Omniversity of Manchester

Course times: 6pm - 9pm each Monday evening.

Web Design Foundations 4: Advanced CSS and HTML topics

Advanced CSS and HTML topics takes HTML and CSS further. We're looking at a range of subjects including multi-column layouts, cross-browser issues, CSS sprites, faux columns, optimizing layouts for different devices such as mobile phones, CSS3 transitions, transforms and animation - and more.

One of the key areas we're looking at is the exciting area of HTML5. It has new elements like 

What you need to be familiar with

The Web Design Foundations course assumes no knowledge beyond basic competency with computers and a familiarity with using the web, so it is suitable for beginners. If you want to start the course part-way through however, you should understand the contents of the previous sessions first.

If you are a complete novice, please look into Web Design Foundations 1: Introduction to the Web, and web design or Web Design Foundation 2: HTML Basics or Web Design Foundation 3: CSS Basics

The course is also suitable for those with previous web development experience who want to update their skillset to modern best practices.

Equipment you’ll need

• Yourself. Refreshments will be provided.
• A laptop of some kind. Mac, Windows or Linux is fine.
• A decent text editor - this is all you need to build web pages. We'd recommend:
  • Windows: Notepad++ (free), EditPad Lite (free)
  • Mac: Text Wrangler (free), Textmate (£), Coda (££), Expresso (££)
  • Linux: Bluefish, KompoZer (all free, of course)

Note: You can use an expensive web creator tool like Dreamweaver, should you have one installed. But expect to use it to edit code, not drag and drop.

• A graphics package: we will be talking a little bit about graphics for the web, as far as different formats, and resizing images. It would make sense for you to have a graphics package available. We'd recommend:
  • Windows: IrfanView (free), GIMP (free), Fireworks (£££)
  • Mac: GIMP (free), ImageMagick (free), Fireworks (£££)
  • Linux: GIMP (free), ImageMagick (free)
• The latest available web browsers (all free). We'd recommend:
  • Windows: Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox, Chrome
  • Mac: Opera, Safari, Firefox, Chrome
  • Linux: Opera, Firefox, Chrome
• An FTP program, which is used to upload your web page files up to the web, so they can then be viewed by others on the web. We'd recommend:
  • Windows: Filezilla (free)
  • Mac: Cyberduck (free)
  • Linux: Filezilla (free)

Costs and times

The course costs £100 and consists of two workshops, each lasting three hours, taking place on Monday evenings.

Suggested preparatory work

• Install the software described above on your laptop
• Bring some text and images you’d like to put on a web page. It could be your CV, a short story you’ve written, information on your favourite band, pictures of your family or your favourite band, etc.
• Start reading up on web development. A good place to start for beginners is the Opera web standards curriculum

Learning outcomes

• An understanding of several CSS3 features
• An understanding of HTML5 Semantics, video and forms
• A thirst to explore further, and experiment with modern technologies

Web Design Foundations is a four-part modular course aimed at anyone who wants to learn about how the web works from the very basic beginnings and be taken step by step, in a friendly informal style, up to the point where they know how to build a basic modern best practices web site and put it online. This includes a bit of theory, but it largely focuses on getting your hands dirty with code (such as HTML and CSS), and learning how it REALLY works.

Further information
Course syllabus for Web Design Foundations 4 : Advanced HTML and CSS Basics