AI Consulting and Training Club, Bahria Town Lahore

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  • Frontend Development – Computing Core

    Frontend Development: A Comprehensive Self-Study Course

    Syllabus & Course Description

    This comprehensive 4-month self-study course is designed to take motivated beginners and intermediate learners on an immersive journey into the world of frontend web development. You will learn the essential languages, tools, and best practices to build dynamic, responsive, and visually appealing user interfaces. From the foundational building blocks of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to modern frameworks and deployment strategies, this course provides a practical and engaging learning experience. By the end, you will have a strong portfolio-ready project demonstrating your proficiency in frontend development.

    Primary Learning Objectives

    Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:

    • Understand the core principles of web development and how frontend interacts with backend.
    • Fluently write semantic HTML to structure web content.
    • Style web pages effectively using CSS, including responsive design techniques.
    • Implement dynamic and interactive features using JavaScript.
    • Work with popular JavaScript frameworks/libraries like React.
    • Utilize version control with Git and GitHub for collaborative development.
    • Deploy web applications to the internet.
    • Apply best practices for accessibility, performance, and maintainability.

    Necessary Materials

    • A computer with internet access.
    • A modern web browser (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Edge).
    • A code editor (e.g., VS Code – highly recommended).
    • Git installed on your system.
    • Node.js and npm (or yarn) installed.
    • A GitHub account.

    Course Content (16 Weeks – 14 Lessons)

    Week 1-2: Lesson 1 – The Foundation: HTML Basics

    Learning Objectives:

    • Understand what HTML is and its role in web development.
    • Learn the basic structure of an HTML document.
    • Identify and use common HTML tags for text, links, and images.

    Key Vocabulary:

    • HTML (HyperText Markup Language): The standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser.
    • Element: A component of an HTML document, consisting of a start tag, content, and an end tag (or just a self-closing tag).
    • Tag: Keywords used to define HTML elements, e.g., <p> for a paragraph.
    • Attribute: Provides additional information about an HTML element, typically in name="value" pairs.
    • Document Object Model (DOM): A programming interface for web documents. It represents the page so that programs can change the document structure, style, and content.

    Lesson Content:

    HTML is the skeleton of every webpage. It provides the structure and meaning to your content. Think of it as the blueprint of a house, where you define where the walls, doors, and windows will be. We start with the <!DOCTYPE html> declaration, which tells the browser what version of HTML to expect (HTML5). The <html> tag is the root element, encapsulating everything else. Inside, you’ll find the <head> and <body> sections.

    The <head> section contains meta-information about the page, like its title (<title>) that appears in the browser tab, links to stylesheets, and scripts. This content is not directly visible on the webpage itself.

    The <body> section is where all the visible content of your webpage resides. This includes headings (<h1> to <h6>), paragraphs (<p>), links (<a>), images (<img>), lists (<ul>, <ol>, <li>), and more. We’ll explore semantic HTML, which means choosing tags that accurately describe the content they contain, improving accessibility and SEO. For instance, using <h1> for a main heading instead of styling a <p> tag to look like a heading.

    Practical Hands-on Examples:

    1. Create a new HTML file named index.html.
    2. Set up the basic HTML boilerplate (<!DOCTYPE html>, <html>, <head>, <body>).
    3. Add a title to your page in the <head> section.
    4. Inside the <body>, create a main heading using <h1>, a paragraph using <p>, and an unordered list with a few items using <ul> and <li>.
    5. Add a link to your favorite website using <a> and an image using <img> (find a suitable image URL online).
    6. Open your index.html file in a web browser to see your first webpage!

    Week 3-4: Lesson 2 – Styling with CSS: The Basics of Appearance

    Learning Objectives:

    • Understand the role of CSS in web design.
    • Learn how to link CSS to an HTML document.
    • Identify and use common CSS selectors and properties for basic styling.

    Key Vocabulary:

    • CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): A stylesheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in HTML.
    • Selector: Used to “find” (or select) the HTML elements you want to style.
    • Property: The specific aspect of an HTML element you want to change (e.g., color, font-size).
    • Value: The setting for a given property (e.g., blue, 16px).
    • Rule Set: Consists of a selector and a declaration block (one or more declarations).
    • Inline CSS: CSS applied directly to an HTML element using the style attribute.
    • Internal CSS: CSS placed within a <style> tag in the HTML document’s <head>.
    • External CSS: CSS placed in a separate .css file and linked to the HTML document.

    Lesson Content:

    While HTML provides structure, CSS brings your webpages to life with colors, fonts, layouts, and animations. CSS dictates how your HTML elements will look. We’ll primarily focus on external stylesheets, which is the most organized and efficient way to manage your styles for larger projects. This involves creating a separate .css file and linking it to your HTML document using the <link> tag in the <head>.

    The core of CSS is the rule set, which consists of a selector and a declaration block. Selectors target specific HTML elements (e.g., p for all paragraphs, #my-id for an element with a specific ID, .my-class for elements with a specific class). The declaration block contains one or more declarations, each a property-value pair. For example, color: blue; sets the text color to blue. We will cover basic properties like color, font-family, font-size, text-align, background-color, width, and height.

    Practical Hands-on Examples:

    1. Create a new CSS file named style.css in the same