Design Skills for Effective Websites

Picture of Design Skills for Effective Websites
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$389
AUD
35% off
$599 AUD
Quick Facts
  • Delivery Method Online
  • Professional Certificate
  • 24hrs Suggested Study Time
  • 3 Months Access
  • Tutor Support
  • Study On Any Device
  • 9490 Students

Learn powerful graphic design techniques and build Web sites that are both attractive and wickedly effective.

These days, creating a Web site is so easy almost anyone can do it. But with all the competition on the Web, creating a site that's effective is more challenging than ever. To do that, you need to employ good design principles. Regardless of your current skills or level of knowledge, in this course you'll master the basics of Web design and learn how to build sites that are better and more effective. Get ready to take your Web design skills to the next level!

We'll examine the tension between form and function, explore the six major states of the Web site development process, and learn the basics of user-centered design. We'll also cover the five basic steps to organising information, find out how site design themes can be used for information delivery, and review Web page design considerations. Along the way, we'll talk about effective type and graphics and explore the idea of Web 2.0.

This course is a must for Web designers, giving the tips and tools that will help them establish a solid career.

Courses are delivered to you through expertly executed lessons, online instruction and interaction with like-minded students. Our courses are designed to deliver all of the benefits of studying in a classroom whilst giving you the flexibility to study at a time and place to suit your needs. You can access your classroom 24/7 from any device with an internet connection.

This course has a 3 month duration. You'll complete comprehensive lessons, quizzes and assignments before submitting your final exam at the end of the course to achieve your certificate. Courses must be completed within the 3 month access period.

This course is a different from most Web creation courses you'll find because it's not designed to teach you the mechanics of creating a Web page or how to use a particular software program. Instead, it's designed to help you take your Web site creations to the next level by enhancing both design and functionality. Together, we'll discover what attracts visitors to a Web site, and how to use design tools such as typography, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and multimedia to captivate visitors and keep them coming back.

Visitors are attracted by good design, but content is what keeps them at the site longer and motivates them to return. Learn how to use two tools to attract and retain visitors: design critiques and a content inventory. Explore the six major development stages that yield expert design and smart content. Then study the three parts of Web design and the skills you'll need for each.

By now, you probably understand that an interface is the screen visitors see and use when they visit any page of your site. Designing an interface is easy. Designing an <em>effective</em> interface, however, is more challenging. There are four main elements that you'll need to consider to make your site user-centric: usability, visualization, functionality, and accessibility. Explore each of these elements to see the thought that goes into effective interface design.

Even if your basic content is accurate, attractive, and well written, your site won't function well without a solid and logical organizational foundation. Review the five basic steps involved in organizing information and four essential structures that you can use to build a Web site. Then learn how to create a flowchart for the pages you want to include on your site.

Web sites exist to inform, educate, persuade, or entertain. Take this opportunity to concentrate on site design themes that pay attention to information delivery. Learn how to organize elements in order to enable visitors to accomplish their own goals. Explore usability, content, and design.

Discover how you can use visual and graphic design, page layout, and grids to take your designs to the next level. At the same time, become familiar with design considerations like visual hierarchy, page dimensions, and white space.

Typography plays a dual role by providing both verbal and visual communication. Almost any type of font will do to transmit information to others. But to convey the right type of mood along with the information takes a special type and color of font. Learn all the secrets here!

Find out how you can use Cascading Style Sheets to modify fonts. Become familiar with inline, document-level, and external (linked) style sheets, and learn how to create an external CSS file to control the formatting of any or all pages on your site. For the more adventurous, we'll also take a look at some early font embedding techniques and explore two popular Flash-related options currently in use.

Before you write for the Web, you should take the time to understand how people read online. Become familiar with the use of titles, headlines, and subheads to assist readers in navigating your site. Discover the advantages of using a Web content management system. Learn how you can communicate more easily and informally with Web visitors by adding a blog to your site.

You can use images to add interest to your site and to help with navigation. Early designers were limited graphically by HTML attributes, and later designers discovered they could use tables to place images. Today's designers also have the option of using CSS to position images on the screen. But believe it or not, many people still use text-based browsers. So, you'll learn how to make the information you convey through your images accessible to those individuals as well.

The combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript allows you to create intensely interactive Web applications similar to any game or presentation built with traditional programming languages. This interaction of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is known as Dynamic HTML or DHTML. Become familiar with the basics of DHTML, including code you can use to enhance your designs by adding layers to your pages.

Early Web sites were created by a few to be read by many. Over the years, developers added interactivity to Web sites through discussion forums, chat rooms, and shopping carts. These features are part of what I think of as Web 1.0. Today the focus has shifted from the sponsor of the site to the visitor, and sites like Flickr and YouTube are popular. They're examples of Web 2.0 sites. Examine several popular Web 2.0 sites, and take a look ahead to Web 3.0.

Richard Blum

Richard Blum

Richard Blum has been an IT industry professional for over 18 years, working mainly as a network and systems administrator. During this time, he has worked with Microsoft, Novell, Unix, and Linux servers, and has created Web sites using a variety ... Read more

Read Richard Blum's Profile

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Online learning is a flexible way to study that fits around your schedule, giving you the freedom to learn at your own pace from anywhere in the world. You'll have 3 months to complete the course and can take the multiple-choice questions and final exam whenever it suits you.

If you need help, you can contact us anytime. You can also join the discussion area where you can interact with other students. The discussion area for each lesson is open for the entire duration of the course.

Of course! We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 7 days of enrolling.

We do not offer extensions or transfers for this self-paced course. However, you will have 3 months to complete the course, and if you need to cancel within the first 10 days of enrolment, we offer a money back guarantee.

The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the Design Skills for Effective Websites you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.

Ready to get started?

Enrol Now

Our Values

Learn At Your Own Pace

We believe in personalised learning. That's why we provide all the tools and support you need to succeed at your own pace. With flexible learning, you'll stay motivated and retain more information. Plus, you can balance your studies with work and family commitments to make your dreams a reality.

We Won't Break The Bank

Education should be accessible to anyone who wants to learn. That's why we offer some of the most competitive prices in the industry with payments plans for just $25 per week. Investing in your future is a smart choice and doesn’t have to break the bank.

Industry-Led Courses

There's no better way to learn than from experts with years of experience in your field. That's why each of our 200+ industry-led courses are designed to give you a real-life perspective on your industry. With our expert mentors, you'll learn from people who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and who are passionate about sharing it with you.

Get The Personal Support You Deserve

At Vibe Learning, we're real people who are dedicated to providing you with personal support every step of the way. Our industry experts are not only professional and knowledgeable but also incredibly passionate about sharing their expertise with you. With their guidance, you'll gain invaluable insights and practical knowledge to help you succeed.

Still looking?

Check out the following courses related to Design Skills for Effective Websites:

Mobile App Development Online Course | Vibe Learning
 

Mobile App Development

Picture of Mobile App Development
Quick Facts
  • Delivery Method Online
  • Professional Certificate
  • 24hrs Suggested Study Time
  • 3 Months Access
  • Tutor Support
  • Study On Any Device
  • 1595 Students

Learn to create Mac, iPhone, and iPad apps and programs using Objective-C and the Xcode compiler.

The fastest-growing software market today involves mobile applications (or apps). In this course, you'll learn to use the free Xcode compiler and the Objective-C programming language to program your own apps that you can sell through Apple's App Store, reaching millions of potential customers around the world.

You'll start with the basic steps to writing any program, then progress to using Xcode—the same compiler that Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and many other companies use to write programs and applications. Along the way, you'll explore examples and perform simple coding exercises to build your confidence using Xcode and Objective-C.

Even if you're new to programming or have experience programming a different type of computer, this course will offer the guidance you need to build your own apps. By the end of this course, you'll know how to find your way around Xcode and write Objective-C commands, so you'll be ready to start creating your very own Mac,iPhone, or iPad programs!

Course Revised March 2014

Courses are delivered to you through expertly executed lessons, online instruction and interaction with like-minded students. Our courses are designed to deliver all of the benefits of studying in a classroom whilst giving you the flexibility to study at a time and place to suit your needs. You can access your classroom 24/7 from any device with an internet connection.

This course has a 3 month duration. You'll complete comprehensive lessons, quizzes and assignments before submitting your final exam at the end of the course to achieve your certificate. Courses must be completed within the 3 month access period.

Computers, smartphones, and tablets may look nice, but they're essentially useless without software to make them work. Today, the Mac&nbsp;is one of the hottest computers around, the iPhone is one of the most popular smartphones, and the iPad is one of the most dominant tablets in the market. With so many people buying these products, there's a tremendous opportunity to write and sell software or applications for all these millions of users. In our first lesson, you'll learn the basics of how programming works for any computer. Then you'll find out how to use a programming tool called Xcode to create programs or applications for the Mac,&nbsp;iPhone, and iPad.

Just like a lot of trained professionals&mdash;from surgeons to car mechanics&mdash;computer programmers need certain special tools to help them write programs. In this lesson, we'll go over the types of tools you'll need to create programs. Then you'll learn how to use Xcode, the free programming tool that Apple provides for writing Mac, iPhone, and iPad programs and applications. By the end of this lesson, you'll feel a lot more comfortable using Xcode because you'll know what it can do, how it works, and how to use it to write your own programs.

Today we'll look at the three basic parts of any program and how to create them. First, we'll explore the user interface or <i>View</i> that allows users to control a program and view information. Second, we'll talk about the <i>Model</i>&mdash;the code that tells your program to perform a calculation. And third, you'll find out how a <i>Controller</i> links your View and your Model. When you have a feel for these three elements, you can understand how to create any type of program you wish.

Programming boils down to writing commands in a particular language. To create Mac, iPhone, and iPad programs, you'll use a programming language called Objective-C. The bigger your program, the more complicated it can get&mdash;so today you'll learn how to divide a large program into smaller, more manageable parts.

What's the main feature of any program? The commands that tell the program what to do and how to do it! To create Objective-C commands, you need to learn how to read, write, and understand Objective-C code . . . and that's what we'll talk about today.

<p>Every program needs to hold data temporarily, and today you'll see how this works. First, you'll discover how programs can hold data in a storage unit called a <em>variable</em> or a <em>constant</em>. After that, you'll find out how Objective-C manipulates data to make decisions. </p>

Every program needs to make decisions based on input. In this lesson, you'll learn how to compare values and choose between sets of instructions, allowing your program to react to different data and calculate new results. You'll learn about True and False values known as <i>Boolean</i> values as well as branch structures in programming known as <i>if</i> and <i>switch</i> statements. &nbsp;

If you need a computer to run certain commands multiple times, you can write the same lines of code over and over . . . or you can use a <em>loop</em>, which lets you write code once and have it run as many times as you like. Today you'll master three types of loops.

One of the most useful features of modern programming languages like Objective-C is the ability to create objects. The main idea behind objects is to divide a large program into independent parts that you can paste together like building blocks. By learning the advantages of objects and how to use them in Objective-C, you can create programs faster and more reliably than ever before.

Objective-C code tells your program how to work, but the user only sees the <i>interface</i>&mdash;the screen on which your program displays information for the user to view or manipulate. Designing a user interface is easy because Xcode provides common elements, including buttons, check boxes, and text fields. Then you can connect your interface with your Objective-C code to make the whole thing work.

To design a user interface, you need to understand not only what different elements you can use but also when to use them and how to incorporate them into your own program. In this lesson, you'll continue learning about designing a user interface. You'll also get acquainted with using Apple's documentation to find out more about some of the most popular user interface elements.

Congratulations&mdash;you're ready to create a basic iPhone program! By applying what you've learned throughout this course, you can get a rough idea of how to&nbsp;develop your own programs for the Mac, the iPhone, or the iPad.

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang

Wallace Wang is the author of over 40 computer books including "Microsoft Office 2007 For Dummies." In addition to writing computer books, he has also co-authored "Breaking Into Acting for Dummies" and ghost written several books about investing i... Read more

Read Wallace Wang's Profile

Frequently Asked Questions

Once you've made the payment, we'll send you a confirmation email with a link to start your course. Feel free to get started whenever you're ready!

You'll have 3 months access to your course. In that time you are free to study at your own pace. The course duration is 24 hours.

Online learning is a flexible way to study that fits around your schedule, giving you the freedom to learn at your own pace from anywhere in the world. You'll have 3 months to complete the course and can take the multiple-choice questions and final exam whenever it suits you.

If you need help, you can contact us anytime. You can also join the discussion area where you can interact with other students. The discussion area for each lesson is open for the entire duration of the course.

Of course! We offer a 7-day money back guarantee. As long as you haven't completed the course, you can get a full refund within 7 days of enrolling.

We do not offer extensions or transfers for this self-paced course. However, you will have 3 months to complete the course, and if you need to cancel within the first 10 days of enrolment, we offer a money back guarantee.

The Learning Environment

From the moment that you enrol in the Mobile App Development you will become an integral part of our learning community. You'll find yourself with the freedom to learn at a speed that suits you, on any device, from anywhere in the world. Achieving your career goals no longer has to mean compromising family and work commitments.

Our Values

Learn At Your Own Pace

We believe in personalised learning. That's why we provide all the tools and support you need to succeed at your own pace. With flexible learning, you'll stay motivated and retain more information. Plus, you can balance your studies with work and family commitments to make your dreams a reality.

We Won't Break The Bank

Education should be accessible to anyone who wants to learn. That's why we offer some of the most competitive prices in the industry with payments plans for just $25 per week. Investing in your future is a smart choice and doesn’t have to break the bank.

Industry-Led Courses

There's no better way to learn than from experts with years of experience in your field. That's why each of our 200+ industry-led courses are designed to give you a real-life perspective on your industry. With our expert mentors, you'll learn from people who have a wealth of knowledge and experience, and who are passionate about sharing it with you.

Get The Personal Support You Deserve

At Vibe Learning, we're real people who are dedicated to providing you with personal support every step of the way. Our industry experts are not only professional and knowledgeable but also incredibly passionate about sharing their expertise with you. With their guidance, you'll gain invaluable insights and practical knowledge to help you succeed.

Still looking?

Check out the following courses related to Mobile App Development: