Certificate In Web Site Development

Modules

Note that each module in the Certificate In Web Site Development is a short course in its own right, and may be studied separately.

CONTENT of MODULES

Here is an indication of lessons you will find in some of the modules:

Writing a Web Site (HTML)

1. Introduction to the Internet and HTML
2. The most important HTML Tags
3. Simplification through HTML Construction Software
4. Creating Links
5. Loading a Site onto the Internet
6. Adding Graphics
7. Designing a Web Site that Works
8. Advanced Features

E Commerce

1. Introduction - what is e-commerce (more than the internet)
2. Success and failure - what makes the difference
3. Promotional strategies - are different on the internet
4. Optimizing web site potential
5. Increasing web site exposure
6. Automating supply of goods, services and cash flow
7. Managing constant change
8. Dealing with e-commerce problems

Digital Photography

1. Introduction To Digital Technology
2. Equipment
3. Digital Technology - Colour, resolution, sensors
4. Digital Cameras
5. Taking Photographs
6. Scanners
7. Uploading Images
8. The Digital Darkroom
9. Compositing & Imaging - Production & manipulation of images
10. Special Effects
11. Outputs & Applications- Printers, The Internet

Flash Programming

Comprehensive module on Flash. This course will take you from the very basics of flash right up to developing interactive multimedia web solutions.

There are twelve lessons in total, as outlined below:

1. Introduction to Flash
2. Using the Flash MX editor
3. Drawing and colour
4. Working with objects & symbols
5. Working with text
6. Working with graphics
7. Animation
8. Actionscript
9. Using audio in your movies
10. Using video in your movies
11. Components
12. Publishing
    

ASP.NET

A comprehensive introduction to ASP.NET for students wishing to further develop their understanding of, and ability to creatively use the internet. By the end of this module, the student should be able to easily understand all the major aspects of ASP.NET and use it to produce their own web applications. There are 11 lessons as follows:

1. Introduction
2. VB.NET Essentials
3. Web Forms
4. Web Server Controls
5. Form Validation
6. Classes and Namespaces
7. Creating ASP.NET Applications
8. ADO.NET
9. Error Handling
10. Email from your Applications
11. Project: Creating an Online Store

Visual Basic.NET

1. Introduction
2. Variables
3. Understanding conditional statements
4. I/O handling
5. Controls and Objects – An Introduction
6. Structured Programming using Modules
7. Properties, methods, events & classes
8. Inheritance
9. Polymorphism
10. Using controls
11. Debugging
12. Developing a complete VB.NET application

Tips for Getting Work

• Success in Web Development doesn't come from getting a qualification!
  • Many of the most successful web developers do not hold university degrees
  • Many I.T. degree graduates have tried and failed to develop a successful career in web development
• Success comes from what you learn, not what you qualify in
• Successful web developers need to be prepared to start at the bottom, take work wherever they can find it (even if pay is poor) and build a career from the ground up
• Few developers ever earn big money working for someone else. If you want a big income; you probably need to be self employed
• If you are going to be self employed; you need to learn business skills, develop a capacity to find clients and sell your services, and above all, have the right attitude and persistance to develop a business
• Make sure you learn the type of programming that is in demand; and that you are prepared to keep learning and staying up to date as your career rolls on.

Tips for Making Web Sites Successful

The things you need to do keep changing, there are some hints below. If you really want to learn though, you need to do a course like this certificate with an institution like ours that knows how to get the runs on the board.

1. Main Page Content should contain lots of “appropriate” searchable words. We have added varied lists of courses to the bottom of several sites which greatly increases words that can be searched on the main page. It is not as simple as copying our lists though –search engines would simply recognize these as a copy. If you add lists, they need to be synonymous but different words.

2. Proliferate the use of important Key Words. –Make a list of words that people use when they search for a course or distance education. Try to include such words on the main page first; then work them into content on other pages.

3. Metatags – These are hidden words which the site visitor does not see, but search engines can identify. They are put into the pages by web site programmers.

4. Page Titles -Often all or most pages have similar titles and relatively simple titles that do not optimize rankings.

5. Link Swaps -You should strive to have links from sites that are relevant (similar disciplines) and ranking as well or better than you. Links from poorly ranked sites can even have a negative affect on your rankings and should be rejected.

6. Content –Quantity is important, but only if it is also quality. When you write things off the net (articles, newsletters etc) add them to the web site

7. Be Different -If search engines recognize your content as being too identical to other sites.

8. Frequent changes –The site must appear to be dynamic. Search engines identify sites that change frequently. The ideal may be to change something on every page weekly, though this is often impractical.

9. Navigation should be easy. Keep words/icons that are clicked on unambiguous, visible and short and movement from place to place around a site should be logical. Pages should cross link to each other so you can move around easily and logically without needing to return to the main page.

10. Minimize clicks through –The more times a person needs to click from the main page, the less chance the page will be visited and given serious attention. Good design allows all important pages and information to be reached and read without more than one or two clicks from the main page.

11. Make it easy to take action –ACS does this with several click here features

12. Capture your visitors (e.g. Click to subscribe to newsletter) then act on what you capture. Be aware of the law though. Several countries have tight laws on how you can capture and use email addresses.

13. Pages should download fast –Include photos, but avoid large images (2-10kb images are OK; 100kb images can be a real problem).

14. Graphics –Images and colour help hold people on a site longer and encourage bookmarking…. But they need to be attractive and professional (& small downloads)

15. Colour –Warm colours (reds, browns, yellows) encourage action more than cool colours. Cool colours relax a person more than warm. Colour schemes that are different attract more attention. Contrasting colours can be used to focus attention where you want.

16. Target what you do. –You need to focus everything you do on the sort of people who are most likely to enroll in courses

17. Support Web sites off the Web. -It’s a well known marketing fact that people are more inclined to buy things if they are seen in 3 or more different places. The internet can be your primary focus, but other marketing activities are needed to raise visibility in secondary places (eg. posters, advertising, trade shows, press releases, magazine articles etc) in order to provide secondary support to the internet.

18. Add Video –Small downloadable video clips are increasing useful –but they must be relevant & topical. Content is more important than video quality.

19. Article submissions –submit articles to top ranking article submission web sites, and include one or two (not more) links to your site. Some of these sites are in the top 100-500 ranked web sites world wide. This is a way you can achieve linking back from some of the highest ranked web sites.

Use IT expertise in conjunction with Product Expertise – We have often found that results suffer if you don’t properly marry a knowledge of I.T. with a knowledge of education and the courses you offer. Giving the work to an IT professional who is briefed on what is required may result in less than perfect selection and use of content (e.g. key words). Giving the job to an education professional with limited IT expertise may result in better choices for content, but poorer use of the content

Small Business Opportunity for graduates

Franchise or Lisencing ACS courses as an affiliate or lisencee. Open to investors, established schools and start up operations, who can commit to appropriate investment of time and money, and ethiccs. See our standard conditions (contract), and requirements at http://www.acs.edu.au/affiliates/default.aspx

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