Learning Web Design

Do you have an interest in learning web design? Maybe you have a blog or MySpace page and want to dress it up a bit, or maybe you have an idea for an online venture and want to build a web presence. If you want to do more on the web, a basic knowledge of web design can help you. But where do you start?

At some point you will really want to learn HTML - the language of the web. Even if you use tools like Dreamweaver or create all your text using online editors like the ones found in Blogger or MySpace, they will allow you to view the HTML code behind your content. Understanding this code can allow you to fix problems or do things the online editors may not have buttons for. We have two HTML courses. The HTML Jumpstart will give you a good quick introduction to HTML. The HTML/XHTML Introduction goes more deeply into creating web pages with HTML. This is a good place to start if you plan to make a career out of web design.

In addition to HTML you will want to learn Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) - the language of web page formatting. Understanding CSS is the secret to getting your web pages to look the way you want. We offer two CSS courses. The Cool Web Pages with CSS and Layers will give you a quick introduction to basic CSS formatting. If you plan to use tools like Dreamweaver, this course will help you to understand the CSS formatting Dreamweaver uses better. The Designing Web Sites with CSS will go through CSS more thoroughly and give you a good understanding of how to do some of the cool stuff you see.

At some point you will want to decide on a web design tool. There are a few available and they all do similar things. The big thing these web design tools offer is the ability to manage web sites. If you are just creating web pages, knowledge of HTML and CSS and a basic HTML editor will be all you need. We offer classes in these web design tools:

Adobe Dreamweaver
Microsoft Expression Web
Adobe GoLive

These tools provide a GUI interface and buttons for formatting similar to what you would find in a word processor. They can be used to build basic web sites and manage your sites through templates and file management.

This will get you started with learning web design, but it is just a starting point. We discuss in a future post paths you can take from here to expand on your web design knowledge.

posted by Teacher-Mom @ 2:49 PM