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As we wind down the course in Web Design 101, some attention should be paid to scripting languages. Scripts are nothing more than programming code (software) that allows Web pages to become both more interactive as well as dynamic. Though it really isn’t necessary for most IMers to learn much if any scripting, it’s still a pretty good idea to get an appreciation of the power they possess and in what circumstances you might want to employ scripts.

The first order of business is to distinguish between the two types of scripts:

• Server-side scripts
• Client-side scripts

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An aspect of Web site design and construction that I don’t often see discussed, at least in IM circles, is graphic design concepts. I find this kind of strange. After all, we are dealing with things like shape, balance, color all in 2 dimensions. I suppose that no one eager to start earning money online really wants to hear that they need to take a course in Graphic Design 101.

Actually, I did take a course in graphic design many years ago. In fact, I took a few courses in it along with courses in drawing, painting, sculpture, and art history. Four years worth. I was a painting major my first time through college and obviously that didn’t stick.

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One aspect of Website development that seems to trip up a lot of new IMers is the transferring of files up to their Web server. This is done using FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Perhaps some of the confusion stems from the numerous varieties FTP clients that are available. Many of the WYSIWYG HTML editors have an FTP client built-in. However, I’ve found some of them awkward to use, especially the one in Nvu.

The other way to transfer files is to use the File Manager feature available in cPanel if your Web host supports it. However, after a few go rounds with this method, you’ll be desperately searching for something much less frustrating for transferring files.

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In the previous post in this series on IM 101 - Web Design 101, I wrote about the importance of learning the basics of HTML and JavaScript along with a sprinkling of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). I talked about how grabbing some free HTML/CSS templates and hacking away is probably the most direct way of learning basic HTML. Where things start to get a little confusing is what tools to use to edit HTML pages.

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OK, it’s now time to begin fleshing out the courses that I laid out in the IM 101 Basic Curriculum. The first one in the basic curriculum is “Web Design 101” and oh Lord, it’s a doozy! After thinking about it a bit more, I’m inclined to think that this course is best split out into at least 2, maybe 3 separate courses.

That’s because there are several components to the topic:

• Code Aspects (HTML, JavaScript, W3C Standards)
• Tools (HTML Editors, Graphics Tools)
• Design Aspects (Graphic Design, Usability, Page Layout, etc)

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