Update History

The following is a list of all updates to the Curriculum in reverse chronological order. For additional information see the History, Credits, and Copyright section of the home page.

2025 version 2.1

  • Made instructor area publicly available, log-in removed
  • Back-end of site converted from PHP to static HTML
  • Updated navigation labels and headings for clarification
  • Minor theme updates

With this release, the Instructor Version no longer requires a login. All resources on this site are now publicly available.

This is the first step in a transition as we move the curriculum to GitHub, where we’ll be hosting it as an open-source project. This will enable instructors and other interested parties to contribute their own updates to help keep the content current. Watch for more details about this change in the upcoming months.

2018

  • Fixed broken links to external resources throughout the curriculum

2014

  • Added a new module (Module 6) to Unit 2: Adding Video to Web Pages. Also added sample video, courtesy of code.org.
  • Added a new lesson to Unit 5 Module 2 (the JavaScript module): Building a Custom Video Player.
  • Updated the Instructor version to include content for the new modules and lessons. Also updated the Example files.
  • Updated lessons to make better use of new HTML5 semantic elements. Specifically:
    • In Unit 2 Module 2 Lesson 3, students now wrap their main content in a <main> element rather than a <div>.
    • In Unit 2 Module 3 Lesson 2, students now wrap their navigation menu in a <nav> element rather than a <div>.
  • Made a few minor updates to activities throughout the curriculum so lessons are in synch with the above changes.
  • Updated the Unit 1 Module 4 Tips in the Instructor version with an optional online card-sorting alternative activity using Concept Codify, which is currently free (as of August 2014).
  • Updated the Requirements page in the Instructor version to include a section on web developer inspection tools that are built-in to some browsers and available as plug-ins for others.
  • Updated both the Student Resources and Instructor Resources pages to make them more usable, with only the short list of the absolute best tutorials, reference guides, and tools for learning about web design and development.
  • Updated Common HTML Tags (introduced in Unit 2 Module 2 Lesson 1) to include the DOCTYPE declaration and additional information about HTML5 tags.
  • Updated Unit2 Module 2 Lesson 1 (HTML Syntax) with new questions in Activity #2 related to the new content on the Common HTML Tags page.
  • Added JPG files to serve as "posters" for each of the introductory videos.

2013

  • November 4 Added a short introductory video to the home page for each unit in the Student Version (Units 1 through 7).
  • October 22 Updated Unit 3 Module 3 Lesson 2 (CSS Typography) with a new external resource for font comparisons across operating systems. This change required additional minor changes to the lesson, as well as changes to the Instructor guide.
  • September 30 Removed a duplicate question in Unit 2 Question Bank (Module 4) and adjusted question numbers to fill the gap.
  • May 8 Added a question bank to each unit with sets of questions that can optionally be used for assessment.

2012

The curriculum underwent a major update as part of the AccessComputing project at the University of Washington, and moved to its current home on the AccessComputing website. Major changes included the following:

  • A new name: WebD2
  • All lessons changed from XHTML to HTML5.
  • Added new lessons on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).
  • Added new lessons on Javascript.
  • Updated content and on-line resources that were showing their age
  • Updated instructor pages with new tips and estimates for time required for each lesson.

2005

The curriculum underwent a major update in partnership with AccessIT at the University of Washington. Changes included the following:

  • New home on the AccessIT website
  • New overall structure
  • Standardized on XHTML
  • Stronger emphasis on standards-based and accessible design
  • All-new lessons throughout
  • A login-protected Instructor version, featuring tips to help with delivering each lesson
  • Example output for each lesson.
  • Downloadable version that can be run on local computers

2000-2001

  • The first version of the curriculum was developed