Comprehensive website development course: prerequisites, dreams and plans

    We all know how many firms exist, consisting of a "pair of students" that make sites "for 5 thousand." Perhaps it would not be worth even paying attention to them, however, in our region at the moment the situation is rather critical: the Internet is not too developed, there are practically no more or less serious urban / regional resources that could be leveled up to. Yes, and 90% of sites related to our region are made by such students "on the knee".

    At the same time, customers often do not even understand the difference and make the site “for show”, “to be”.

    The problem, in my opinion, lies in education. In our city (Nizhnevartovsk) there are educational institutions that graduate AiTishnikov. And I, having finished one of these, know for sure that IT people are not taught to really make websites. And the sites want to do everything - “it's so easy!”
    At the university, only a disparate set of technologies is given, which, roughly speaking, everyone uses as he wants. And there is no data on how to start developing a site at all and that more than one person should do this at all :)

    In this regard, I consider it necessary to introduce a similar course in all IT specialties. The way I imagine it is under the cut.


    Another premise

    I have been working in the field of web development for about 5 years. First, as a student, then as the head of the department. Finding a competent content manager (not to mention a web designer or web programmer) to accompany ongoing projects in our city is simply unrealistic. And then, it’s easier to train a person from scratch than to take him stuffed with wrong knowledge and own convictions.
    Often worked with trainees, but to take a trainee is also a finger in the sky. During practice, you can only have time to teach something, and he will not have time to really work.

    Therefore, I came to the conclusion that it is necessary to look for personnel through a university, and not just turning to teachers to advise, but carefully selecting and learning for myself the students most prone to this activity.

    But for this, you still need to get into their heads how the site development process is going!

    In order to get a couple of students thinking about us by the winter of next year, you need to start preparing now for the beginning of the 2012-2013 school year.

    Training program


    About such a curriculum was born. I know that many habraly people teach at universities, perhaps some similar disciplines. Therefore, I really want to hear a competent opinion.
    The basis is not considered a university, but a college, and the qualifications of graduates in general are a “technician”, not a programmer, but they try to give them the largest possible set of knowledge so that they decide on the further direction for development / specialization.

    To successfully complete the course, students need to have: Photoshop (layering, basic skills), HTML, CSS, optionally PHP, an understanding of databases. Most likely, 3 or 4 courses (out of 4 college courses).
    The desired course volume is 64 hours, including practical exercises.

    1. General information on integrated website development
    • that different specialists must participate in the process,
    • examples of cool studios and how they work (how much time should be devoted to design)
    • about possible roles and participation of the programmer in the process.

    Affect the development of web applications as private (a trend towards the development of cloud services). A little mention about the role of the server and client (which side is located and how the sites are displayed, the HTTP protocol in the most general terms).

    2. The process of developing a site in stages, starting with the development of a layout in Photoshop, to
    mention that the site should have an idea that the site is a marketing tool. In outline.

    3. Software for website development (Notepad ++, denwer, zen-coding). Why you should not write sites in visual editors.

    4. Further slicing layouts and assembling them in html. Together, we begin to typeset the site template from the finished psd layout. Tabular and marvelous layout. Different browsers, site processing on the client side (why there is a problem of cross-browser compatibility). Standards, doctype. Validator W3C. Website htmlbook. Why CSS is needed, the principle of separating content from presentation
    Show website www.csszengarden.com
    The concept of usability, Jacob Nielsen and webmascons.

    5. The revitalization of the layout using dynamic languages ​​(php), template engines. Using JavaScript, AJAX, jQuery (overview).

    6. Using CMS as an example of bitrix. Prepare reports on various CMS, if someone wishes (Joomla, WordPress, etc.). If people know PHP, go deep into the development of templates and customization of components on bitrix.
    (In particular, we work on bitrix, and the initial goal of the course is to prepare personnel)

    7. Typography on the site, why it is important (with examples from Kovodstvo and other sources).

    8. Image processing for the site (perhaps some tricks in Photoshop).

    9. Preparing the site for publication, choosing a hosting, possibly SEO or contextual advertising. Ways to promote the site depending on its goals (image or contextual advertising). Modern
    types of targeting (behavioral, plus affect social networks).

    In practice or in the next semester as a continuation of the course - term paper - website development from the first stage, each has its own layout (issue training psd).

    So far, it’s rather messy - but in general these are the topics that I want to touch upon.
    I add that I do not pretend to be true, therefore I will be glad to constructive criticism in the comments, especially from the teachers.

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