A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or
more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two
months apart.
All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons
are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have
to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until
the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each
lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such,
we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.
The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final
exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work,
including the final exam.
Week One
Wednesday - Lesson 01
In this lesson, we’ll begin the journey through Expression Web by exploring what makes this program such a great choice for Web development, especially for beginners. We’ll take a quick look at the three project Web sites you’ll be creating during this course—a template site, one you build from scratch, and another you’ve inherited and need to update or maintain. And we’ll wrap up the lesson by rolling up our sleeves and building a basic Web site, which you’ll be able to view in a Web browser.
Friday - Lesson 02
Today you’ll become familiar with the elements included in Expression Web’s user interface and get comfortable navigating among panels and toolbars. You’ll personalize the templated site that you created in the last lesson by adding and editing pictures and text. By the end of the lesson, you’ll have a completely serviceable home page.
Week Two
Wednesday - Lesson 03
In this lesson, you’ll learn what to look for in a Web host, sign up for Web hosting, and publish the templated Web site that you created in the last lesson. This publishing skill is one you’ll use every time you need to put a Web site on the Internet. Then, after you’ve published your site, we’ll explore how to transfer files from a Web server back to your local computer—a skill you’ll need in order to maintain a site built by someone else.
Friday - Lesson 04
Today you’ll begin to create a new Web page from scratch, part of a multilesson project to build a full-fledged Web site about alternative fuel vehicles. Along the way, you’ll learn to use divs to lay out your page, and you’ll find out how to create style sheets for controlling and modifying your page’s layout. You’ll learn to position page elements so that anyone will be able to view your Web page correctly, no matter the size or resolution of their monitor. And, last but not least, you’ll discover how to work with dynamic Web templates, which make building Web sites a lot easier.
Week Three
Wednesday - Lesson 05
In this lesson, you’ll learn everything you’ve ever wanted to know about image file formats and find out which formats to use for best image quality and smallest file size. You’ll then use Picasa to clean up an image and walk through the steps to place it on your Web site using Expression Web.
Friday - Lesson 06
It’s time to finish your Web site’s main page by entering text, inserting another image, creating a functional navigation bar, and creating an interesting title bar and logo. Today you’ll also learn about lists, hyperlinks, and creative div use—all important tools in any Web developer’s repertoire.
Week Four
Wednesday - Lesson 07
This lesson covers the creation of hotspots in an image, turning any image into a useful navigational tool. We’ll discuss relative and absolute links, and you’ll learn how to use anchor links to make it easier to navigate around a long page of text. You’ll also look at and modify the styles that control the appearance of hyperlinks on a Web page.
Friday - Lesson 08
Databases fuel the modern Internet because they do a fantastic job of displaying and organizing information in a user-friendly way. In this lesson, you’ll learn how to incorporate a database into your Web site using Expression Web. We’ll put the power of ASP.NET to work for us as we look at the different formats you can use to display database information. You’ll also learn how to present database information as a drop-down list in order to free up precious Web page real estate.
Week Five
Wednesday - Lesson 09
Today you’ll learn how to create Web forms that allow your site’s visitors to sign up for e-newsletters, purchase products, post messages on discussion boards, and more. You’ll first use Expression Web’s basic form tools to put a simple but functional form onto your Coolrides site. After that, you’ll use server-side scripting technology—ASP.NET—to set up a slightly more modern, customizable form.
Friday - Lesson 10
In this lesson, you’ll work with Expression Web’s various report tools. You’ll learn how reports can be used to assess a Web site’s accessibility, determine the compatibility of a site’s code with the latest Web standards, and identify errors or inconsistencies in style sheets. After that, you’ll find out how to use the Reports view to get lots of great information about your Web site, and you’ll use it to check for broken links. Finally, you’ll learn how to identify slow pages, and I’ll show you an easy trick for speeding up the load time for image-heavy pages.
Week Six
Wednesday - Lesson 11
Today, you’ll learn about table-based Web design from a conceptual standpoint, as well as how to create and modify tables for use in a graphical Web site. You will also update a table-based site to use CSS.
Friday - Lesson 12
In this lesson, you will learn how to improve your site’s ranking in search engines by using keywords in your site. You will also discover how to sell merchandise online using PayPal’s merchant features. Finally, you’ll learn how to make money serving up ads on your site using Google’s AdSense program.