Capt. Mondo's World o' Mondo-ness

New CSS + DHTML Class
On Friday I teach my last "beginner's" level class on HTML at the U. of T. So I handed in the materials that need photocopying as handouts for the class to the coordinator.

The coordinator of the program contacted me afterwards, asking me to please send in a summary of the new CSS and DHTML course I am planning to teach come the Fall. I have been dragging my heels on this for no good reason, so I sat down, drew up an outline of what I want to teach on a week-by-week basis, and then came up with some blurbage for the course calendar. Here’s the description of the new course:

Styling Pages with Cascading Style Sheets and Dynamic HTML
If you are authoring Web pages and want more control over their look and feel, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and Dynamic HTML (DHTML) are the ways to do it. Webmasters need to know how and when to use these technologies effectively to get the most out of them, and to keep at the cutting edge of current Web design. This course offers a fundamental grounding in the principles to both CSS and DHTML, and topics covered include:

• Advanced CSS font and color formatting techniques
• CSS and browser-compatibility issues
• Using absolute position elements
• Creating a “browser-sniffer” using JavaScript
• Introduction to the Document Object Model (DOM)
• Creating dynamic navigational elements

Learn about using CSS and DHTML effectively from the man who has literally “written the book” (“Core CSS”, Prentice Hall, 2000) on the subject.

This course is aimed primarily at Web authors who are already comfortable using HTML. No previous experience with JavaScript is required.

So far, the course is scheduled to be taught at weekly evening classes running for 6 weeks beginning January 13, though I am also hoping to get a class going in the Fall as well. My initial emphasis on the course was to be on CSS, but I was convinced that mixing in some DHTML would make it more "sexy" – true, though I think there's enough to learn about with CSS to make the "frill" of having to teach DHTML as well. However, you need to know about CSS before getting into DHTML, so it does make sense (and talking about the Document Object Model with relation to CSS is a natural fit as well). The course will be aimed at people who are comfortable writing Web pages but who have little or no experience using CSS or JavaScript, so I am aiming it at the “just-above-beginner” level. I have no idea as to the cost at the moment, though it is likely to be in line with other such courses at the same level that the FIS offers.

For the heck of it, here's my revised touting-my-own-horn-a-bit-more bio, also to be printed on the course calendar:

Keith Schengili-Roberts B.A.(Hons), MPA
Keith is the Web Communications Manager for Digital View, where he oversees the development of their corporate and commercial Web sites. He has worked as a professional Webmaster before the term became popular, and has played a major role in the development of Web sites for Delrina, Symantec, KL Group (now Sitraka), PanelX and for Digital View. He is also a long-time writer for The Computer Paper, and is the author of several computing books, his latest being Core CSS, 2nd Edition (Prentice Hall, 2002).

Update: Just got approved to teach the course in the Fall as well, so here's the date info:

• Fall Term: Sept. 12 - Oct. 17, 2002 (Thursdays)
• Winter Term: Jan. 13 - Feb. 17, 2003 (Mondays)

The fee is $525. (Cheap! ;-)

"The Package"
Today Erika made the big leap and bought herself "the package". That's film industry lingo for "buying all of the equipment I need for my job". Erika now has all of the equipment she needs to be a sound mixer.

This is a big step, as the cost involved in getting this equipment means that she will have to stop being a stay-at-home Mom and earn the $$$ to pay for it (I earn a decent living, but that cost is beyond what I can help cover). So there's no turning back now.

She still has all of her equipment for doing boom operator work if necessary, but the bigger bucks are in mixing/location sound. And besides, this is what she wants to do now. The only problem is that there are many more mixers out there than boom operators, so there's no guarantee of mixing work. She does have seniority working for her though, and I know her work is good (she has a very keen ear) so I don't doubt she will get work.

The real changes will be to home life. Vanessa and Annie will have to adjust to their Mother not being at home all of the time. A nanny is too expensive for our pockets at the moment, but we will have to find some sort of arrangement that looks after the kids while the both of us are away at work.