Web Technologies Courses

This course will introduce students to Web Design using HTML 5, the UTF-8 character set, and the basics of Cascading Style Sheets. Students will learn to manually code Web pages and style them with CSS. Students will learn to analyze commercial websites in order to gain insight into the design and storyboarding of their own pages. The course will also deal with publishing, marketing, and maintaining an Internet or intranet site. This course is offered entirely on the Internet. Students must have access to the Internet, a personal e-mail account, and a PC Pentium/Dual Core or Macintosh PPC/Intel with 1gb or more of RAM. Also required is an FTP Client for PC or Macintosh. Links to available FTP software will be provided from within the course documentation.

Prerequisite: Computer keyboard experience; Familiarity with the World Wide Web; Ability to download, install, and maintain the necessary software; Ability to use e-mail (including attachments).

Special system, software, and textbook requirements: Notepad++ HTML editor (PC) or Komodo Edit HTML editor (Macintosh) and the browsers Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Google Chrome.

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Register for MDIA 1205.

The MDIA 1206 course (Weaving the Web with Dreamweaver) is being discontinued as of Fall, 2011. The reasons for this decision are many but the most significant is that industry demand for Dreamweaver training and experience is declining, and the preference is to hire those skilled at hand coding without any dependence on the WYSIWYG tools. For example, only 5% of recent Web design postings mention Dreamweaver as a requirement. We therefore point you to MDIA 1205 which is being completely re-designed to meet these needs. MDIA 1205 uses open-source (free) software designed for manual coding (but with the use of coding assistance tools).

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This course is an extension of MDIA 1205. It introduces the more advanced XHTML functions involved in creating interactive forms using CGI, an introduction to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). See MDIA 1205 for technical requirements.

Prerequisite: MDIA 1205 or equivalent.

Special system, software, and textbook requirements: None

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Register for MDIA 2205.

This course is a continuation of the CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) concepts introduced in MDIA 1205 and MDIA 2205. MDIA 3201 will begin with a review of the basic concepts and then move into more complex topics. Page layout, CSS menus, styling data-tables and forms will be covered. Advanced topics will be covered in a subsequent course.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None.

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Register for MDIA 3201.

This course provides a basic introduction to the Adobe Photoshop interface and tools. Topics covered will include the basics of colour and images; painting and editing tools; making selections; using layers; working with type, using paths, channels and masks; correcting digital colour; and using filters. Also covered, image file formats, creating low bandwidth graphics, using colour, browser-safe colours, imaging transparency, creating graphical navigation tools, scanning techniques, creating small animations, image mapping, and graphical layout as well as alignment. The course will end with the process of optimizing images for delivery on the Internet.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: Adobe Photoshop;
Text: Robert Shufflebotham. Photoshop in Easy Steps (Barnes & Noble)

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Register for MDIA 3203.

This course deals with the procedures and processes involved in publishing audio and video material on the Internet, including audio file formats, audio sample rates, audio resolution, audio compression, video file formats, and video compression. Students must have access to hardware capable of digitizing sound as well as an audio digitizing software package such as Audacity, SoundForge (for the PC), or BAIS Peak or Amadeus II (for the Macintosh), and QuickTime Pro and Real Producer (free). Assignments will not require the digitization of video.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: Audio digitizing software such as Audacity, for the PC — SoundForge (Sound Forge Audio Studio — the "lite" version Sound Forge — is sufficient for this course) or — for the Macintosh BIAS Peak (Bias Peak Audio studio is sufficient for this course) . The Mac shareware software Amadeus II is also useful for this course. Some audio software must include QuickTime Pro and/or Real Producer (free) for digitizing.

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Register for MDIA 3206.

This course concentrates on using and modifying commercial and/or freeware JavaScript routines to enhance the content of Web pages. To fully understand how JavaScript scripts work and how they may be modified, students will be asked to create short JavaScript routines using manual coding.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205, or equivalent.

Textbook: Mike McGrath, JavaScript in Easy Steps, Fourth Edition (Easy Steps).

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Register for MDIA 3207.

MDIA 3208 uses 50 custom made video tutorials to teach you all of the techniques for creating professional level Flash animations. From working with vectors and the Flash drawing tools, to movie clips, Inverse Kinematics, and even some basic Actions, we cover everything you need to create dynamic animated content for your Website.

Prerequisites: None.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: Text: Flash for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickStart Guide (Peachpit Press)

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Register for MDIA 3208.

This course is the culmination of the Associate Certificate program. As a major task in this course, learners will be encouraged to locate a volunteer organization desiring a website or use some organization or business with which they are closely associated. Topics for this course will include: storyboarding a client site (including locating clients), costing and contracting issues (including client consultation, and services and fees), setting up a company in British Columbia, creating a business plan), developing a strategic marketing plan (including demographic research, targeting your population, using the print media, search service submissions, banner advertising and banner exchanges, trade links, and cross-linking, and Internet malls and portals), designing a client site (including creating a domain name for the client, mounting the site using a commercial ISP, and registering the site with search services), and site maintenance and related topics. In addition to locating the client, other tasks will include designing and storyboarding the site in consultation with the client, articulating the content of the site as dictated by the client.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None

View the Course Outline (Adobe Reader required).

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Register for MDIA 4207.

This course will deal with three broad design areas: website usability, website accessibility (for those with physical disabilities), and collaborative Web design. The course will also cover the theories behind design, navigation, layout, and the effective use of colour. The assignments will be specifically designed to simulate situations learners will encounter in the working world, both in a designer/client relationship and working collaboratively as part of a design team. By the end of the course, learners will have the tools to turn your sites into functional works of art that also meet all of the current design guidelines for usability and accessibility.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None

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Register for MDIA 4303.

This course will focus on advanced Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) techniques and will build upon the skills learned in MDIA 3201. In this course we will cover advanced page layout functions, floats, how to apply curves to box corners, learning the shorthand properties to minimize your CSS file length, how to deal with browser bugs and designing for a variety of media types.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205 and 3201, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None

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Contact an advisor.

Register for MDIA 4304.

This is an introduction to using XML (EXtensible Markup Language) to enhance Web page design and for e-commerce applications. Topics will include the structuring an XML document, transforming an XML document into XHTML using XSL (EXtensible Stylesheet Language), and creating a DTD (Document Type Definition) to define the elements and attributes which are valid in a XML document. The course will include an introduction to using XML in a Web publishing environment.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205 or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None

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Register for MDIA 4305.

This is an introduction to using the jQuery JavaScript library which will help students write JavaScript in a simplified, concise and elegant manner. Topics will include navigating and selecting DOM (Document Object Model) elements on a web page, handling events and event binding, creating simple visual effects including animation, and creating simple jQuery widgets such as dialogs and tabs.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205 and 2205 or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None

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Register for MDIA 4307.

This course is designed to build on the skills learned in the introductory Flash course to help students make their Flash animations more interesting and interactive. Topics for this course include: controlling multiple timelines, changing movie clip properties, variables, conditional statements, preloaders, draggable objects, controlling the mouse, and Flash in HTML. By the end of the course students will be able to make fully interactive Flash movies and incorporate them into their HTML to bring their sites to the next level.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205, 2205 and 3208, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: None

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Contact an advisor.

Register for MDIA 4310.

This course begins with an overview of the basic and advanced CSS functions necessary for writing DHTML and AJAX scripts. Other topics include DHTML basics, the DHTML environment, using objects and events, integrating dynamic CSS with DHTML, AJAX basics, and using CSS, DHTML and AJAX for page layout, content, navigation, and page controls.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205, 3201, 3207, and 4305, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and texbook requirements: Text: CSS, DHTML & Ajax, Jason Cranford Teague, Peachpit Press.

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Register for MDIA 4321.

This course will introduce you to the fundamentals of creating dynamic, interactive Web pages using PHP (Hypertext Pre-Processor) technology. Topics will include: an introduction to PHP, using variables, HTML forms and PHP, doing math in PHP, using strings, basic control structures, using arrays, employing regular expressions, creating functions, working with files and directories, using databases in PHP, employing cookies, creating Web applications, and debugging PHP scripts. As part of the requirements you will set up a PHP server (the software is free) on your own PC or Macintosh (OS X only) in order to test your code.

Prerequisites: MDIA 1205, 2205 and 3207, or equivalent.

Special system, software, and textbook requirements: You must have a server such as PWS (Personal Web Server) or IIS (Internet Information Server) or Apache server installed on your system; PHP server software (free); and MYSQL database software (free).
Textbook: Larry Ullman. PHP For the World Wide Web (Peachpit Press)

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Register for MDIA 4325.

This course is the culmination of the Certificate in Web Technologies. The main goal of this course is to draw together all of the knowledge and skills that you have acquired in the Associate Certificate and Certificate programs and present them in terms of a personal online portfolio. You should consider this course in the same class as a visual artist's design portfolio. There will be 10 assignments (portfolio pages) and each assignment should focus on a specific skill or technique, although you will also want to include other design elements to create a well-balanced page. You should approach this course in terms of creating a marketing tool you can use demonstrate your background and skillset to prospective clients. There will be no notes for this course but you may feel free to draw upon the expertise of our entire team of instructors for assistance. Assignments for this course will be assessed by a minimum of 3 instructors from the Web Technologies program. The instructors chosen to do the assessment will be selected based upon the special skills/techniques selected for each assignment submission.

Prerequisites: All courses in the associate and full certificate programs or equivalent.

Special system, software, and textbook requirements: None

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Contact an advisor.

Register for MDIA 4345.