Busy — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 08:26:50 +0000

That site always makes me laugh, is good they made most of the site validate now thou, oops one page doesn't - just happens to be the XHTML1 page (home page does).

I like under the "Web Technologies Certificate", summary says "Provides the Web developer with a solid foundation in the basic technologies used to create Web sites. This is appropriate for anyone working as a Web professional."
and they teach: A141 Frontpage 2000 and A151 Frontpage 2002

If I was to employ a web designer and they came to me with one of their certs, I'd refuse on the basis of the person being so stupid.

[note] Before anyone says my sites don't validate, check the url on validator as my htaccess sends bots elsewhere

Roo — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 02:48:56 +0000

That site is a sham...always has been.

Read this about the machine specs for the 'Advanced Flash' course:

To create and edit Flash movies in Windows:
Processor: 133-MHz Pentium
Operating System: Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me or NT 4.0 or later
RAM: For Windows 95 and 98, 16 MB (24 recommended); for Windows NT, 24 MB (32 MB recommended)
Free disk space: 40 MB
Monitor: 256 colors, 800X700 resolution.

Megan — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 14:23:47 +0000

I looked at those too and they don't have very much information available. It's hard to say if they are good or not when they don't tell you what exactly you're being tested on. Not nearly as overpriced though. Oh, and the XML link sends you to an external site.

demonhale — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:38:50 +0000

Yup I was amazed by how many clients this guy had because of that link, BTW ive notice that W3Cschools have their own cert program, how about that?

Megan — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:19:55 +0000

Well, the courses don't look to be too advanced. Pretty basic really, and it doesn't seem to go into some of the finer points of some of the topics (i.e. semantics and CSS, the importance of web standards etc.). Really, these things aren't difficult enough to warrant a $180 fee plus the purchase of a textbook to learn. What they're covering in their CSS courses, for example, matches up well with what you could get for free at sites like w3schools.

Prerequesistes for Introduction to CSS:

Quote: Students will also need to have a style sheets enabled browser, such as Internet Explorer 4.x, Netscape Navigator 4.x or Opera 3.5. (emphasis added)

You have got to be kidding me. What is this, 1998? That's a big red flag right there.

And $220 for CSS 2? Give me a break.

I do think there would be value in having some sort of standard for certification in web design as well as a professional association of some sort. There are problems with that, of course, but I think if one thing is clear from our amateur vs. professional discussion it is that there needs to be a way for clients to identify a real professional.