As a lecturer turned practitioner, I can completely support Jermayns' comments.
One of the hardest things in teaching web development is finding decent text books. By the time most get into print, they are already 2 years out of date. And few come close to standards based development. I'm sure there are more than a few texts still in circulation which heartily advocate the FONT tag. If academics could be helped to understand, or pointed at good resources, as Ben suggests, this would go a long way towards helping the next generation of developers do the right thing. It's all about education. Lucien. On 25/1/07 12:50 PM, "Ben Buchanan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> I also think schools are an area that needs a shake up. at my uni they were >> still teaching inline style sheets and tablular layout in first and second >> year.... > > I think this is a key issue for the industry. Realistically we're not > going to eradicate non-standards shops, nor are we about to get > clients to suddenly recognise certification etc. > > What we can do is focus on winning over lecturers - probably by > offering to help them! There are precious few standards-based beginner > tutorials out there. I regularly see threads asking for them, but > can't recall a really good one to send... although I think someone was > writing one? > > Methodology and habit start forming at university - if we can catch > incoming developers at that level, there'll be a very positive flow-on > effect. > > A big part of it would be to stop people treating web as an add-on to > programming courses (literally covered in a lecture or two); or > treated as part of art/multimedia courses (which often means being > taught to create flash). > > It needs to be taught as a serious discipline. I don't see why you > couldn't teach students the basics in a semester. Get the foundations > in - semantics, structure, basic accessibility and usability, XHTML, > basic CSS. Then have further units on advanced layout, progressive > enhancement and so on. > > cheers, > > Ben -- Lucien Stals Web Developer Academic Development and Support Phone +61 3 9214 4474 Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Education is only the beginning. Let's get on with it. Swinburne University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code: 00111D NOTICE This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and intended only for the use of the addressee. They may contain information that is privileged or protected by copyright. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, distribution, printing, copying or use is strictly prohibited. The University does not warrant that this e-mail and any attachments are secure and there is also a risk that it may be corrupted in transmission. It is your responsibility to check any attachments for viruses or defects before opening them. If you have received this transmission in error, please contact us on +61 3 9214 8000 and delete it immediately from your system. We do not accept liability in connection with computer virus, data corruption, delay, interruption, unauthorised access or unauthorised amendment. Please consider the environment before printing this email. ******************************************************************* List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *******************************************************************
