Introduction

Aim and purpose
The aim of this unit is to give learners a knowledge of how websites function and an understanding of their purpose as business tools. Learners will then gain develop the skills required to design and create a multiple page website.

Unit introduction
The worldwide web has given rise to a new medium of communication. Websites can allow us to ‘walk into’ a world with very few boundaries. We can find MP3 files and download them with ease. Our digital images can be sent to relatives overseas in seconds. We can go shopping without leaving our homes and source the  very best prices with the click of a mouse button.

Essential to developing the worldwide web are the people who design effective documents that can be 'read' by a web browser. Web designers have the fascinating task of taking text, images, video and other resources and crafting them into high quality documents for broadcasting across the world via the internet. Their brief is to produce attractive and informative sites that are accessible to everyone. This includes users with disabilities, where, for example, features can allow speech synthesisers to read out pages for blind users. In this unit learners see the potential of the web and will develop a skill set which will be highly valued by industry and commerce as well as being a useful personal skill for leisure pursuits. Web design is a skill that is becoming more and more popular as the worldwide web expands and as companies see the advantage of using browser technology for their company intranets. The unit provides a firm grounding in the concepts of web design which will help learners to progress to employment or to another educational course  and to become valued employees with the key skills needed in their chosen employment.

Learning outcomes
On completion of this unit a learner should:

1 Know web architecture and components

2 Understand how websites can be used by organisations

3 Be able to design website components

4 Be able to create website components.