How to build a website for beginners

[geek84]

Hi Folks
Could someone kindly recommend any good and easy to follow websites whch teach how to build your own website?
Thank You

[RS93]

Wix might be a good place to start 😅? It’s certainly not coding but I find you can design and creat3 some fairly good websites.

[Heres Johnny]

If you want just a web page or 2 then most of the companies that provide hosting offer website builders of some description

If you're thinking of building from first principals then thats a slightly different question. Knocking up a "Hello world" web page is pretty easy to write but it starts to get increasingly difficult depending on what you want to do there after

I guess the 3rd option/question is do you need to know/learn which way to go?

[durbster]

Do you want to know the easiest way to get a single website online?

Or do you want to learn how to build websites i.e. become a web developer?

There are plenty of service for the former whereas the latter requires a lot of time, education and experience.

[geek84]

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your responses.

I am just looking to build one website.

[covmutley]

I used squarespace. I found it quote easy.

A few quirks about using page templates and inserting different types of formats on pages but I got thr hang of it (more or less) in a weekend.

[Heres Johnny]

geek84 said:

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your responses.

I am just looking to build one website.

I think you’ve 3 options then:

- Pick a web hosting company that offers a web page config tool

- Have a look at something like bootstrap and find a template you like and edit it

- If it’s a simple 3 or 4 page website see if you can find someone to knock one up for you, I’ve done a few for local good causes and if that’s your situation you might be able to find someone.

I imagine you may also want a bit of help setting up email

[HantsRat]

Hi

As a web designer, I'd recommend you use WordPress and an easy to use 'drag & drop' theme such as Divi or Elementor. Wix/Squarespace are good entry level services but you'll always be stuck with them. You'll never be able to move your site elsewhere if you need to.

WordPress is free but you'll need hosting which isn't much more than the cost of a pint a month. Beware of very cheap hosting though! Very little support and performance can be dire.

Happy for you to drop me a PM if I can help, my website was built using the Divi theme and WordPress - https://www.blinkweb.co.uk. It's a great product!

This blog post I wrote covers some of the pro's/con's of Wix/Sqaurespace/WordPress - https://www.blinkweb.co.uk/wordpress-wix-or-square...

[anonymous-user]

geek84 said:

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your responses.

I am just looking to build one website.

Depending if you want to sell from it is the biggest decision you have, once your certain then your 50% there is your choices

[S6PNJ]

geek84 said:

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your responses.

I am just looking to build one website.

Do you have a NAS by any chance? If so, does it have the capability to run as a web server? If so, you might be lucky and can install Wordpress, then use a DDNS service (I use no-ip) to get your domain name. You can also do this via a Raspberry Pi (and many other methods). I have a Synology DS218J and have installed Wordpress on it and am in the process of building a small (personal) website (no-not for personal services - smutty minds you lot!)

[geek84]

Thanks for your advise folks

[DSLiverpool]

Is this catalogue or ecommerce ?

[blackscooby]

I run a Motorclub website. I'm not a web builder at all, but I used WordPress which is pretty darned easy to be fair and added eCommerce stuff with WooCommerce.
It's not perfect, but does the job I need it to.

[geek84]

Hi Folks

One again, many thanks for your replies.

I am thinking of using Wordpress to build my website. However, I have no idea on how to use it.

Shall I go on Youtube to find out or do you advise a better alternative?

Thank you

[alorotom]

blackscooby said:

I run a Motorclub website. I'm not a web builder at all, but I used WordPress which is pretty darned easy to be fair and added eCommerce stuff with WooCommerce.
It's not perfect, but does the job I need it to.

This. I’ve built a website recently for a new business opportunity and found Wordpress super easy and intuitive - plus there’s a plug-in for pretty much everything!

[Derek Smith]

geek84 said:

Hi Folks

One again, many thanks for your replies.

I am thinking of using Wordpress to build my website. However, I have no idea on how to use it.

Shall I go on Youtube to find out or do you advise a better alternative?

Thank you

There's a new page builder Wordpress are using. Gutenberg. It makes things easier. Make sure you look for recent tutorials.

YouTube is great for learning, as is the WP Beginner website. Facebook has a number of beginner pages, and they can be useful in giving feedback on site design, although some posters like to pose. Feel reassured that you'll make no error that hasn't been made many times before, and not only by me.

My hosting supplier was very helpful when I changed to WP, emailing me very clear details - print them off and save all the setup emails - and while the 'one click' is not quite true, it is not far from the mark. It's in their interest to make things clear as they don't want you keep asking them questions.

If you are fairly IT literate, you can set up a local host to play with the software, but it's not essential. In fact it's a bit of fun and you end up spending a couple of hours on it for no reason other than you wanted to try. If not, then you can use the free website option with wordpress.com where most of it is done for you. The free option is very limited but useful to settle you in. Their hosting charges are not designed to be the cheapest. Most people go to Wordpress.org for the software and pick their own hosts. (It's a shame life's important events don't have a .com option.)

The best advice I got, and I had the sense to follow it, in the early stages was to keep it simple, have the minimum number of plugins, and remember that most views will be on a mobile or tablet.

I've created an run a couple of dozen websites in my time, mainly using webauthoring proprietary software from Front Page back at the turn of the century - it was appalling - then WebPlus since deceased but I loved it and Xara which is very slick, easy to use, easy to produce good looking sites but pricey. Out of all of them I reckon Wordpress is the quickest to update. I run a club site that has four or five updates a week and it's just a couple of minutes' work every time.

Some people seem to hate Wordpress, but it's about the cheapest way to get a good looking website up and running medium term and longer. There are a number of specialist Wordpress hosting sites. I've been with mine for 17 years I've just surprised myself by looking up, and their charge has stayed the same for that time. (Who could forget www.NZOZ04.co.uk for my son's 2004 tour of Australia and New Zealand?) For a year they charge $35/£35 for a restricted, but quite generous, bandwidth option. For an extra £10, the sky's the limit. There are a few out there for around that price. You can have it 'managed', in other words have the updates completed by them for a few £ per annum.

It's the most popular web builder by far, and for good reason I think. It was forced to bring in Gutenberg to make things easier for new converts and, while I was against the change at first, I can now see the logic and reckon it's great. I use a plugin called Elementor, which is great fun to use, but probably not for beginners. Wordpress's strength, I think, is the support available, by the official Wordpress forums or those who run WP helpsites. Post a question and it seems there's a rush to reply. It's almost like a club.

Wordpress is perfect for me, but I do hanker after Xara as it was more fun. But as it's £70 for the software, I can't generate the enthusiasm to put my hand in my pocket.

[hyphen]

geek84 said:

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your responses.

I am just looking to build one website.

If you aren't building it out of interest of wanting to, then just pay someone, not a lot, and get on with working on the important part you have to offer, the content.

[geek84]

Thanks very much everyone - much appreciated

[dazwalsh]

If you want to learn how to make one from scratch you will need Microsoft expression Web (free) and then play around with that and the vast array of online tutorials. You are going to want to be learning how html language is used, and also how to integrate srylesheets (css). Download some templates and have a play around with them.

Oh and photoshop for graphics and image editing.

I would recommend taking a look at bootstrap when you are familiar with html and css, this builds on the foundations.

For more technical aspects of a website such as contact forms you are going to need to learn php or javascript for example, completely different coding languages but can be all mushed tlgether to form a working website.

Good luck.

[Brother D]

HantsRat said:

Hi

As a web designer, I'd recommend you use WordPress and an easy to use 'drag & drop' theme such as Divi or Elementor. Wix/Squarespace are good entry level services but you'll always be stuck with them. You'll never be able to move your site elsewhere if you need to.

WordPress is free but you'll need hosting which isn't much more than the cost of a pint a month. Beware of very cheap hosting though! Very little support and performance can be dire.

Happy for you to drop me a PM if I can help, my website was built using the Divi theme and WordPress - https://www.blinkweb.co.uk. It's a great product!

This blog post I wrote covers some of the pro's/con's of Wix/Sqaurespace/WordPress - https://www.blinkweb.co.uk/wordpress-wix-or-square...

Actually the link you posted has an extra '.' at the end and it generates an invalid cert - not seen/noticed that before. Other sites remove it and some ignore it - interesting!