Web Design and Development

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is used to render all web applications from the simplest to the most complex. Web development tools such as Dreamweaver and FrontPage allow users to design a web page visually and then convert the design into HTML statements. While an entire web page can be designed this way, situations that require customization or special functionality usually require the developer to work directly with individual HTML statements. So, it is important to know how HTML works. This course introduces HTML "building blocks" and allows participants to build a website step-by-step.

JavaScript is a programming language that allows you to add a significant amount of functionality to what would otherwise be a static web page. You'll learn the fundamentals of event-driven programming, how to implement loops and control structures, and how to add compelling interactive features to your web pages.

Attractive graphics can make a web page come alive as well as be more intuitive for your site's visitors. You'll learn how to create and edit customized images for use in web pages as well as how to create image rollovers and other features. You'll explore color theory, bandwidth considerations, and intelligent image utilization. The software for this course is Adobe Photoshop, the industry standard for image editing. You'll also work with a variety of image utilities available on the web. (You must have access to Adobe Photoshop in order to complete this course).

People today rely on the web for many different kinds of information including bank statements, airline schedules, product information, and so much more. Consequently, it is important to present your web content in a clear, compelling, and meaningful manner so that your website visitors can find what they need quickly. This course shows you how to combine your web content with effective design principles to achieve page layouts that are appropriate for the type of content being presented and that ensure your website visitors have a positive experience. Students will have the opportunity to create several web pages and receive feedback from the instructor.

Basic websites are useful for displaying information, photographs, and other visual content. However, if you want to process forms for taking customer orders, maintain a guestbook of visitors to your site, or interact with data in an online database, you need to do some data processing on the server. This is where the common gateway interface (CGI) comes in. CGI is a standard protocol for connecting a web server with an external application. A client web browser can send requests to a web server and the external application then processes those requests. The application might return data, which are then sent back to the client browser as HTML code. This course introduces you to Perl, a popular scripting language for CGI applications. You'll build a simple order form, guestbook, and other applications.

Dynamic Hypertext Markup Language (DHTML) is an extension to "standard" HTML that allows you to add dynamic effects to your web pages. These effects include buttons and hyperlinks that change their appearance on mouseovers, layers that appear and disappear depending on mouse or keystroke actions, animations, and other types of programmable functionality. You'll learn basic DHTML concepts and explore each DHTML component in detail. You'll then learn how to create a variety of DHTML effects such as keystroke and event captures, drag-and-drop effects, and much more.

Flash™ is part of Adobe Systems' suite of creative digital media products and an ubiquitous presence on the world's personal computes. It allows you to create high-impact, rich web content for display on virtually any computer regardless of the browser of platform being used. This course introduces Flash™ design and shows you how to include Flash objects on your web pages. You'll learn how to make your web designs even more compelling with moving images and other dynamic effects.