Learn HTML Coding Online for Free

In 2006, it is getting to be not only common to own your own website, but in many cases, it is becoming necessary to own a bit of the web. It can be costly to have someone design your website, but if you have any computer-savvy about you at all, there are several free online courses that can teach you pretty much anything you need to know about coding and designing your own website.

One very useful site is Web Tech U . This site contains many free online classes that only take a couple of weeks to get through. You can learn basic HTML, graphics programs such as Paint Shop Pro, and other useful web knowledge. As with any online class, these courses require commitment and must be taken seriously or you will be removed from the student list.

The course I took was through Yahoo groups. If you are not familiar with a Yahoo group, the idea is simple. It is like a discussion board that when you post to it, emails go out to everyone on the list. These groups can be anything from social chats about hobbies to serious channels of learning. The best one for learning HTML is Budding HTML Gurus. Once you are accepted to the class, you must be faithful every week for about 16 weeks. Each week you will receive a lesson, homework, and quiz via email. The lessons are graded and corrections will be made. By the end of the course, you will be able to hand code your own website using only your basic Notepad program on your computer! You will also receive a cyber-diploma and some students receive awards as well.

If you enjoy that, there are several classes to take afterwards. One is a design class for which you will want to be familiar with a graphics program such as Paint Shop Pro. This class is the Juelle Web Design course. There are students' portfolios on the site you can surf through to see what you will be learning. I actually started this class and it was extremely enjoyable, but it is also very time consuming and with three little boys and a lot of other activity going on at home, I had to stop the course. I hope to resume it again in the future, as it is a very informative and rewarding course.

For the more technical minded, CSS Wise Owls is a course to continue your web building skills using Cascading Style Sheets. This will reinforce and build upon the HTML knowledge you gained in Budding HTML Gurus.

If you want a website and desire full control over your design and upkeep, seriously consider taking one of the free classes offered online. You will not regret it, and you will have the fulfillment of making a professional looking website all on your own.