Q

calliopeia

Has anyone been on (or knows someone thats been on) a course called CIW webmaster course in Dorset college? Was It any good? Was it worth it? Any help or information would be great, dont want to start something that sucks!!!

DonkeyStyle \o/

I tried to look up info on this course from their website, but I get 404's in the child frame :eek:
I've looked at other courses in this field before, but always get turned off when I see a lot of crap about dreamweaver... it really makes me wonder if they're teaching web design, web development, or just teaching you how to use a program/tool.
At this stage, I'd probably go for something more targeted... either specifically coding or design oriented... neither of which I should be worrying too much about dreamweaver for IMO.
There are countless html/css tutorials online for free, so if you've got notepad and some patience, you can learn a lot.
Having said that, I think dreamweaver is good in the right hands, but I'd be wary of a course that focuses too much on it, especially at beginner level... at some stage you're going to have to get down and dirty with the innards of your pages... I started out mucking about with dreamweaver myself, and it's pretty sad to admit that when I had to edit the html directly, I found myself looking at pretty standard html tags and going "huh, what's that do?"
By the time I was finished sorting out all the little formatting problems by hand, I found it just as handy to use notepad from the outset.

FTL: No, I haven't a clue what this course is about or if it's any good... I suggest you get a list of what'll be covered and what the courses end goal will be... ie. upon completion, student should be able to <blah>

Karoma

I remember FÁS based some of their courses around the CIW material. It's quite basic, and as DonkeyStyle said tool-centric. That aside, I'm sure it would teach you something.
What is your background? i.e. What do you already know?

I'd recommend textpad & www.w3schools.org

calliopeia

I have a diploma in computer programming in C, C++ and I have been teaching myself dreamweaver, flash etc. for a while now in my sparetime. Know the basics and want to learn more... I also want to get a job in ether web design or graphic design and have no Idea how to get into it. Havent finish my website yet, so hoping that will help when its up and running. Thanks for the advice, Still looking into the course at the moment.

Karoma

Well.. I don't think that you'd learn much/aynthing from the course. And as to whether it stands as something to look good on a CV... I don't know... It may be better than nothing, but I think a good portfolio would be better.

http://www.fas-netcollege.com/html/courses/TreeView.html for an idea of pricing/some details...

calliopeia

Thanks for that, I was going to spend a lot of money on the CIW course in dorset, now its going to be a lot cheaper doing it with FAS E-collage. Thank you. (Im working on the portfolio....) Now all i need is to decide which broadband company to go with!!!!