In an optional subject I would like to teach HTML/CSS to students of age 13-17 at Gymnasium.
Does anybody has experience with teaching HTML/CSS with the Kirby CMS at school?
Is there a reduced license for young students, maybe one that is only valid for a year or so?
I’ve given a workshop on Kirby at my old Gymnasium a few years ago. This workshop was mostly about content editing, but I talked to the teacher who has also given classes on basic HTML/CSS.
I think it makes the most sense to start with static HTML. Once the syntax and semantics are understood, you can add CSS to the mix. I’d recommend to keep everything in one file and extend that file over time (with a <style> tag directly in the HTML). This allows students to make “self-contained” copies of the HTML file to keep track of their progress.
Once the students are familiar with CSS, you can show them Kirby. In the first step, you can make them copy their static HTML and CSS into site/templates/default.php of the Plainkit. Then they can “optimize” the setup more and more with fields from the content file, snippets for header and footer, CSS in a separate CSS file, Panel blueprints etc.
I think such a step by step approach is best for students as they are not overwhelmed and can play around with each step until they are comfortable with it. At the same time it also shows them that the basics of semantic HTML and clean CSS are really important. IMO this is something that gets lost more and more with the absolute abundance of developer tooling, frameworks and development patterns. Many developers don’t even know HTML and CSS, but try to solve everything with JavaScript. So teaching from the basics can benefit the students a lot and spark their interest to become a professional developer.
Regarding licensing: You can use Kirby without a license inside the school (as long as the resulting websites are not publicly accessible). You can read more in our license terms. If students also want to publish a real website with Kirby, they can get in touch with us to get a free license (see the “For a good cause?” heading on the buy page).
Many thanks for the detailed answer. That sounds very good.