Web Design Units
27 units teaching HTML, CSS, and JavaScript through Native history, Tribal sovereignty, and community. Every project you build is a real website. Every lesson is grounded in who you are. Units 1–3 are free, no signup required.
Build your first website while learning about the sovereign Tribal nations of Minnesota, South Dakota, and North Dakota.
Create your digital identity profile using CSS basics to express yourself and your cultural background.
Start Unit →Build a digital newspaper featuring Native stories while learning layout fundamentals and CSS styling.
Start Unit →Build an interactive calendar with CSS Grid showing traditional celebrations and seasonal activities.
Create multi-page sites with navigation, exploring how ancestors gathered food and lived with the seasons.
Learn image integration and visual design while exploring Dakota and Anishinaabe land relationships.
Integrate audio elements for language pronunciation while learning about Dakota and Ojibwe revitalization.
Create geometric designs with advanced CSS inspired by beadwork patterns and traditional arts.
Build recipe submission forms while exploring food sovereignty and traditional agriculture.
Build a powwow regalia showcase with clickable dancer cards, a fullscreen modal viewer, and a responsive grid. Introduces JavaScript data objects, querySelectorAll, forEach loops, and media queries.
A step-by-step guide to creating a GitHub account, uploading your files, and enabling GitHub Pages to put your site on the internet for free. Every web developer needs these skills.
Build an archival research website documenting the Treaty-Making Era of federal Indian policy. Introduces CSS 3D flip cards using perspective, transform-style: preserve-3d, and backface-visibility.
Build a research website documenting the Removal Era, the Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and connections to the Northern Plains. Introduces CSS accordions using max-height transitions and JavaScript classList.toggle.
Build a research website documenting treaty violations, resistance leaders, and the Standing Bear ruling. Introduces editorial pull quotes using the CSS ::before pseudo-element.
Build a research website documenting the Dawes Act, forced boarding schools, and land loss across the Northern Plains. Introduces large-number stat callouts as a design pattern for communicating historical scale.
Build a research website documenting the Indian Reorganization Act, Tribal constitutions, and land restoration. Introduces tabbed interfaces using JavaScript data attributes and classList toggling.
Build a research website documenting HCR 108, federal termination policy, relocation programs, and the resistance that produced AIM. Introduces the IntersectionObserver API for scroll-triggered animations.
Build a research website documenting the laws and court cases that restored Tribal sovereignty, from PL 93-638 through NAGPRA. Introduces filterable content using filter buttons, querySelectorAll, and style.display toggling.
Build a research website documenting five pillars of Tribal nation-building and the McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling. Introduces CSS scroll-snap for full-viewport panel navigation and scroll-driven animation.
Assemble all eight era research sites into one multi-page publication with unified navigation and a series homepage. Introduces design tokens, mobile-first CSS, clamp() fluid typography, and grid-template-areas.
Design a museum-style website showcasing past and present Native artists. The first fully student-directed design project: students choose their own color palette, typography, and visual identity.
Design an event website for a powwow with a schedule, performer listings, and a live countdown timer. Teaches event and poster design, multi-day tab navigation, and the JavaScript Date object.
Design an editorial website celebrating Native authors and their work. Teaches literary and typographic design and a JavaScript-filtered reading list organized by genre and era.
Design a brand and menu site for a Native-owned restaurant or café. Teaches hospitality design, image-heavy layouts, and the visual identity work that makes a brand feel warm and distinctive.
Design an interactive language learning site with vocabulary cards, audio, and progress tracking. Introduces the Web Speech API and localStorage, the first time student data is saved between sessions.
Design a persuasive campaign website pitching a solution to a real community problem. Teaches advocacy design, scroll-triggered stat counters, and the call-to-action hierarchy that moves a reader toward action.
Assemble all your design projects into a professional portfolio with case study pages and a personal bio. Introduces light/dark mode using CSS custom properties and JavaScript, the final deliverable you take into internship and job applications.