This course covers most important aspects involved in the creation of simple Web sites. Some more advanced techniques are not included.
The course includes only a small amount of technical information - students are expected to learn HTML on their own, or use a visual editor that reduces the need for it.
Design skills
The course covers:
- Content (selecting appropriate content for a site)
- Organisation (organising content into a logical structure)
- Navigation (providing controls and displays so users can find their way around the site)
- Text (writing for the Web)
- Graphic design (the basics; text layout, fonts, colour)
- Usability (making sure the site is easy to use)
- Evaluation (checking your site is up to scratch)
By the end of the course, students should hopefully have a basic understanding of all these topics, and the ability to intelligently criticise Web sites based on the topics.
During the course, I'll give references to further articles on those topics.
The most glaring omission is any discussion of dynamic (database-driven) Web sites; these are not covered because most people on the class will not have the facilities or skills required to create such sites. Of course, all the design skills above apply to dynamic sites as well as static ones.
Technical skills
This course does not cover the HTML language used in creating Web sites beyond a very brief overview.
Students may either learn HTML from tutorials on the Web or from books (it is not a programming language and is relatively easy to learn), or may skip it altogether and use a visual editor.
Nearly any visual editor will allow you to create basic, functional Web sites.
- Microsoft FrontPage (the 2000 version or later) is of acceptable quality if you are careful not to use gimmicky features like animated text
- Macromedia Dreamweaver, which is more expensive, is the industry standard tool for professionals who prefer visual editors
- If you want a free visual editor, Microsoft have one called 'FrontPage Express' and Netscape have 'Composer' which is integrated with their Netscape 6.0 browser. (The version of Composer with older Netscape browsers produced poor HTML and is best avoided if possible.) Neither of these are great, but they mostly do the job.
You could also use a text editor that requires you to enter HTML code, but includes convenience features such as built-in reference guides and source colouring so that your code is easier to read. The industry standard here is Homesite (which comes as part of Dreamweaver) and there is a free program called First Page 2000 which is extremely similar although somewhat flawed in certain areas. Of course, there's always Notepad.
If you want to achieve real excellence in Web design you will need to learn HTML (and probably the 'CSS' language for adding visual style to pages) - even if you intend to use a visual editor, it is necessary to learn HTML to understand its output, correct its flaws, and ensure you know what the page will look like on all systems. (The best Web professionals are split - most use a visual editor for some tasks and tweak the code as necessary, but some prefer to hand-code everything.) However, you can apply most of the principles in this course without understanding HTML, and still create good quality sites.
