WAYS TO CREATE A WEBSITE AND IMPORTANT TOOLS USED

In this article, we will learn ways to create a website, tools to build an effective website, and why we need a website.

A website is a group of web-related pages built over the internet with a domain name available to internet users.

This shows how it appears on the browser, usually at the site’s top.

A domain name is an authorized name given to a website where one can easily access the website.

What is the importance of a website?

The website creates an easy avenue for information between customers (those visiting the site) and their sellers or marketers worldwide.

Undoubtedly, the world is significant, and with the creation of websites over the internet, the world seems to become smaller as customers can interact via these websites.

Websites give room for brand cognizance. Websites serve as a means of recognition online. One’s product, name, organization, or business can be shown through websites, giving people knowledge on what we do, sell or run.

Through this, people have gotten lots of jobs and bought different products, especially from organizations, firms/companies.

While these are some excellent reasons to get a website, there are specific tools used to make website.

A good website consists of two main aspects; Front-End and Back-End.

The Front-End is what the users/customers see, while the Back-End stores and controls the user’s data. It is inaccessible to the user but only to the web owners.

Each aspect of a website has its languages that build them. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are major languages used to create the Front-End.

Another Front-End programming language is Swift. For the Back-End, Python, and PHP languages.

Programming languages are many, and we can’t master them all.

Beginning our journey as Front-End developers, HTML (Hyper Text Mark-Up Language) must be used as it is the building block of every website. It structures the site with its tags.

The structure of the site is all done with the HTML language. It is easy to learn and put into practice.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) adds beautiful features to our websites. CSS is a vast language containing different properties and values.

JavaScript is a common language used for websites’ front and back ends. It makes the website functional and interactive and engages the user as well. Java Script works alongside HTML and CSS.

Swift is another programming language for those using unique operating systems (OS) such as iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and iOS. It is just like JavaScript. It is easily expressible and makes the website interactive.

Python helps to send, analyze, control, process, and store a user’s data. Python is used to create the back end of a website, and it is pretty easy to learn. People with little knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript might find Python easy to earn, but that should be fine if we’re still a newbie because Python is beginner-friendly.

PHP (Hypertext PreProcessor) is an essential back-end language that helps to manipulate the user’s data from a database. PHP is one of the most used back-end languages. It works alongside the HTML language.

To write our code, we use Code Editors such as; Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, Notepad++, BlueFish, Espresso, UltraEdit, etc.

Another essential tool used to create a website is the Web Browser.

A web browser is a software that enables us to access a website using an internet connection. The web browser serves as a touring agent on the internet, providing the user an avenue to explore different sites.

Examples include Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, OperaMini, Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and what a view.

Finally, after creating a website and it is ready to be shown to users for easy access, hosting of the website comes in.

Website Hosting consists of a Domain Name and a Hosting Space.

A domain name is an official and unique name of a website. Examples of extensions are .com, .ng, .com, .org, .mil, .edu, .africa, etc.

The above shows a clear structure of a Domain Name.

A domain name is classified into the free domain and paid domain.

You can get free domains from web-hosting services such as Bluehost, Weebly, Squarespace, Dreamhost, WordPress, and Wix. These platforms allow us to generate free domain names.

For the paid domains, Whogohost, namecheap, Hostpresto, Bido, and GoDaddy are reliable means to purchase a domain name.

The hosting space is the house of a website. All files related to the website created are uploaded, stored, and maintained there. Like the domain name, we also have free and paid-to-host space.

Free hosting space includes GitHub, Netlify, Wix, Bluehost, and Google CloudHosting are some of the best sites to host our websites.

You can also generate free domain names here, as mentioned earlier. You can obtain hosting space from GoDaddy, Web.com, Hostinger, and HostGator, as these are some of the best hosting sites.

Below shows how files relating to a website are stacked on GitHub hosting pages;

GETTING STARTED

One may need more coding skills and still be able to create a website. Some web builders can help create a website for those needing coding skills.

Examples include WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Jimdo, Squarespace, and GoDaddy.

These use drag and drop to edit already-made website templates and host them.

For those with coding skills, we can use a broad knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create websites with or without website builders.

One is likely to have some challenges in learning, and we can ask questions. You can further learn the basics from this link.

Secondly, we can check templates online and see how websites are designed, how colors are combined (color scheme), and the type of images that should fit.

Having built the site, purchase our domain and hosting space to upload.

To have our desired result, below are the best practices to follow;

- - Master the basics of programming languages, especially HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, very well.
  - Challenge yourself with projects people have done, watch YouTube channels, and read programming e-books.
  - Set a timetable for yourself. At least create time to program five days a week or join 100 days of coding online.
  - Draft out templates from websites online. It will help us create designs on our own.
  - Eat well, especially fruits. It enables us to think.
  - Learn to host projects on free sites so people can easily view what has been done and correct them in any way.

A GOOD CODING STRUCTURE

As a website developer, having a good coding pattern is very important. One’s code should be easy to read and understand for proper debugging, as errors will likely occur during programming.

Follow the steps to ensure a good coding structure;

Write our basic HTML structure where we can have the title and create the body of the site;

The basic HTML structure.

The above shows the div h1 and p tags in between the body tag arranged accordingly, representing the whole space of the website, the heading, and the paragraph in the proper order.

Having done that, We can use CSS to style our HTML structure.

This shows how a CSS property and value are arranged.

The JavaScript session can now be coded. Below is a simple JavaScript format.

The output of this function in the above picture is;

Avoid mixing these programming languages, as we might need clarification as we progress. I’ll advise we have different pages to code each language and link them.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the creation of a website is an exciting experience. Though its process might be quite a task, performing more projects and doing research becomes easier.