Internet Web Foundations

Course Description

Internet Web Foundations teaches the basic hands-on skills and knowledge that today's business and Internet professionals are expected to understand and use. The curriculum focuses on fundamental internet applications, web page design, and web page development along with publishing techniques using HTML, CSS, and basic web server management, and students complete various practical assignments and tasks.

Within the SCNS taxonomy, CTS is the Computer Technology and Skills prefix and the C suffix marks a combined lecture-and-laboratory course. Daytona State publishes the related unsuffixed CTS1851 at 3 credits, offered fall, spring and summer.

⚠ Two divergences on this number

• Suffix: CTS1851C and CTS1851 are distinct SCNS numbers, and under Rule 22 equivalency does not cross the suffix. Confirm with the receiving institution.
• Title: the statewide inventory carries this number as "CIW Web Foundations" — a reference to the CIW certification vendor — while Daytona State titles it "Internet Web Foundations (HTML, CSS)". The content is the same; the statewide title indicates the course is aligned to a certification. Ask the programme whether it prepares for and offers the certification examination, since that materially affects the value of the course.

HTML and CSS are the two technologies every web page uses, and they remain worth learning properly even in an era of frameworks — because every framework ultimately produces HTML and CSS, and a developer who does not understand what is produced cannot debug it.

Daytona State does not publish a lecture and laboratory split for its CTS courses. The prefix's C-suffixed courses run consistently at 20 contact hours per credit — CTS2302C, CTS2303C, CTS2321C, CTS2358C, CTS2370C and CTS2375C are all published at 3 credits and 60 hours — while its unsuffixed courses run at 15 (CTS2214 at 3 credits and 45 hours). This course is priced at the C-form convention.

Learning Outcomes

Required Outcomes

• Describe how the web works: clients, servers, requests, and responses.
• Describe internet protocols and services at a working level.
• Describe domain names, hosting, and how a site is reached.
• Write valid, well-structured HTML.
• Use semantic HTML elements appropriately.
• Structure a document with headings, lists, and sections.
• Create links, and describe absolute and relative paths.
• Embed images and media with appropriate attributes.
• Build accessible tables and forms.
• Describe form submission and how data reaches a server.
• Write CSS and apply it to a document.
• Use selectors, specificity, and the cascade correctly.
• Apply the box model to control spacing and sizing.
• Lay out pages using modern CSS layout methods.
• Build responsive pages that work across screen sizes.
• Apply typography, colour, and visual hierarchy.
• Describe web accessibility and apply its basic requirements.
• Validate markup and stylesheets and correct errors.
• Use browser developer tools to inspect and debug.
• Optimise images and assets for the web.
• Publish a site to a web server.
• Describe basic web server management and file permissions.
• Describe version control at an introductory level.
• Plan and build a complete multi-page site.

Optional Outcomes

• Describe JavaScript at an introductory level.
• Describe content management systems.
• Describe search engine optimisation basics.
• Describe web security fundamentals, including HTTPS.
• Describe web performance measurement.
• Prepare for a web foundations certification.

Major Topics

Required Topics

• How the web works
• Internet protocols and services
• Domains, hosting, and addressing
• Valid HTML
• Semantic elements
• Document structure
• Links and paths
• Images and media
• Tables and forms
• Form submission
• CSS basics
• Selectors, specificity, and the cascade
• The box model
• Modern layout methods
• Responsive design
• Typography, colour, and hierarchy
• Web accessibility
• Validation and error correction
• Browser developer tools
• Asset optimisation
• Publishing to a server
• Basic server management and permissions
• Introductory version control
• Building a complete site

Optional Topics

• Introductory JavaScript
• Content management systems
• Search engine optimisation
• Web security and HTTPS
• Performance measurement
• Web foundations certification

Resources & Tools

• Virtualisation software — VirtualBox is free, and VMware Workstation Player is free for personal use; a home lab of virtual machines costs nothing but disk space and it is the single best way to learn this material.
• Microsoft Learn (learn.microsoft.com) — free official documentation and learning paths for Windows Server and client administration.
• The Linux Documentation Project, and your distribution's own documentation — free; the Arch and Debian wikis are useful well beyond their own distributions.
• MDN Web Docs (developer.mozilla.org) — free and the authoritative reference for HTML and CSS.
• CompTIA (comptia.org) — A+, Network+, Security+, Linux+, and Server+; employers ask for these by name.
• Microsoft and Linux Foundation certifications — role-based credentials recognised in enterprise hiring.
• man pages and built-in help — learning to read documentation rather than searching for a copyable command is the skill that actually separates administrators.
• Your own documented home lab — a candidate who can describe what they built, what broke, and how they fixed it interviews far better than one listing courses.

Career Pathways

• Network and computer systems administrator — SOC 15-1244.
• Computer user support specialist — SOC 15-1232; the usual entry route.
• Computer network support specialist — SOC 15-1231.
• Windows systems administrator — a large share of enterprise infrastructure roles.
• Linux systems administrator — strongly represented in hosting, cloud, and engineering organisations.
• Cloud infrastructure and DevOps — the growth area, and it builds directly on this material.
• Information security analyst — SOC 15-1212; systems administration is the most common route into security.
• Web developer — SOC 15-1254, for the web foundations pathway.
• Florida's defence, space, and simulation sector, plus healthcare, hospitality, and financial services IT — ⚠ many defence roles require U.S. citizenship and some a security clearance.
• Managed service providers — broad exposure quickly, and a common early career step.

Special Information

⚠ Accessibility is a requirement, not a refinement — and it is easiest to build in from the start

• An inaccessible site excludes real people, and for many organisations it also creates legal exposure — accessibility litigation over websites is common and increasing.
• Semantic HTML does most of the work for free. Real headings, lists, buttons, and form labels give assistive technology the structure it needs; a page built from unlabelled generic containers gives it nothing.
• Every image needs alternative text that conveys its purpose — and a decorative image needs empty alt text rather than a description.
• Label every form control properly, associated with its input. Placeholder text is not a label.
• Check colour contrast, and never convey information by colour alone — colour vision deficiency is common.
• Make everything keyboard operable, with a visible focus indicator. Many users never touch a mouse.
• Use headings in order to describe the document structure, not to achieve a font size.
• Test with a screen reader and by keyboard alone — ten minutes of this teaches more than any checklist.
• Retrofitting accessibility is far more expensive than building it in, which is the practical argument that persuades employers.

⚠⚠ Authorisation is the line between a systems professional and a defendant

• Never access, scan, or reconfigure a system you do not have permission to touch. Administrative knowledge is exactly what makes unauthorised access easy, and that is why the rule matters more in this field than in most.
• Federal exposure: the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act criminalises unauthorised access to a protected computer, and "exceeding authorised access" has been read broadly.
• ⚠⚠ Florida exposure is separate and additional: the Florida Computer Crimes Act, Chapter 815, Florida Statutes, makes offences against computer users and equipment punishable under state law independently of federal law.
• Having administrative credentials is not the same as having authorisation. Being able to read a mailbox or a file share does not mean you may, and audit logs record that you did.
• Use the lab. The programme provides an isolated environment precisely so techniques that would be unlawful elsewhere can be practised lawfully — and build your own virtual lab at home, off the production network.
• Get scope in writing before any authorised administrative or testing engagement.
• ⚠ Rule 11 applies — computer crime and privacy law changes; verify rather than relying on a course guide.

How Florida course levels affect transfer

The first digit of an SCNS number denotes the year of offering, not transferability. Courses at the 1000 and 2000 levels transfer transparently between Florida public institutions, and 3000 to 4000 is unproblematic since both are upper division. The boundary that actually matters is 2000 to 3000, where lower-division credit generally cannot satisfy an upper-division requirement — and it is live here, since Daytona State offers both associate-level and bachelor of applied science coursework in this prefix.

CTS1851C is a combined lecture-and-laboratory course, published here at 3 credits and approximately 60 contact hours. Daytona State publishes the related unsuffixed CTS1851 at 3 credits, offered fall, spring and summer.

⚠ Both the suffix and the title differ from the statewide inventory entry — see the note above, and ask whether the certification examination is offered.