Trying to build a website | Hacker News Reader

Trying to build a website

7 pointsDisruptx18 comments

I'm trying to build my first website from scratch, where I will create a online business. I have all the basic ideas of what I want on there etc: However I've never created a website before..Should I use a website hosting company and pay yearly? If so which one..? Do I learn to code? I also aim to add adsense, what are your opinions?

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Those are some really broad questions there bud.

I've been building websites professionally for the last 10 years and learning for the last 14. I never build a website from "scratch" anymore. I start with Twitter Bootstrap, a previous website, etc...

Step 1: learn HTML. You can open any text editor of your choice, start writing some HTML, save it as index.html and open it in a web browser. Done. Add a few more pages and you have a "website"

Step 2: get a host. I like 1and1.com - their basic Linux server is super cheap. Based on customer needs now a-days it's a toss between digitalocean.com or rackspace.com based on their needs.

Step 3: if you want your website to do more then just present some images and text, you'll need to learn some programming. Javascript is a scripting language - that'll get you some pretty stuff like form submission without page reloading, fading elements in and out, drop down menus (doable in pure css also), etc...

For an actual programming language, PHP is widely used; a lot of people like Ruby, Perl, etc... It's a matter of what your needs are and what you get comfortable with.

Adding AdSense will be done using Javascript. If you've never built a website, I'd say thats the least of your concerns right now.

Good luck. I've been "practicing" web development for 14 years now; it's a constant learning experience.

I've seen websites promoting sites where you can just edit templates without ever actually doing the coding yourself, are they worth it if I'm just looking for a simple website presenting a few images and text, and thanks for the quick reply, really appreciate it.

You could probably get away with a Tumblr or something like this then: http://www.squarespace.com/stories/#justin-gignac

Those are for sure an option that's available to you. When a customer asks me about sites like those I tell them, if they feel that will accomplish their needs, then by all means, go a head and use them, but those are not the kinds of websites I build.

http://beta.p22.com will be going live in a week or 2. This was over 10 months in development for me. You could not build this site with one of those services.

I kinda gleaned over one of your points - you said "an online business" - if you intend to take people's credit card information, you must be experienced in how to protect that data.

Maybe you should start with wordpress.org - as much as i despise wordpress websites, there are many plugins available that will probably accomplish what you need to do.

wordpress also has a hosted version with a free account option (wordpress.com)

Yeah I've seen a few wordpress websites, I'd just like a proper .com that looks professional. I'm thinking I should use those templated websites. Also, i'm going to use a Paypal account as it will be more secure. I've just browsed your site, its brilliant!

For just static pages, images and text something like that should be fine. The caveat is, you might end up with your data locked into that service. Make sure, whatever you do choose, it's a service that lets you download and archive your content if need be.

There's a more basic question to ask yourself.

What is your motivation? (1) to build a business; or (2) to build websites?

If it's (1), then you'd get there faster and with a higher quality result by contracting out the work. If it's (2) then go down the learning path. You might not get a viable business up for a while. Building a quality website, which will capture customers' interest and money is a lot harder than people claim. That's why good web designers / programmers are able to earn good money. They get paid for the value and results they create.

Re-read lsiunsuex's answer ... 4 years of learning before going pro. That confirms Galdwell's observation that it takes 10,000 hours to become competent at anything worthwhile.

I'm hoping to create multiple websites as I doubt one will be enough in the long run. One thing I really don't understand is where will the majority of traffic come from - if I have zero marketing? Search Engines?

Use WordPress pre-designed Theme It will same a lots of your time. Get a hosting and Use WordPress Plugins (Here are some famous WordPress plugins might be useful for you: http://www.cloudways.com/blog/9-wordpress-plugins-favored-by... )

You will learn the codes when you start working on it. If you're using Adsense make sure you're targeting a niche market it will help you in long run!

Start Here.

Step 1) open a text editor.

Step 2) paste in the following code.

<!doctype html>

<html>

  <head>

    <title>my first website</title>

  </head>

  <body>

    <p>hello world</p>

  </body>

</html>

Step 3) save the file as index.html

Step 4) open the file in your internet browser.

If you're curious about HTML, CSS, etc. then by all means, go ahead and learn the basics and build a simple site. (The other comments give some pointers.)

If you just want a simple business website, then you don't need to learn any of that; just sign up with one of the hosting + CMS all-in-one services like Squarespace, Weebly, or Drupal Gardens.

I recommend starting with a text editor and a browser. May I recommend Sublime Text and Google Chrome. Then, you will want to learn HTML + CSS. After you are comfortable with html and css, move on to Javascript... Before using a website hosting company, test your site locally with an AMP local development server.

I'd download xampp and run the website first on your computer. When it's ready to release, then start paying for hosting somewhere.

First code the HTML, then do the Javascript and backend.

you can host a basic site on https://neocities.org/ for free!

Learn HTML, CSS and Javascript (in that order), perhaps using http://www.codecademy.com/

Thanks! I'll check it out, and will follow that order too hopefully.

Just chiming in here - Neocities is a great place for a first website. I'd definitely start with them.

Codeacademy is great if you actually want to learn to code. You should be aware (and I'm sure you are) that you'll probably have at least a year of learning before you create something from scratch that's good enough to be visible to others. I'm all for learning for the sake of learning, but if you want to get something quick and professional up, you'd be better using drupal/wordpress with a theme and ecommerce plugin, finding a service that will create an online store for you, or hiring someone/finding a partner.

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