FACULTY FOCUS: New Workshop Highlights in Web Design, Spring 2013

Sometimes we require more out of our online presence than a social media site allows us. It may seem a bit daunting to build and maintain your own website, whether for personal or business related reasons, but it can prove to be a valuable asset. Pacific New Media is offering several engaging classes to introduce you into the world or of web design, or refine and improve the skills you already possess.

For those just getting in to web design, Colin Macdonald will be teaching several introductory classes to get you started. The Big Picture: An Intro to the Web Design Process is built to give you a basic overview of the web design process and the elements behind it. From HTML to HTML5: The Basics & Beyond will help provide the fundamentals of HTML such as formatting and hyperlinks for those with little to no programming experience. Both classes are geared towards the use of Adobe Dreamweaver. If you’re not familiar with the program, consider Introduction to Adobe Dreamweaver. You’ll learn step by step the process of website development including Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the use of Dreamweaver’s library items and templates. All that’s needed is a basic understanding of Mac and a strong comfort with computers.

Colin Macdonald is director of web operations for the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He instituted the first multimedia courses at the UHM Department of Communication, where he taught multimedia design and development for over a decade. He has conducted traditional media and multimedia training courses in Asia, Hawaii, and the continental United States for nearly 20 years. He is a core faculty member of Pacific New Media.

As smartphones are increasing in popularity, more and more mobile applications are hitting the marketplace. If you’re interested in developing for the mobile platform, Mike King will be teaching a couple workshops to get you started. Introduction to Mobile Design is a workshop designed to help people who already have some knowledge of visual design jump into mobile design for iOS and Android. Mobile UX: Wireframing & Prototyping goes a little deeper into the mobile world by utilizing Adobe Fireworks. You’ll learn the basics of information architecture and interaction design so you’ll be more comfortable with developing and testing prototypes.

Mike King is a user experience designer at Ikayzo, a Honolulu-based interactive design agency based. He specializes in interaction design for desktop, web, and mobile applications. He has created interactive designs for educational institutions including UH Manoa and Kapiolani Community College, and web and mobile brand identities for local startups including Frii, GreenMap, and FrameUp.

Dreamweaver isn’t the only popular platform for web design. WordPress is an equally popular open-source blogging system. Learn the basics in Introduction to WordPress. The workshop will cover posting text, images, videos and other multimedia, managing themes and plug-ins, optimizing your blog for search engines, among other topics. If you’re past the introductory stage, Intermediate WordPress takes things a step further helping you set-up permalink structures, define menus, organize your content, among other things. Both classes are taught by Darrell Kim. If you’re looking to develop a form for easy client to administrator communication, John LeBlanc will be teaching WordPress Creating Forums. The class will cover easy form design including things such as mailing list subscriptions, data manipulation, payments gates, and so forth.

Darrell Kim is an IT manager at Kamehameha Schools with more than 10 years of experience. He has designed and developed software applications, conducted training sessions for various systems, and facilitated technology workshops. He brings an expertise in web development, SQL, database design, and systems design and analysis.

John LeBlanc is an independent WordPress specialist and web developer. He’s been developing websites and web content management solutions professionally since 1997, serving as the first staff webmaster at CBS in Boston. In 2005, he launched his own consultancy and currently works with a wide range of clients in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Manila.

Having a website is one thing, having others visit your website is another. With more and more sites popping up on the web, how do you make yours visible? Harrison Goo’s Introduction to Search Engine Optimization: Maximizing Your Visibility will explore different means of analyzing your site and determine effective keywords in order to improve your presence among social media and search engines.

Harrison Goo is the search strategist for ClearlyM, Hawaii’s leading conversion marketing firm. In addition to a strong background in SEO and web analytics, Harrison is a member of the Hawaii State Bar Association and a graduate from the William S. Richardson School of Law.

To register or for more information go to www.outreach.hawaii.edu/pnm.