Getting started with coding websites

Last edited: April 8, 2025  •  #coding  


So, you want to make a website. You've browsed various web-builders, dismissed them based on the cost of upkeep, or the watermarks, or maybe even the lack of customization. Perhaps you just want to stand out. If that sounds like you, then you just might want to consider creating your own from scratch.

The first step is to identify what you want to use your website for.

When to code it:

  • You are willing to put more time into learning and designing.
  • You want a simple, informative website.
  • You want a static website. To put it simply, it only displays information.

When to build it:

  • You need something fast.
  • You want a more complex, flashy site
  • You want a dynamic website. Upload content, log in, use databases.

My recommendation: Wix

So, you want to code a website.

Now that you've weighed your options and have decided to code your website, I'll lay out the simple steps that I have used to create and deploy this very website, as well as having a quick way to edit and preview your changes. The softwares I used are:

That's all you need! Here are the steps:

  1. Follow the steps to create the repo and deploy it on Pages. Create a GitHub account if necessary.
  2. Download GitHub for Desktop. This will allow you to edit the code locally, and push to GitHub when ready. Sign into your account, go to File > Clone Repository, and click on the repo you just made. Choose a suitable path, and press Clone!
  3. Download Visual Studio Code. VSCode is a programming editor that has necessary extentions for easily editing code and pushing to GitHub.
  4. Install the Live Preview VSCode extension. Click on the extensions tab on the sidebar, and search for Live Preview (created by Microsoft). Now, when editing your code, you can watch in real-time your edits being applied to the website!
  5. Get coding! All websites begin with an index file. Create a file and name it index.html.

So... what now?

I could go through the process of explaining how HTML works, when to use CSS, or how to add Javascript. But only you know your use-case, so instead I'll give a few places to jumpstart your journey. For starters, BrowserStack has a great introduction to creating a basic first website.