer. This completed web application can be used: in a portfolio of completed work that you can use for future job applications; in projects for you to discuss when applying for placement opportunities; as useful tools for you to make use of in your later work; or form part of a showcase for any future creative endeavours.

This aim of this coursework is to give you a platform to demonstrate what you have learned about working with, and making use of, a range of technologies, techniques, frameworks, and libraries that support creation of a dynamic web environment. This will be a client-side application, which will generate page content from a server-side database, employ client-side libraries for data validation and display, send data to a server for validation and storage, and receiving response data. A counterpart set of server-side software will be created allowing persistence of data received from a client in a server-side database.

In particular, the following skills will be essential for successful completion of this coursework:
Problem solving: You will need to develop solutions for many problems along the way as you encounter them whilst developing your website. You can apply any problem-solving techniques you have learnt in your studies so far to these difficulties.

Investigation skills: You will need to examine and understand existing processes and systems to help shape your own designs.

Technical skills: You will need to develop your PHP, MySQL, and JavaScript skills in order to complete this assessment, supported by the fundamentals of HTML and CSS.

Project planning: The assessment requires you to plan and consider which elements of the work you will attempt in which order. You may find you cannot complete one bit without another but finding solutions to this (through planning and careful testing) is part of the challenge.

LO1: Deploy client-side JavaScript libraries to add dynamic functionality within a web page;
LO2: Use open-source tools and technologies to develop object-oriented and reusable server-side scripts that obtain, validate, process and store user input from web pages;
LO3: Integrate client-side and server-side coding into coherent web applications;
LO4: Manage communication sessions to authorise users and perpetuate their data across multiple pages.

Note: it is your responsibility to make sure that your work is complete and available for marking by the deadline. Make sure that you have followed the submission instructions carefully, and your work is submitted in the correct format, using the correct hand-in mechanism (e.g., Moodle upload). If submitting via Moodle, you are advised to check your work after upload, to make sure it has uploaded properly. Do not alter your work after the deadline. You should make at least one full backup copy of your work.