I Want To Teach Web Design For Free
jenius.me
jenius.me
I'm from Europe, but I'd love it if you could stream these sessions too.
Maybe look into streaming via justin.tv or something ?
VOD's would be pretty sweet as well.
For what it's worth, here's my course on web development: http://internetdev.usu.edu/notes We just cover the basics of HTML and CSS, and then jump into using a content management system (drupal). I hosted students' drupal sites myself, but there is also this free drupal hosting site: http://drupalgardens.com/ For the basic HTML/CSS part, I tried out http://kodingen.com/ to let students do everything in the browser since the computers are locked down here. It has some issues, but worked okay.
Basics of Graphic Design - Great starting point. No arguments here.
Learning HTML (html5) only - I dont agree with this. HTML5 is not that widely adopted yet to be a sole basis of HTML learning. It often still requires JS just to make it render correctly across all browsers. Using the HTML5 doctype and teaching HTML5 as what-is-to-come is great, but it shouldnt be the basis. Especially if you are looking to teach cross-browser compatibility and best practices.
Javascript/JQuery - Sounds about right.
Databases / MVC / RoR - This is where you kind of blur the line between teaching "Web Design" and "Web Development". This should be an optional split. If you want to continue learning the development side you go this route, if they want to stay design side, go a different route. There is really no reason for a designer to know about how MVC works.
Deployment - The basics of deployment would be great for everyone but advanced RoR, Django style deployments shouldnt be apart of a normal course.
I am going to stick with html5. I personally support progressiveness in design, and that means if someone is using IE6 and/or no javascript, I do not support this (and neither does google, wordpress, and a host of other large companies). As long as you have javascript turned on, the simple inclusion of modernizr makes html5 100% functional. I think it would be a best practices fail NOT to teach html5. I always have coded in html5, and so has the web agency I work at, and anyone else I know in web dev.
On the dev, you're totally right, but I disagree with the statement "There is really no reason for a designer to know about how MVC works". The more a designer knows about development, the better they will be to work with. I don't think there should be a split between design and development, it's good to dabble in both. Of course, everything is optional - if someone was very stubborn about not knowing anything about dev, they could skip the class.
I will be covering quick basic RoR deployment through Heroku, not advanced rails deploys. That would be for a later course ; )
Now, I'd say something very different if HTML5 actually worked correctly everywhere, or even most places. But here's the thing--indoctrinating people into a JavaScript dependency like modernizr to fuel your desire to use a standard that isn't completely implemented anywhere is, frankly, terrible: a much more important lesson to drive home is "look, use progressive enhancement," not "look, HTML5 is awesome!", and making modernizr a dependency is the exact opposite of smart. Yes, your "web agency" might do this--but that doesn't make them very bright, either.
It's rule #1 of responsive web design: start with the simplest base case, and progressively enhance from there. If you want to really teach people how to benefit themselves by being able to write this stuff, I'd strongly recommend starting there--not with the high-end "look at my buzzwords and adopt them." Simple is good--really.
I agree that simple is good, but you are just wrong on the html5... sorry : /
HTML5 is a perfectly good tool, but relying on it and a JavaScript library to smooth it over because it doesn't fully exist yet is crazy. If you are not writing a web application--an application, not a "website"--and it breaks because someone has JavaScript off, you screwed up. I know that's a foreign concept to somebody inculcated into the bizarre little world of Ruby, but you're throwing simplicity out for buzzwords.
For better or for worse (and believe me, I am strongly of the opinion that it is worse), IE is not dead. These people you presume to teach are not 'opinionated' towards whether people using IE et al. should be marginalized and made second-class citizens. You, however, presume to make a decision for them that they have to make for themselves. And that's not right.
To be fair, you are right though - I should at very least educate people about this before teaching it. I will make sure to let my students know that if they would like to decrease the quality of their products based on 2% of people (that's data from 2007 as well, likely has gone significantly down) who browse with javascript off, then they should not use any html5 tags. Fair enough?
I didn't dig around too much into what would be needed - after all, I had taught myself HTML and relative paths! After a week of "Edit, Ctrl+S, Alt+Tab, F5, Repeat", I was finally happy with the (now shitty, then awesome) finished product. And then realised I had no clue how to get it up on any website, much less my own.
That was when I truly learnt how anything ought to be learnt (end-to-end). And also that I probably wasn't as smart as I thought :(
TL;DR: created website without knowing how websites really work.
1. week: everybody is into it. Some even have little background on the subject, some are complete newbies. You give little bit of homework.
2. week: you start really doing something. Some fall behind and didn't do their homework. Other's have progressed well, somebody is even arguing with you how it should be done.
3. week: class is divided. Some have really picked up the pace, some are following your plan and most of your time is taken up the struggling newbie.
etc.
All I'm saying here is, that if you go ahead with then you can help many but you'll need to be prepared. People learn complex stuff at a different pace. From what I've seen, teaching and computers don't go very well together. Workshops are bit better. Give people resources to learn from and those are interested will learn.
If someone comes to the class that is not interested, they will be left behind - that's just how it is. Remember, this is a free class - nobody is paying me for this, so there's no complaining. If someone is interested, they will learn. If not, they will drop.
The homework will be very little, and will be mostly based on projects. Each person will have an individual project they are working on - if they choose something they are excited about, hopefully this will keep them going.
like using fonts that look rubbish on anything but OSX?
Garamond 17px: http://i.imgur.com/ajLUj.png
Also, you will be blown away by the software quality on macs... when I was growing up, all the 'good' software was for windows, but now the situation has completely reversed.
Design isn't about looking "beautiful". Design is (1) usability, (2) propaganda that relies on your audience's associative brain (peripheral cognition) to position the product into the realm of "desirable". Right now, in the minds of most people who matter, Apple designs are more desirable than air. So if the designer you're hiring hasn't figured that part out yet, his/her value to your company will be negative.
http://www.wixlounge.com/ http://blog.wix.com/2011/06/the-wix-lounge-nycs-hot-spot-for...
http://wiki.coworking.info/w/page/16583629/CoworkingNewYorkC...