Description:
THIS IS A TWO-EVENING CLASS (takes place on two nights, to allot enough time to cover all the material both nights are covered in the tuition)

Has CSS seemed rather daunting or downright arcane? Have you struggled to make sense of how classes and IDs relate to HTML elements, or when to use one thing over another? This workshop will remove the mysteries, answer your questions, and clarify many things that have so far been confusing and troublesome. Simply put, CSS comes down to six major concepts and a few idiosyncrasies. This class will define them and put it all into perspective through real world examples.

You already know that HTML determines the structure and content of a website, but here we will learn how CSS determines how that content is displayed. Fonts, colors, borders, backgrounds, and positioning of elements are all controlled by Cascading Style Sheets – rules for how a web page should display, or "render" its content. Even if you're using a visual editor like Dreamweaver, you'll eventually need to understand CSS in order to effectively customize your site's layout and appearance. And if you're coding by hand, learning CSS is essential if you want to move forward.

CSS can be tricky to learn, but the payoff is well worth it: imagine being able to change the size of a header font on every single page of a 500-page site with a few clicks! Or being able to move a sidebar from the left side of the page to the right without breaking down all of your HTML and starting over! CSS gives you the freedom and flexibility when updating your site, and allows you to fine-tune its appearance whether you're working with straight HTML or a dynamic system like WordPress. We'll examine the anatomy and syntax of CSS code and show you how to use it effectively to design your website for elegant, powerful designs.

This workshop will cover:

• CSS syntax
• CSS selectors such as:   tag, ID, class, and pseudo-classes
• Writing CSS styles and applying them to HTML
• Internal vs. external style sheets vs. inline styles
• Customizing text
• The role of the < div> tag
• Using background images and Sprites
• Positioning site elements with CSS: absolute positioning and floats
• Best practices for writing CSS
• And of course, the six major concepts that tie everything together

Presented as a Lecture-Style Workshop:
These are our most affordable training programs, designed to introduce a subject quickly and efficiently. Students can take notes from the instructor's projected computer screen, and/or bring their own computer to follow along. Lecture-style workshops are normally held on weekday evenings from 6 pm – 9 pm and contain a maximum of 30 students (average is 8-20).

Who Should Take This:
Web designers who have taken Introduction to HTML and are comfortable writing HTML by hand. Because this workshop focuses on CSS for layout, a basic understanding of styles is helpful.

Instructor:
Richard Jones began programming with Basic at age 10, and was highly active in the pre-internet social networking systems during the early 90s. He then moved on to Visual Studio while serving with the US Army during the late 1990s. In 2003 he finished his degree in Digital Media, specializing in Internet and Web Technologies. Having taught himself PHP and Javascript, he founded a development outsourcing company, Tenth Street Studios, which he ran successfully until moving to Boulder in late 2007. Formerly a Web Developer with Slice of Lime, a leading web design and development firm located in downtown Boulder, Richard is now the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Developer for Callisto.fm. Richard is also fluent in HTML,CSS, SQL and JavaScript, and has taught college courses at Santa Fe Community College in Gainesville, Florida. In his spare time he enjoys woodworking, photography, and snowboarding. You can contact Richard at the@talentedmrjones.com.

BDA Member Cost: $139.00 ($149.00 after Friday, December 03, 2010)
Non Member Cost: $159.00 ($169.00 after Friday, December 03, 2010)
Become a member to save $20.00