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Build track

Web Application Development

Backend — then go further. Four weeks of classes, face to face at USTED Campus in Kumasi or live online: PHP and MySQL, forms that really work, an owner's login and dashboard, photo uploads, security and a site that goes live. Know some HTML and CSS? You can start here.

Beginner 4 weeks 8 classes Face to face or online

Overview

The second course on the path. In Web Development you built websites that look good; here you build the part nobody sees — the backend that stores information and lets a business owner run their own website.

In class everyone builds Auntie Esi's Kitchen, a chop bar website whose menu comes from a database, with a contact form that saves every message and a private owner's login and dashboard: read messages, add dishes, change prices, mark dishes sold out and add photos. By the last session it is live on the internet, ready to show employers and clients, and you add the same features to your own site from Web Development.

It keeps the rhythm you know: three-hour sessions where you watch it built live, build along twice, take on a challenge and show your work, in a class of no more than 20 students. Fall behind and there is a saved checkpoint — and a database file to import — for every step.

What you will be able to do

  • Run your own web server on your laptop with XAMPP, and explain what the backend does
  • Write PHP that builds pages: variables, if, arrays, loops and shared headers and footers
  • Make forms that really work: check every field and print what visitors type safely
  • Design MySQL tables and read and change data with SQL
  • Connect PHP to MySQL with prepared statements that stop SQL injection
  • Build an owner's login with hashed passwords, sessions and private pages
  • Build an admin dashboard to read messages, add and edit dishes, mark them sold out and upload photos
  • Protect every form, then put the whole site live on the internet and present it

Course modules

4 modules · 12 lessons

1 Week 1 · PHP and forms Turn your capstone into PHP pages that build themselves, then make a contact form that really receives messages.

  • How the backend works and your first PHP Free preview

    Install XAMPP, write your first PHP, and turn Auntie Esi's Kitchen into PHP with a shared header and footer.

    Class

  • Forms that really work

    A menu search with GET and a contact page with POST that checks every field and prints safely.

    Class

  • Week 1 quiz: PHP and forms

    Fourteen quick questions on Sessions 1 and 2: how the backend works, PHP basics, GET and POST, and forms that check every field.

    Quiz
2 Week 2 · Data that stays Store the menu and the messages in a MySQL database, and connect your pages to it.

  • Databases and SQL

    Tables, keys and SQL in phpMyAdmin: SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, export and import.

    Class

  • PHP and MySQL together

    The menu from the database, prepared statements against SQL injection, and every message saved.

    Class

  • Week 2 quiz: data that stays

    Fourteen quick questions on Sessions 3 and 4: tables and SQL, then PHP and MySQL together.

    Quiz
3 Week 3 · Owners only Give the business owner a private login and a dashboard to read messages and add new items.

  • Login and sessions

    Hashed passwords, sessions and pages only the owner can open.

    Class

  • The admin dashboard

    Read and manage messages, list the menu and add dishes — without ever sending a change twice.

    Class

  • Week 3 quiz: owners only

    Fourteen quick questions on Sessions 5 and 6: passwords, sessions and the login, then the messages and menu pages.

    Quiz
4 Week 4 · Manage it and go live Let the owner change prices, mark dishes sold out and add photos safely, then put the whole site online and present it.

  • Edit, upload and lock it down

    Edit dishes, sold out today, photo uploads checked properly, and CSRF tokens on every form.

    Class

  • Going live and demo day

    Put the site on a real web host, test it on a phone, and present a day in Auntie Esi's life.

    Project milestone

  • Week 4 quiz: manage it and go live

    Fourteen quick questions on Sessions 7 and 8: editing, sold out, photo uploads, CSRF, going live and demo day.

    Quiz

What you walk away with

Auntie Esi's Kitchen, live on the internet: a menu from a database, a contact form that saves every message, and an owner's login and dashboard to change prices, mark dishes sold out and add photos from a phone.

  • PHP
  • MySQL
  • XAMPP
  • phpMyAdmin
  • SQL
  • Git

What you need before you start

  • A laptop and its charger, brought to every class — we install XAMPP together in the first session
  • Some HTML and CSS — Web Development covers everything you need
  • Your GitHub login

Cohorts and schedule

No cohorts scheduled yet

We are planning the next run of this course. Tell us you are interested and we will let you know the dates first.

More in the Build track

Beginner

Web Development

  • Figma
  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
  • Git
  • GitHub

Frontend — start here. Four weeks of classes, face to face at USTED Campus in Kumasi or live online: design in Figma, build with HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and put your work online with Git and GitHub. Beginners welcome.

Length
4 weeks
Starts
Fee
GH₵500.00

Enrolling now

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