The IBDE Web Essentials program is a Selkirk College accredited, instructor-led program that is delivered online over approximately 720 hours. The eight courses in the program are as follows:

• IBDE102: Introduction to the Internet
  This course will provide participants with an understanding of how the internet began and how it became what it is today. Learners will also discover where it all started by examining the history of the computer and the technology involved. Additional topics include security and social networking.
• IBDE104: Site Theory and Design
  This is a pre-planning course structured to offer participants insight into the many thought processes involved in planning a website. Our goal here is to help learners realize what is viewed in today's online industry as professional and standards compliant and convey knowledge of accessibility in design. This course will provide participants with the steps required to begin thinking about the design, layout, and development of their online e-commerce presence.
• IBDE106: Introductory Web Graphics
  This course will introduce you to the Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended (PS CS5) software program. You will learn common image editing techniques such as global and targeted lighting adjustments, global and targeted colour adjustments, various shape- and colour-based image selections, colour models, basic image composition using layers, image styling, type manipulation and creating vector graphics using shapes and much, much more.
• IBDE108: Advanced Web Graphics
  In this more advanced course participants will continue to explore and learn more of the powerful features within Adobe Photoshop CS5. Retouching tools, selection tools, filters and effects, managing and transforming layers, and creating type and shapes are among the topics studied in this course.
• IBDE110: HTML/XHTML Programming
  Participants will learn the basics of coding web pages by hand. This course will provide learners with the skills required to create web pages using HTML/XHTML programming and introduce cascading style sheets (CSS). Developing the basic "hand-coding" skills will enable learners to modify web pages developed with any web authoring tool, thus building a strong foundation for the development and fast editing of any website. This is a very beneficial ability regardless of the web authoring program used. There is a strong focus on teaching students to adhere to the W3C industry standards in XHTML and CSS as well as designing with accessibility in mind.
• IBDE112: Dreamweaver CS5 ~ Site Development

  This course gives you an introduction to developing standards-compliant, static websites using Dreamweaver CS5. Dreamweaver is the industry-leading HTML editor for designing, coding, and developing websites, web pages, and web applications. Dreamweaver contains both a design and code editor, so you can enjoy the control of hand-coding HTML, or take advantage of Dreamweaver’s rich visual editing features to quickly create web pages without typing a line of code. You will learn how to set up a site, manage the files within, and work with text and absolutely-positioned layers.

• IBDE114: Website Marketing and Maintenance
  In this course participants will learn how to build effective keyword phrases to implement as part of their web marketing strategies. Search engine rankings play a key role in the success of any online business and, therefore, such strategies are given a heavy emphasis in this course. Topics include the basics of search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM), how search engines work, how to build keywords, how to implement keywords strategically, factors influencing ranking, SEO information and guidelines of Google, MSN, and Yahoo!, and analyzing the competition.
• IBDE116: Instructor-directed Work Project (Final Project Website)
  Students create their own fully customized website, search engine optimized and ready to accept payments from PayPal--the world's most used and securely encrypted shopping cart and payment gateway. Students may create a site for themselves or for anyone they know; for example, a client who wishes to have the student maintain their website for them upon completion of the IBDE program.

Established web designers and graduates of the 6-month IBDE Web Essentials program are also eligible to sign up for the IBDE Web Advanced courses [2] we offer.