Free Beginner Friendly Courses:
The course is available in English and Arabic and gives a thorough introduction to making web pages and style sheets.
Well, if English is the language of rock’n’roll, then HTML is the language of the web. And if you’re serious about getting your presence felt on the Internet then it would be good to become familiar with it, no matter what language you speak to human beings.
If this is a daunting prospect, and you think that learning it will mean investing serious money in IT courses, worry not, help is at hand!
As always, when you dig around on the Internet, all sorts of resources come to light. If you go to the PODTech website you will find much of interest, including their free HTML and CSS course. Simply create a login and enrol on the course, no cost is involved.
HTML and CSS 101:
HTML is a markup language, meaning that you add human-readable (well, almost) tags to your document and you don’t need a compiler to make it run. The heavy lifting of turning your code into a web page is done by the browser, so if you want to, you can write all your code in a text editor! You don’t have to, of course and there is a range of tools available to help you build your site, from editors like Notepad++ where you still see the HTML, to full scale site builders like SquareSpace where you never see a single tag.
Image courtesy H. Stedman
The PODTech course does not require prior knowledge of website building, or expensive software tools before you start. It uses Sublime Text, a free source code editor, to make web pages, and takes you steadily through the anatomy of a web page and all the coding options that you can use to include links, images etc. It also covers CSS – or Cascading Style Sheets – which is the way a developer would set all the typographical details of the site, such as font face and size.
What Can You Do with a HTML/ CSS Course?
If you are starting up in business, or want to promote yourself on the net by having a website, this could be a route for you. Getting enough knowledge to make web pages doesn’t require a degree in computer science, or thousands of pounds of investment in software. Coding up webpages yourself also offers you the advantage of complete control of the layout and the look and feel of your site. So if you have a small business with limited funds, or you are simply curious about how webpages are built, why not give it a go?
Why not find out more about the Executive Editor of the REACH local magazine here.
We would love to welcome article contributions. If you have an idea for an article, or want to get involved and learn more, visit www.reachlocal.org.uk or email ‘hello@reachlocal.org.uk’
