Introduction to CSS and XHTML
Learn
how to create state-of-the-art Web sites using modern CSS and XHTML
techniques. Take your existing HTML skills to the next level and start
building sites like the pros. If you want to survive and excel in the
fast-paced world of Web publishing, you're going to need to keep up with
ever-evolving standards. The new standard for Web developers is to use CSS
and XHTML.
CSS and XHTML not only make it easier for you to build and manage large Web
sites, these powerful languages can also give you more precise control over
the appearance of every page you build. Almost every Web development
tool--including Dreamweaver, Microsoft Expressions Web, and Visual Web
Developer--offer support for, and occasionally require the use of, CSS and
XHTML.
This course will provide you with the foundation you'll need to master two
critical and fast-growing new Web languages. If you're a Web developer, why
not begin your transition to CSS and XHTML today?
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
Requirements:
A text editor (like Windows Notepad); basic computer skills; familiarity with files, folders, text editing, and copying and pasting; Internet access, e-mail, and the Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Netscape Web browser. Completion of our online Creating Web Pages course (or equivalent experience with HTML and Web publishing) is recommended.
Syllabus:
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end.
Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course.
You do not have to be present when the lesson is released, but you must
complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
A new section of each course starts on the second or third Wednesday of each
month. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to
space the start date for each course at least two months apart.
| Week One |
| Wednesday - Lesson 01 |
| In this first lesson, you'll discover why
traditional HTML is headed for the history books, and why CSS and
XHTML are the wave of the future. You'll learn how to painlessly
transition your existing HTML skills to XHTML. And you'll create
tools and templates to help you spend less time typing and
correcting errors, and more time creating. |
| Friday - Lesson 02 |
| Today, you'll grow to appreciate the beauty and
practicality of using CSS to style your entire Web site. You'll
discover how CSS lets you create design elements that give your site
a consistent look and feel, and a unique identity. And if you ever
decide to change something, you won't have to go digging through all
the pages you've already created—you just change the CSS style in
your style sheet. Then all existing pages and future pages will use
the style automatically. |
| Week Two |
| Wednesday - Lesson 03 |
| After reading today's lesson, you'll understand
how XHTML focuses on the structure of your document while CSS
focuses on its style. You'll learn specific tags and techniques for
defining and styling headings, paragraphs, lists, special
characters, and more. You'll come away knowing how to use CSS to
specify fonts, colors, and alignments for all of your textual design
elements. |
| Friday - Lesson 04 |
| Nothing jazzes up a Web site like a few good
pictures! Today, you'll discover all there is to know about putting
pictures in Web pages. You'll learn to use pictures as hyperlinks,
background textures, and patterns. You'll even replace the bland
little dots in bulleted lists with your own custom bullets. |
| Week Three |
| Wednesday - Lesson 05 |
| In this lesson, you'll learn how to use XHTML to
create tables and CSS to style them. First, you'll create a table
that shows thumbnail images of your favorite pictures. Then you'll
discover how to let users click a thumbnail to see a larger version
of the picture and, if they like, download it to their own
computers. |
| Friday - Lesson 06 |
| Hyperlinks are the key to successful Web
publishing. Today, you'll learn to create hyperlinks the XHTML way
and how to use CSS to style them. You'll find out how to convert any
text or picture to a link to other pages or to a section within your
own page. You'll also create Contact Me links that let people send
you an e-mail with a simple mouse click. |
| Week Four |
| Wednesday - Lesson 07 |
| In this lesson, we'll go deep into the CSS box
model to take a close look at the fine art of creating and styling
borders. We'll discuss placing boxed elements on your page and
precisely controlling the margins and space inside and outside those
boxes. These are must-know skills for any serious Web developer! |
| Friday - Lesson 08 |
| Page headers and footers help give your site a
consistent look and feel and a unique identity. In traditional HTML,
developers used tables to create these elements. But they could
never predict how a page would look in different Web browsers nor be
confident that search engines would index their pages correctly.
Today, you'll take your first step toward using CSS Page Layout
techniques to create headers and footers that show on every page in
your site. |
| Week Five |
| Wednesday - Lesson 09 |
| You've probably noticed that many Web sites
divide their content into two or three columns. The left or right
column (or both) can act as a sidebar for navigation links, ads, or
other content. In this lesson, you'll master modern CSS Page Layout
methods for creating modern multicolumn page layouts without the use
of tables. |
| Friday - Lesson 10 |
| Today, we'll untangle the mysteries of CSS
static, relative, absolute, and fixed positioning. You'll discover
how to use these tools and techniques to gain precise control over
the placement of elements on your page. You'll also discover some of
the secrets behind what's really going on behind the scenes when a
Web browser displays your page. |
| Week Six |
| Wednesday - Lesson 11 |
| In this lesson, you'll discover the modern XHTML
way to add audio and video to your Web pages. You'll find out how to
enable users to download media files and also how you can embed
those files in your pages like they do on You Tube and Google Video.
We'll go over the exact tags you need to embed MIDI, Wave, MP3,
MPEG, QuickTime, WMV, and Flash content in the Web pages you create. |
| Friday - Lesson 12 |
| In this final lesson, we'll cover how to use
online services to rapidly debug, fix, and format the pages you
create. You'll learn how to validate your pages against modern CSS
and XHTML standards—enabling you to display the coveted W3C-approved
CSS and XHTML logos on them. After today, you'll know how to create
a fully standards-compliant Web site that's ready for publication. |
To enroll in this course, click the Enroll Now button below:
