We hope to set a new standard for curriculum data sharing between vendors, clients, and maybe even clearinghouses and brokers.

In case your browser is not equipped for XML, here's our training catalog in its traditional HTML format.

Blowing Our Own Horn

Our New Look

Frames were an attempt to solve a real problem: how, in HTML, to create high-quality user interfaces in which the components (the contents of each frame) can be changed independently and can scroll independently. For example, it's useful to a have a menu on the left that doesn't change whereas the content on the right does change (in response to menu selections.) This can indeed be done with frames, and we used to do it that way on our site.

However, we found that frames cause as many problems as they solve:

• Framed pages sometimes don't print correctly.
• Framed pages often can't be bookmarked correctly.
• Search engines sometimes can't index framed pages.
• Multiple scrollbars can be annoying.

Our Hottest Courses

If you'd like us to teach them to your employees in your classroom, let us know.

Hands-On XML

Apache for Webmasters

Javascript for Programmers

Using Databases on the Web

HTML Authoring for the Web

HTML Authoring, Part II

Java Jumpstart

Web Graphics with Photoshop

Advanced Perl

Perl Jumpstart

CGI Scripting in Perl

Here's a complete list of our training offerings.

Open Source Courseware

What this means, in plain English, is that we develop and deliver our courseware on the Web. These materials are written for instructor-led delivery in the classroom. Thus, our students and clients get the best of both worlds.

Alas, misconceptions about open source abound. Please indulge us on our soapbox here to debunk a few of them.

• Open Source Doesn't Mean Free for All Purposes.

  We recently made the unpleasant discovery that a would-be competitor was selling our courseware and pocketing the money. While we were complimented by the evident perception of the quality of our materials, we were nonetheless obliged to take legal action... and prevailed.

  Open source means you can look at and learn from our materials. And if you can make money from them... great! But get our permission first. Open source or not, copyrights matter. Intellectual property rights are serious business.

• How Can You Trust Open Source Software?

  Isn't the quality low by definition? Absolutely not! Some of the world's best writers and programmers develop products that are distributed as open source. Some of the best-maintained products are distributed as open source. Beliefs about open source and amateur authors abound but are not borne by the facts.

• If There's No One to Sue, We Do Not Use It

  Fact: Numerous vendors provide support contracts.

• What If the Inventor Dies or Retires?

  Fact: Closed-source products have the same exposure and likewise must be managed for resilience in the face of turnover.

Confused by All the Choices and Options?

Choosing a Training Vendor?

Our rigorous instructor development process and courseware development process enable us to achieve consistently outstanding results.

Perl!

We revere the inventor of the language, Larry Wall, and got his autograph.

Centra!

The Masie Center

The EverChange Institute

Articles that Caught Our Eye

• How Fast Is Fast Enough? Here's an authoritative article on studies of perceptions of web site download times.

• Microsoft: Judgement Day is one of the few well-balanced articles we've seen on Microsoft, a topic that inevitably arouses ire or allegiance. This is an example of the excellent news reporting and analyis we've come to expect from The Nation.

• Here's the text of a fascinating talk by Tim O'Reilly about the economics of open-source software. Just as the major power shift in our industry was from software to hardware -- enabling Microsoft to replace IBM as the most-feared company -- today the shift is from software to web sites. Today, he says, web sites are the applications people use: Amazon, Ebay, Officedomain, Etrade, and so on. We agree, and use our website accordingly... (see Paperless Classroom, above).

• The New Unix Professional -- technical competence is not enough.

• Here's one opinion on where the rapidly-growing training industry is headed.

• Wisdom from the father of the Web: Berners-Lee "Staggered" by What People Put Up with on Web. (We agree and got his autograph.)

• Measuring Return on Training at Merck & Co.

• We're in the right place at the right time -- training is a growth industry!

• User interface design is something we care about passionately, especially since we so often see it done poorly. Here are some particularly succinct articles that apply some of the best UI design thinking to web sites:

  • What is the optimal line length when reading prose text from a monitor? (I've had a number of discussions about this lately... Everyone's got an opinion. Well, here are some facts!)

  • Insights from Human Factors International, Inc.

  • Good Design Is NOT Just Common Sense

  • Dos and Don'ts for User Interface Designers

  • Efficiency in Design

  • Research-based observations -- a year-end list of design "Dos and Don'ts" that all have recent research to support them

• Somewhat off-topic but fascinating anyway:

  • I really like the writings of the Human Factors people. At last, they're on-line so I won't be posting them here henceforth. Instead, you can go straight to their site.

  • This article explains why -- at last! -- usability issues are getting the attention they deserve.

  • This article gives measurements of human interaction speeds for reading, listening, speaking, keying, and handwriting.

  • This article debunks superstitions arising from Dr. George Miller's famous paper on "The Magical Number Seven."

  • Big screens! We can't live without them, and wonder why so many computer users put up with those postage-stamp-sized monitors. Here's evidence that screen size does indeed impact productivity. We knew it all along.

  • Convinced? Here's a vendor: Spire Controls - Flat Panel Displays and Monitors Manufacturer of flat panel displays and monitors, touch screens, panel pcs, and industrial computers for control system automation.

Do You Need Training on These Topics?

• Introduction to Computer Programming

  Audience: Technical people adding software development to their skillset.

  What's the right first programming language? Perl? Java?

  How much time can we give it? One day? Two days? Three?

  Objectives -- Upon completion of the class, the attendee will:

  • Have a good vocabulary of programming concepts
  • Be able to write simple programs
  • Possess the skills to obtain the information needed to write complex programs
  • Do we want to teach object-oriented programming in this introductory class?

• Supporting Unix-Based Applications

  Essential skills for technical staff who support applications that run in Unix environments and their users. (Details.) These include:
  • Support the customer
  • Be proactive
  • Manage the processes
  • Monitor server performance
  • Process the logs
  • Verify connectivity
  • Job/batch scheduling

• Web Site Management (details)

  • Length: 2 days
  • Audience:
    • Web Technical Architects, Web Administrators, Systems Administrators (larger sites)
    • Web Project Managers, Developers (smaller sites)
  • Difficulty Level: Introductory
  • Prerequisites: Knowledge of HTML, basic computer usage
  • Objectives:
    • Grasp key concepts of Web servers
    • Perform tasks and duties of webmaster (or web administrator)
    • Define site requirements (to get a site up and running)
    • Support and maintain and a Web site
    • Improve a Web site
  • Topics include:
    • Managing your own server vs. co-location vs. outsourcing hosting
    • NT vs. Unix
    • Apache vs. IIS
    • Related components: database, middleware, search engines, log analysis, proxies, firewalls
    • Service providers
    • Security
    • Hit counters and measuring success
    • CGI, ASP
    • Link checking
    • Plugins, multimedia, MIME
    • Backup and mirroring