Advanced Web Interfaces with CSS3 and HTML5  Short Courses

This course is intended to fast-track learners with a basic practical knowledge of CSS and confident grasp of (X)HTML to a foundation professional standard of CSS. Learners will get a thorough grounding in CSS theory combined with practical strategies for turning graphical mockups and textual content into functioning CSS-styled websites. Emphasis will be given on techniques that make sites accessible to users and search engines alike. A variety of common layout issues and code patterns will be covered, and where CSS3 techniques are becoming mainstream these will be included in the discussion.

This course will involve hand coding and is not a taught Dreamweaver / WYSIWYG course, so good keyboard skills are essential

Course Information

Start DateStart TimeDurationCostCourse CodeApply
Monday 1 October 2012 18:30 - 20:30 10 weeks £420.00 CE2604 Enrollment Closed
Monday 21 January 2013 18:30 - 20:30 10 weeks £420.00 CE2604 Enrollment Closed
Monday 29 April 2013 18:30 - 20:30 10 weeks £420.00 CE2604 Apply Now

Tutor Info

Sonya Smith got hooked on CSS and web standards before they were mainstream. She then spent several years honing her frontend skills hand-coding websites and blogs for SMEs using clean, cross-browser, accessible code. What she loves about CSS is there's always something new to learn.

Eligibility

This is aimed at students with a basic practical experience with CSS - perhaps you've already completed our Web Authoring short course, or have built one or two simple sites using CSS. You MUST, however, have a confident grasp of XHTML. Good keyboard skills are essential: this is not a taught Dreamweaver / WYSIWYG course and work will be hand-coded.

English Requirements

Applicants must be proficient in written and spoken English

What will I learn?

  • Fundamental concepts:
    The cascade, inheritance, specificity. CSS selectors, the Box Model, block vs inline elements, floats, positioning, layout.
  • Stylesheets:
    Types of stylesheet (inline, embedded, linked, user, browser), CSS resets. Organising your stylesheet, Naming conventions, managing multiple stylesheets.
  • Web standards:
    Importance of semantic markup, validation, accessibility.
  • Browsers:
    Browser landscape, standards compliance, doctypes, rendering modes, cross browser testing & tools. Browser bugs & workarounds.
  • Graphics & text:
    Colour & colour models, backgrounds, image sprites, transparency, typography, web fonts, print stylsheets, media queries. CSS3 transforms, animation, backgrounds & drop-shadows.
  • Practical css:
    Styling common elements e.g. lists, navigation, forms, tables, photo galleries. Layouts: columnar layouts, fixed, fluid, & elastic layouts, grids.
  • Implementing designs:
    Design decisions for the web, markup strategies, from mockup to functioning web page, progressive enhancement, source order, accessibility & SEO considerations.
By the end of the course you should be able to
  • understand how CSS works, and what makes it break
  • translate graphical mockups into websites
  • code using best practises that benefit accessibility and SEO
  • avoid common design pitfalls
  • code functioning websites by hand, without reliance on WYSIWYG tools

Teaching and Assessment

Lessons will consiste of theory followed by real-world problems for you to solve in class, followed by class discussions. Self-assessment quizzes will also be available for you to take at your own pace.

Leads To...

Web Programming using PHP/MySQL Part 1

Career Outcome

Would be useful to:

  • front-end engineer or designer
  • designer/developer
  • UI or app designer
  • web editor
  • web project manager
  • small web business owner

Application Deadline: