StudentZone

Although my "9 to 5" is working as a Network Technician, I'm also a 'Variable Hours Lecturer' at the same college and deliver some evening and weekend classes. So far, I have delivered OCR CLAIT Module 7 (Web Creation Level 1) with a 100% exam pass-rate, and am currently in the process of delivering City & Guilds Web Design Level 2.

This page contains a number of handouts and reference sheets I created for both courses. The Level 2 starts from scratch, not the end of Level 1.

Note: Right-click on the download buttons and select "Save Target As" to download the resources.

Web Design

           

Basic Design Concepts

The very beginning of the course - this covers very little in the way of coding, however introduces a few of the basic 'rules' for designing websites which will hopefully encourage students to develop with good habits from the beginning.

 
 		   
           

HTML Quick Reference

I usually hand this out on the second or third lesson, just as they've got to grips wth the basics but have not yet got the HTML elements down by heart. They use this in class and at home to help them practice, and have said that it is very useful in that regard.

 
 		   
     
     

HTML Colors

How to generate colors (not colours!) in HTML using Hex codes and the 16 standard 'named' colours. A handy reference sheet, which is best used with my HTML Color Toy found in the Freeware section

 
 		   
           

HTML Lists

This handout covers how to create ordered (auto-numbered) and un-ordered (bulleted) lists in HTML. I tend to introduce this after students have become reasonably confident with paragraphs and text-formatting.

 
 		   
           

HTML Tables

Trying to cover tables with people who have only just started out with HTML can be a bit daunting. I decided to layout the code in a table in Word so that they could see which HTML elements did what. This appeared to work very well in class, and most of them were able to "build a wall" using tables and the 'colspan' attribute by the end of the lesson.

 
 		   
           

CSS Formatting

An introduction to CSS, which covers linking an HTML page with a stylesheet and some basic text formatting. A big time-saver once you've mastered the basics!

 
 		   
           

CSS Layouts

Using CSS to lay out your websites instead of using tables.

 
 		   
     
     

XAMPP

XAMPP is a small and versatile web-server which you can install on your PC in order to test websites which involve use of PHP, MySQL, and Perl. I hand this out along with the "Introduction to PHP" handout (coming soon) so that students have the tools to test their upgraded websites without having to upload them to the internet every time they make a change.

 
 		   
           

Uploading your website

As every hosting provider is different (I use four different hosts for different sites) it was difficult to write this document in a way which would be of any real use. This document covers how to upload a website to the internet in broad terms and advises the student to contact the hosting provider if what they see differs from what I have written.

Digital Cameras

           

Copying photos from your camera to your PC

The first thing I teach, and the thing we must do most often! While this might be simple to regular users of computers, this class is mostly comprised of less regular users, some of which are interacting with these technologies for the first time.

 
 		   
           

Improving your photos

As most of my students are Windows/MS Office users - I get them to do some basic image manipulation in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, which has been designed to make common photo-based tasks a breeze. This document is a basic user guide for the program.