Top 10 Courses on Web Design You Can Audit for Free

With the entire world going digital in recent times due to the pandemic, businesses need to have their online presence, the first of which is having their website. While web development is of prime importance, inculcating design to web pages is highly essential. These web pages must also be responsive and should interact with users.

The following are some courses that beginners, as well as students with some experience with interface designing, can take up.

Responsive Web Design

This online course is a part of the Responsive Web Development and Design Specialization that is being offered to students by the University of London. The course can be completed in about 30 hours and will help students develop their skills in responsive web design, HTML, Javascript and Cascading Style Sheets. In this course, students will learn how to apply interaction designs and human-computer interaction to build an interactive and professional-looking website. Students will learn about website design principles, setting up a basic Bootstrap site, learn how to add content to a website and also how to add images and content to a gallery and view them in the template.

Web Design: Wireframes to Prototypes

This course is a part of the UI / UX Specialization being offered to the California Institute of Arts and can be completed in approximately 41 hours. In this course, students will look at the user interface and user experience from a design perspective rather than just focusing on marketing or programming. Students will learn about responsive web design, mobile web challenges, mobile-first approach, web typography, the relationship between design and programming and also the different web technologies that make the web work. Students will polish their skills of sketching, Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, HTML/CSS and Balsamiq.

How to Create a Website in a Weekend!

This online course is a project centred course that will teach students to develop their own website with texts, images, sounds, interactive links, etc. The course is being offered to students by the State University of New York and can be completed in just about 22 hours. In this course, students will work with their skills in web design, WordPress, websites and web development. Students will be introduced to the way the internet works, plan for their site, create an outline, set up WordPress and add all the other elements to their site. In the last module, students will also be introduced to some backend programming and can apply all their learnings practically alongside the course.

Design Principles: an Introduction

In this online course, students will learn about perception and cognition that inform interactive design. This beginner’s course is a part of the Interaction Design Specialization and can be completed in approximately 13 hours. In the course, students will learn about the fundamental principles of visual design to understand what comprises an intuitive web design. Students will learn about visual design and information design, direct manipulation, representations and designing experiments. Students will also have the opportunity to test what they have learned and conduct usability testing with their peers in the course.

Digital Manufacturing and Design

This course is centred around the digital practices in the manufacturing industry and will help students understand the digital components in it, one of which is web design. The course is being offered by the University of Buffalo and is a part of a specialization. Students can complete the course in approximately 10 hours. In this course, students will learn about the transition to the DMD Model, understand the link between data and production and also how data analytics can be used to leverage efficiency and productivity.

Advanced Styling with Responsive Design

This course is a part of the Web Design Specialization for everyone and is being offered to students by the University of Michigan. The course can be completed in approximately 14 hours and will help students develop their skills in CSS, responsive web design, javascript and Bootstrap. In this course, students will learn to analyze if their site is responsive and will begin by learning the “mobile-first” approach. Students will learn the basic concepts in web design and work with the skills mentioned above and will be able to apply their theoretical learning to practice.

UX Design Fundamentals

This online course is a part of the UI / UX Design Specialization that is being offered by the California Institute of Arts. Students can complete this course in about 15 hours and will be able to develop their skills in Adobe XD, Adobe Illustrator, InVision and Adobe Indesign. In this course, students will learn to create a clickable prototype and understand the ideation, articulation and development process and then move on to planning, mapping, researching and testing. Students will also look at a sitemap and understand better about what goes where and understand the interactivity on websites better.

Web Design: Strategy and Information Architecture

This course on web design is also a part of the UI / UX Design Specialization offered by the California Institute of Arts as mentioned above. This is an intermediate level course and can be completed in approximately 14 hours. In this course, students will work with Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign, Treejack and will understand the early user experience challenges while also learning how to create contemporary and responsive websites. Students will understand the stages in the user experience process, discuss strategy, learn about research in the early stages and also learn how to convert all of this into a navigable structure.

Web Design for Everybody: Basics of Web Development and Coding Specialization

In this specialization program, students will learn about web design and development and will be skilled enough to create their portfolio using HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript. The program is being offered by the University of Michigan and can be completed in approximately 6 months. In this course, students will learn the basics of CSS, HTML5, Javascript and learn how to create interactive and responsive web pages. Students will learn about the Document Object Model and will use it to modify pages. The course will end with a Capstone Project that will help students apply all of their theoretical learning to creating an accessible web design.

Visual Elements of User Interface Design

In this course being offered by the California Institute of Arts, students will understand the role that a designer plays in web development. This is a beginner’s level course and students can complete it in approximately 16 hours. In this course, students will begin by understanding what an interface is and what are the elements that make up the interface design. In the later modules, students will look at how users interact with the different elements. Students will then learn how to bring together these different bits of learning and create a whole complex structure.

The language of instruction for all of these courses is English and sub-titles are available for a few of them in different languages. Most of these courses can be audited for free but a few of them might require a fee for availing the course completion certificate. Students might be able to apply for financial aid for some of the courses.