Welcome class of 2007!

Welcome to all the new (and old!) web design students for 2007!

Our first day will be a fusion of introductions, fun get-to-know-you-type activities and informative stuff about the Websites course (timetables, how the course is structured etc), but I hope that by 3pm we'll be getting our hands dirty with some HTML coding!

As far as the technical side of Web Design/Devolopment goes (that's the area of the course that I'm responsible for) I usually find that people start with quite a variety of web skills. Some people start the course having never coded HTML at all (Great! You're in the right place!), whereas others come in having done quite a bit of technical web development and are keen to have their skills recognised by a qualification... and there's a broad spectrum of people in between too! Which of the following groups do you relate to the most?

• I'm starting from scratch: I've barely touched HTML before (if at all) and don't really know how to use cascading style sheets... If this is you, then a great place to start is the activity What is Markup anyway? and then HTML Challenge 1 (just the first one!)
  
• I know my way around HTML and CSS, I know what CSS classes are, and can do a few tricks with Javascript. If this is you, then it's still worth reading over What is Markup anyway? but you might choose to skip the exercises. Jump straight in with some CSS challenges (perhaps 1-3) and recap some of the more advance features of HTML and CSS using HTML Dog's advanced tutorials. You might also like to read through If only I'd known (tips for a new website) and see which tips you may not have seen before.
  
• I'm very confident with my HTML and CSS skills, I've done quite a bit of Javascript and I've learned some PHP (or other server-side scripting language) already. I'd like to get recognition for the skills I've got and just fill in the gaps for the qualification. If this is you, then start by flicking through If only I'd known (tips for a new website) - this'll be a quick identify any gaps in your HTML/CSS skills (and maybe pick up one or two tips that you didn't know). Take some time to get an overview of the whole Cert IV Websites qualification and start getting familiar with the exact requirements for the first few units (HTML, CSS and FTP) (Yes, the qualification page on Wikiversity is currently a work in progress). I'll provide you with your first unit guide and you can start gathering your evidence to demonstrate your skills for that unit! In the mean time, you might want to flex your skills on the Javascript Challenges, PHP Challenges or XML challenges.
  

Hopefully you can identify with one of the above groups and get started with some activities that suit your needs. The first week or two will be a little hectic, as I try to find out exactly where everyones skills are, but soon enough we'll all be working towards short-term (1-2 week) targets for our first learning agreements!