Web Design for Kids (and Curious Grown-Ups!)

I received the instructional DVD Web Design for Kids (. . . and Curious Grown-Ups!)  by Click Drag Solutions for review for the TOS Homeschool Crew.  Although my children are too young for computer instruction yet (not that they wouldn’t like to try it!  😉 ), I recognized myself in the title—“curious grown-ups”!  I consider myself a technological novice–I know just enough to run my blog, and that’s about it.  HTML code is something I didn’t even pretend to understand (just ask Abigail at A Source of Joy Graphic Design who made my Read Aloud Thursday button).  However, the longer I blog, the more I recognize that having at least a rudimentary knowledge of HTML code would be very beneficial.  Hence, I watched this DVD with a lot of interest and a little bit of trepidation.

After just finishing this intructional DVD, I am happy to say that I at least have a very basic understanding of how HTML code works.  Could I code my own blog?  No way.  Can I at least pick out what the parts of the code are and determine where one line ends and another begins?  Yes.  I found this DVD to be extremely easy to follow.  I simply watched the DVD on my computer, minimized the screen when I was instructed to actually create what we had just learned on the DVD on my own document, and then returned to the DVD for more instruction.  The video instructor, Brian Richardson, explains everything in a very kid-friendly (or novice adult-friendly) way.  He even injects a little bit of humor into his presentation.  (I particularly thought it was funny when I could hear the crew laughing at one of his jokes!)  Brian Richardson is instructing two students on the DVD, and the students follow along on their laptops.  Occasionally one of them will make a mistake or ask a question, so the producers of this product did a good job anticipating what might go wrong “on the other side of the screen.”  The following topics are covered on this DVD:

• Basic HTML code
• Adding pictures
• Coloring letters and backgrounds
• Making text move across the screen
• Making paragraphs

The DVD is broken up into chapters, so when I needed to take a break from it, I was able to do so at a good stopping place.  The DVD lasts about 75 minutes.

I had minimal problems following his exact instructions due to my operating system (I use Vista) not being exactly like the one they use on the DVD.  For example, I was not able to click back and forth between my .html page and my .txt page (in Notepad) the way I was instructed to on the DVD.  However, these problems were easily solved with a little bit of tinkering.  At the end of my lesson, I had this lovely page to show for my efforts:

(Go ahead–it’s okay to laugh at my pitiful attempt to draw Skittles in Paint! 🙂 )

I would think that any child with minimal knowledge about how to set up files and folders on his or her computer would be able to follow this step-by-step DVD.  It helped me to realize that HTML need not be completely intimidating.  I don’t think I’ll start a graphic design business any time soon, but at least now I know I can learn this stuff if I need to! 

Web Design for Kids (. . . and Curious Grown-Ups!) is available here for a limited time for $19.99 (plus $3.99 S & H).  Click Drag Solutions even contributes a portion of the sales from each DVD to several worthy charities.  You can even view a clip of the video  or view websites created by children after receiving this instruction to see if Web Design for Kids might be a good fit for your family.  Good instruction and helping those in need–you can’t go wrong with that!  I think this DVD would make a good starting point for any child (or adult) interested in basic HTML. 

If you’d like to read reviews of this product by other TOS Homeschool Crew members, go here.

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