Anyone know of a good introductory web design & graphics course?

A course is probably out. You could check your local community college to see if they have anything. Courses in general tend to be poorly taught, out of date, and not appropriate for specifc needs. There are a couple of books to check out:

Taking your Talent ot the Web by Jeffrey Zeldman, one of the best known experts in web design. This is written specifically for print designers moving over to web design work. It is a five year old book so some of the techniques might be outdated (although Zeldman was always ahead of his time in those days)

Designing with Web Standards - also by Zeldman. This is a must read if you are doing anything beyond graphics (HTML or CSS coding).

Designing Web Graphics by Linda Weinman. This is also a little out of date but has been a great handbook for web graphics for many, many years.

He or she will also want to learn Flash. It's a great platform for small animations and interactive applications. There are lots of books on Flash, or you could try looking for a course in your area. He/she should also check any graphics books he/she already has to see if they have a section on optimizing graphics for the web. I think a web search could provide enough information on that.

The designer really needs to understand that the web is not print. You can't expect the same level of control as you can in a print environment. Browsers, screen resolutions, and individual settings can wreak havoc on a carefully controlled layout. You have to work with that rather than trying to override it. It's often easy to spot a site designed by a former print designer because they'll cover the page with graphics to get more control rather than working with the medium. Graphics also need to be optimized for download speed, which might compromise a finely tuned design.

Thanks Megan, I've passed your message on to her.

Only thing is that she will need to put time aside for learning and that is unlikely to be feasible in the office due to interruptions etc - and I don't think she'll do it on her own time!

That is why a course would have been perfect - its also good to be able to run your understanding of a topic past someone who understands it properly.

Most of us do learn on our own time, or set aside work time for it. It's the way it goes in this industry. Things are constantly changing and there are always new things to learn so you can't rely on the occasional course to keep you up to date.

If she wants feedback on anything she could come here. We'd be happy to help

Sitepoint.com also has several really good books on HTML, CSS, Graphics, and Javascript which may come in handy.

Maybe you could try lynda.com they have some very good tutorials.

Steve

That's the same Lynda as the linda who authored the third book I posted (I just spelled her name wrong!)

Her books have been around forever! (and by forever I mean 1998-ish)

(Correction: first published in 1996; looks like she's got a lot of great resources on her site too)