Computer Club

[avatar.alex]

Ok well I am starting a computer club at my high school. I need some Ideas on what type of activities I may have them do. The computer Club will be working with mostly HTML but I would like to introduce PHP coding. But I thing I might have a web layout/template building contest once everyone is ok with HTML coding. But I don't know how much of the school knows HTML and Im only a freshman so i dont want to be looked down on when trying to show people HTML/PHP. But I think so I can mondator their website building I think ill have my site host them. But if anyone has any Ideas on what Kinds of things I should show them let me know please.

[NogDog]

Politically, the best thing might be to solicit ideas from the club members. That accomplishes a few things: it helps to select something they're definitely interested in, it gives them a sense of participation and ownership in the process, and it keeps you from being the "dictator". :) That being said, it doesn't hurt to throw some suggestions at them.

For web development, some "things to learn first":
Using HTML to mark up a document for semantic meaning. Start to learn how to read and use the W3.org HTML Specification (http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/). Get into the practice of using the HTML Validator (http://validator.w3.org/).
Using CSS to define the visual appearance of your HTML pages (rather than using HTML tables and deprecated attributes). Start to learn how to read and use the W3.org CSS Specification (http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS21/). Get into the practice of using the W3.org CSS Validator (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/).
At this point, you are now ready to look into adding dynamic functionality to your web pages, via client-side programming (e.g.: JavaScript) and/or server-side programming (e.g.: PHP).

[avatar.alex]

i want to have our first meeting some time next week i dont know the first thing i should talk about or do.

[NogDog]

How about starting with a project to get a web site up and running for your club? Depending on how many people you have and what their various interests are, you might split up into teams:
A team to determine where to host it, perhaps on your school's web host if it has a web site (be sure to select a host that supports PHP!)
A team to determine and write content
A team to design and implement the graphic layout of the site, perhaps selecting an open source CMS, bulletin board, etc. to use on the site

[avatar.alex]

i love that idea...but there is already going to be a website up and running. But I could have teams creat their own website using free hosting and have them voted by people on the internet