Advanced Web Site Design Course (Maestro)

The course consists of 10 individual lessons, which are designed to gradually build up and strengthen your technical knowledge base. Throughout the lessons, interactive exercises have been specially designed to support the student’s learning effort, and multiple-choice quizzes at the end of each lesson serve to ensure a thorough understanding of the course content.

During the training programme, the student is guided through the design and development of a fully-functional website incorporating HTML, JavaScript and Dynamic HTML, and students are encouraged to use their own creativity throughout.

The course consists of the following Units:

Ø  Induction:  Introduction to WEBM@ESTRO™

The following topics are covered by this Unit: Getting Started; Health and Safety considerations; Course content Unit-by-Unit and training tips; Navigating through the training programme; Technical support help desk; and Qualifications explained.
 

Ø  Unit 1:  An Introduction to JavaScript

This Unit provides you with a background to JavaScript and general programming techniques. By the end of the Unit, you will be able to write your own basic scripts that incorporate event handlers. The following topics are covered in this Unit: A background to JavaScript; An overview to JavaScript; Creating your first script; An introduction to event handlers; Using browsers and compatibility problems; Programming tips; and Assignment 1: Using event handlers.

Ø  Unit 2:  JavaScript Programming Basics

During this Unit, you will become familiar with the construction of JavaScript components, such as variables, operators and statements. The Unit extends to looking at storing and using data for calculations and basic string manipulation, and provides the fundamentals of JavaScript which will be built upon throughout the remainder of the course. The following topics are covered in this Unit: Using variables, operators, strings (concatenating strings); statements; Using numerical data for basic calculations; Using Strings; An introduction to functions; Storing data using Arrays; and Assignment 2: Exercises based on theory discussed.

Ø  Unit 3 Decision-Making Using JavaScript

This Unit builds upon Unit 2, in which the student will focus on using logic and decision-making to make certain events happen; the student will be introduced to such techniques. The following topics are included: An introduction to decision making; Using looping statements; An overview of common mistakes and errors; and Assignment 3: Exercises using looping statements.

Ø  Unit 4:  JavaScript as an Object-Oriented Language

In this Unit you will combine all of the previously discussed issues to create and utilise objects. You will have already used a number of JavaScript objects; however, in this Unit we look at JavaScript's built-in objects. The following topics are covered by this Unit: An introduction to JavaScript objects; Creating & using JavaScript objects; JavaScript built-In objects, properties and methods (the string object, the array object, the math object and the date and time object); and Assignment 4: Building a calculator.

Ø  Unit 5:  Using JavaScript within your Website

Now that you have looked at JavaScript as an object-based programming language, you can incorporate the theory learnt so far, to develop some truly JavaScript dependent web pages. We have seen that JavaScript is an object-based language, with its own built-in objects; however, the browser is also made up of objects. The following topics are covered: The document object model; Window and document objects; Form objects; Working with windows and frames; and Assignment 5: The Health insurance questionnaire.

Ø  Unit 6:  Using Cookies to Store Information

To support the concept of using JavaScript to enhance websites and user interactivity, this Unit introduces you to cookies, which refer to the   information a web server gives to your browser when first accessed and then shared on each return. The following topics are covered: A background to cookies; Creating and reading cookies; Using cookies for specific applications; and Assignment 6: Create an on-line store using cookies.

Ø  Unit 7:  Adding Style to your Web Pages

Early implementation of the HTML/XHTML specifications have been significantly extended to allow today's new breed of web designers to become more creative in their use of HTML. This Unit demonstrates how you can use standard HTML/XHTML tags to implement stunning special effects without the need for complicated scripting or programming. The following topics are covered by this Unit: Background to Cascading Style Sheets; How Cascading Style Sheets work; Implementing Style Sheets; and Assignment 7 –Adding special effects to your pages.

Ø  Unit 8:  Dynamic HTML

In this Unit, we will be looking at the concept of DHTML, a technique to enable designers to create interactive web pages that can be dynamically changed in real time. The following topics are covered by this Unit: How DHTML works; Implementing DHTML; and Assignment 8: Creating drag and drop elements.

Ø  Unit 9:  Building Data Aware Websites

In this Unit, we will be looking at the technology used to incorporate external applications into our web pages, for example, textual data, sound and visual imagery. The Unit covers the following topics: Microsoft's ActiveX technology explained; Incorporating textual data into your web pages using notepad; Incorporating audio into your web pages; Incorporating animation into your web page; and Assignment 9: Building a data-aware application.

Ø  Unit 10:  Final Course Assignment

This final Unit will bring together all the information and techniques discussed throughout the course as well as offering tutorials on using Dreamweaver CS3; Paint Shop Pro; Uploading your website; and Search engine submission. Assignment 10: Design your own fully-functional website.

The WEBM@STER™ course comes with a comprehensive software Library, which includes trial/freeware versions of the following software: Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks & PhotoShop CS3, Paint Shop Pro, Gif Construction Set, MapEdit, WinZip 11, Shop Factory Pro, Cute FTP and Colour Picker 1.9.

Pre-Requirements:

There are no particular entry requirements.

Course Duration & Support:

Students may register at any time and we do not impose any set completion time, although we recommend completing study within a 12 month period. You also have access to a personal tutor by mail or email. As the course is self study you can complete in as little or as long a time as you prefer.

Assessment:

You will be assessed on coursework which is detailed in the course materials. The coursework consists of individual web pages and a complete final website. Your work can be sent back to your course tutor by email or by post.

The award is gained from your successfully completed coursework so there is no exam to complete.

On successful completion of this course, students will be awarded the OCN Level 3 Web Design & Construction Award.

This is a Level 3 Award (Comparable to working at A Level or NVQ Level 3) and has 9 OCN credits. OCN Credits can be accumulated with other course or unit credits over a period of time which can lead to an accredited qualification.