Certification in HTML/CSS/Javascript

Does any company or organisation provide exams with the purpose of
certification / qualification in web authoring technologies such as
HTML, CSS, Javascript? Ten years ago I took a series of (computer
based) Microsoft Certified Professional exams which were quite good
fun, eventually achieving MCSE status. Since I am spending time
learning writing web pages it might be nice to do an exam in it.

I am looking for skills testing in general rather than any company's
web authoring tool proficiency in particular.

Max@Volume.com

wrote:
> Does any company or organisation provide exams with the purpose of
> certification / qualification in web authoring technologies such as
> HTML, CSS, Javascript? Ten years ago I took a series of (computer
> based) Microsoft Certified Professional exams which were quite good
> fun, eventually achieving MCSE status. Since I am spending time
> learning writing web pages it might be nice to do an exam in it.
>
> I am looking for skills testing in general rather than any company's
> web authoring tool proficiency in particular.

I don't know where you live. Where I live in the central US anyone can
set up shop to write web pages for hire without exams. However you have
to pass an exam to be a barber or a member of several trades. Things
may be different elsewhere. A degree in computer science from a
university with a good reputation would help establish one's
qualifications, but that is more training than some who write web pages
may need. You may also use the W3C validators for HTML and CSS, and if
the page fully validates, you may use a W3C icon that so indicates. Of
course a page may validate fully, but the layout or subject matter of
the page still can be an awful mess. Some vocational technical schools
that teach various computer skill subjects likely will provide some
documentation if you pass their course. But I can not think of a place
where you can go to take a test to certify that you meet certain
standards in writing certain types of web page code.

wrote:

> Does any company or organisation provide exams with the purpose of
> certification / qualification in web authoring technologies such as
> HTML, CSS, Javascript?

No, or at least not credibly. Lots of cowboys though.

So far, the quality of such schemes has been so poor that they've
either been ignored by the clueful, or actually seen as a negative
attribute for a candidate. Certainly anyone who _thinks_ that their CIW
qualification is meaningful is certainly clueless.

CIW is the best of the bunch, and the widest known. It's still an
extremely low standard though, really just not worth bothering about.

wrote:
> Does any company or organisation provide exams with the purpose of
> certification / qualification in web authoring technologies such as
> HTML, CSS, Javascript?

I know w3schools.org host some online exams - I haven't tried them, however.
Brendan

wrote:
> Does any company or organisation provide exams with the purpose of
> certification / qualification in web authoring technologies such as
> HTML, CSS, Javascript? Ten years ago I took a series of (computer
> based) Microsoft Certified Professional exams which were quite good
> fun, eventually achieving MCSE status. Since I am spending time
> learning writing web pages it might be nice to do an exam in it.
>
> I am looking for skills testing in general rather than any company's
> web authoring tool proficiency in particular.

I don't know if these companies are still running but I list them for
you anyway.

Here is one:
http://www.webprofessionals.org/education/

Here is another:
http://www.ciwcertified.com/certific...comm=CND&llm=3

Macromedia have certifications available and there is a PHP certification.

Hope that helps,

Kat

<> wrote in message
news:...
> Does any company or organisation provide exams with the purpose of
> certification / qualification in web authoring technologies such as
> HTML, CSS, Javascript? Ten years ago I took a series of (computer
> based) Microsoft Certified Professional exams which were quite good
> fun, eventually achieving MCSE status. Since I am spending time
> learning writing web pages it might be nice to do an exam in it.
>
> I am looking for skills testing in general rather than any company's
> web authoring tool proficiency in particular.

If the tool is any good, it conforms to GUI standards (You know; New, Save,
Open, Close, Print, Preview, Upload, etc. go on the File Menu, while Undo,
Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste Special, etc. go on the Edit Menu) and you
won't need lessons. Remember this if you find yourself continually looking
up how to do things in the Help files when you are trialling a tool.

Forget IT certification. Publish a well ordered, well-ranked site on a
relevant topic or collection of topics. Show a several different layouts and
compositions by site area or by way of example, and make sure that every
single page on the site is validated for both HTML and CSS with
www.w3c.org, then validated for accessibility. Badge the site with test
links to the online validation tools and this is better than anything a
certification can say about the skills you can bring to a project.

<RANT>
In my day certification meant that the Men in White were coming to collect
you, to take you away to a nice clean soft room, with your own personal
canvas jacket, and all the right medications. These days, they just give you
a piece of paper and shoot you the next time you are seen picking up a piece
of cutlery in public! BANG! BANG!, "Drop the teaspoon or I'll shoot!"
:^)

Seriously, the problem with wrote learning systems such as certification
programs is that they teach you to do things in a certain way. While this is
good in the context of teamwork, it inhibits lateral thinking and
discourages participants from asking the most important engineering
question, "Is there a better way?" Take a look at the vast majority of web
sites built around the world. Where there is fixed branding, you most often
find frames. Where there are menus, you most often find slow obsolete Java
Scripts and Applets. Where there is consistent layout you more often find
the pages structured by tables with styles written individually to every
page on the site! The "experts" more often use applications that produce
incorrect HTML, and they use the wrong techniques. Such drips under pressure
seem not to think far enough outside the box to question the utter garbage
they were taught at university about the rose-tainted world of the Internet,
where it is purported that there is no crime to discourage trust and all
user agents (eg. browsers) conform to a single SGML standard. Ughh, that's
not even funny! :^P
</RANT>

Like I said, do some interesting and stylish things with the view to both
function and aesthetics, especially when your site is listed on the
browser's "Restricted Sites" list, and let your work speak for you to
everyone. It is after all, on display to the entire world and especially to
your customers...

--
Timothy Casey GPEMC! >> 11950 is the 2email
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