Where To Learn Web Site Designing For Free

The first video on creating your own mini site is almost ready. As I am not very good at using Camtasia, I have a lot of editing to do before it is presentable. In the mean time, here is a great article by Mary Ward, providing some great links to various resources where you can polish up your web site designing skills. ~ Costa

Keeping your skills sharp is a must for web designers. Using that down time between freelance jobs to learn new programs or update your skills on programs you already use is a great way to stay current on all the programs you need to create great websites. Keeping abreast of all the latest programs doesn’t have to be expensive, either, since there are plenty of free open courseware links.

Following are ten open courseware links you must read to stay up to date with your web design skills.

10 Open Courseware Links You Should Know

Flash – Everybody needs Flash, and this set of two classes is a great free way to learn or upgrade your skills. At the end of the course you will have created a fully functional flash project.

Beginning Web Design – This is a fairly basic course, but for newbies it’s great. At the end of the course, you’ll have all the basics for creating your own sites. The course takes six weeks, and best of all, it’s free through About.com. Each week’s lesson is sent to your email box.

Adobe Photoshop Basics – Another email course from About. Com, this class gives you the basics of Photoshop in 8 weekly email lessons.

HTML Basics – Another great course for beginners, this class is provided by the University of Washington. The course covers all the basics of HTML programming, including the basic structure of an HTML document and what HTML tags look like.

Introduction to Web Design – Offered by Indiana University, this class offers lectures covering all the basics of web design, including binary, internet addressing, and Linux.

Animation – Animation has become one of the most sought after skills in web design. For the designer who is ready to add these skills to their portfolio, this is a great class.

Web Page Authoring – This is another great course in HTML, offered by Sofia for free.

Web Programming, Development and Data Integration – This course is offered by Purdue University, and covers a variety of web design technologies.

Advanced Topics in Learning Object Design and Reuse – Offered by Utah State University, this course can be downloaded. It teaches advanced topics of object design and reuse.

Blogs, Wikis, New Media for Learning – Another downloadable course from Utah State University, this class helps web designers understand and use web 2.0 technologies.

This is just a small sampling of the learning tools and downloadable classes you’ll find on the web. Many of the classes are free, and nearly all of them can be completed at your own pace. There’s no better way to learn web design at a beginning or intermediate level or to increase your skills as new technologies emerge than using these simple and inexpensive web classes.

Even after you’ve completed classes on these new technologies, you’ll find the coursework to be a helpful reference as you use the programs in your daily work life. You’ll be amazed at all the web design education that’s free for the taking on the web.

Mary Ward is a freelance author and writes about design job topics, such as how to choose a web design school, artist career tips, and more.