1. Course syllabus
The first six weeks of this course is called the Web Design Core. Everyone enrolled on Web Design follows this part of the course. It covers:
The remaining weeks are taken up by an option - see the handout.
We will learn how to code web pages using their "language", HTML. (We will not use HTML generator packages like Dreamweaver or Front Page.)
Unlike many web design courses, though, this one also includes a lot of background information. As well as learning about the code you will also learn something about the history of the Web, principles of graphic design, what makes for good images, how to structure your web site depending on what it is being used for, and so on.
In short we will look at the why of web design as well as the how.
For all course administrative info - timetable, list of available options, assessment, and more - READ THE HANDOUT, PARTS 1 AND 2.
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2. Why learn web design?
In the last ten years - and particularly between about 1997-1999 - the World Wide Web ("Web" or "WWW") has been hyped to an extreme degree. Almost every business now has some sort of web presence, large or small. You can order your shopping online, run political campaigns with little more than a web site, arrange a holiday, find out the football scores: almost anything. Along with e-mail, the WWW is the "everyday" way in which people use the Internet.
The Internet is the prime mover behind the new "information society". This term is not accepted by everyone but it is clear we have a different relationship to information than generations past. It is now much easier to access and produce.
Fifty or even twenty years ago if you wanted to communicate with large numbers of people this was difficult and/or expensive. You needed access to a publisher or broadcaster. They had to agree that you were worth their while, which usually meant that your work had some kind of commercial value. You needed to employ technicians, printers, editors and so on.
With the WWW these things no longer apply. By learning only a few skills - and they are relatively simple - you can potentially reach a global audience.
This does mean there is a lot of rubbish on the WWW! But as said in the first column this course aims to teach you how to write quality material for the WWW, not just to add to the rubbish.
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