How to Code a Website (Complete Beginner‘s Guide)

Do you want to learn how to code a website? Coding may seem intimidating at first, but with the right tools and guidance, anyone can learn how to create their own website from scratch.

In this comprehensive guide, we will cover everything you need to know about coding a website as a complete beginner, from choosing the right tools to writing your first lines of HTML and CSS.

The Benefits of Learning to Code

Here are some of the key benefits of learning how to code your own website:

• Full creative control – When you code your own site, you can build exactly the website you want without relying on restrictive templates. You can customize everything to match your vision.

• Better performance – With handcoded sites, you include only the code and features you need, resulting in faster load times compared to bloated templated sites.

• Valuable skills – Knowing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is highly useful for bloggers, digital marketers, entrepreneurs, and many other fields. These skills can even lead to lucrative web development careers.

• Cost savings – Coding your own site allows you to launch and expand your online presence without expensive web design fees.

• Deep understanding – When you build something from scratch, you gain an in-depth understanding of how websites work under the hood.

The barrier to coding websites gets lower every year thanks to beginner-friendly tools. Let‘s look at the easiest options for coding a website from scratch.

Website Builders vs Coding a Site Yourself

In the early days of the internet, building a website required knowing how to code everything from HTML markup to complex programming languages. Developing custom sites was complex and expensive.

Fortunately, those days are now in the past. With website builders like WordPress and other no-code solutions, you can create professional quality websites with minimal technical skills.

Here is a quick comparison of website builders vs coding a site yourself:

Website Builders

• Easy to use, even for total beginners
• Build sites in hours/days instead of weeks/months
• No need to learn programming
• Access to thousands of templates and plugins
• Handle security and software updates for you

Coding Websites Yourself

• Complete creative control over code and design
• Faster performance with no bloat
• Learn valuable web development skills
• Deep understanding of how websites work
• Full ownership with ability to migrate platforms

As you can see, both options have their own pros and cons.

For most personal blogs and small business websites, a website builder like WordPress offers the easiest way to create a site quickly without needing to learn coding.

However, for web design students, aspiring developers, and tech-savvy entrepreneurs who value deep customization, learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript unlocks that full creative control when coding a custom site from scratch.

We‘ll cover both options below. Feel free to jump ahead:

• Code a Website With WordPress
• Learn HTML and CSS from Scratch

Code a Website With WordPress

WordPress is the world‘s most popular website builder, powering over 40% of sites online. The core WordPress software is open source and available for free.

Here‘s an overview of the process for coding a website with WordPress:

1. Get web hosting and a domain name
2. Install WordPress on your hosting
3. Choose a theme
4. Customize design with page builder plugins
5. Add content
6. Go live!

Let‘s break this down step-by-step:

1. Get Web Hosting and Domain

To build a website, you will first need:

• Web hosting – The server space where your site will "live". Web hosts also provide the required technology to make your site work.

• Domain – The custom URL of your website, like example.com.

One easy option is getting your hosting and domain together in a single plan. Many web hosts offer domain bundles with hosting packages tailored for WordPress sites.

For beginners, we recommend starting with Bluehost. Bluehost is an official WordPress recommended hosting provider and the #1 choice for web pros.

With the exclusive Bluehost discount from WPBeginner, you can get your domain name for free and hosting for just $2.75 per month.

To claim this deal, click here to get started with Bluehost.

Once you complete the initial sign up process, you will have your hosting account and custom domain name ready to go.

2. Install WordPress

Now it‘s time to install WordPress on your new hosting account. This part is easy since Bluehost and most other major web hosts offer streamlined WordPress installation with just a few clicks.

Simply log in to your Bluehost dashboard, navigate to the WordPress installation page, select your domain name, and enter site details like the title. Bluehost‘s automated system will handle the rest.

Within minutes, you will have a fresh WordPress site installed and ready for you to customize.

3. Choose a Theme

When you first access your new WordPress site, it will have a default theme active. This starter theme gives you a very basic website layout to build upon.

WordPress themes control the design and frontend interface of your site. There are thousands of free and premium WordPress themes available.

For starting out, we recommend a few beginner-friendly multipurpose themes like:

• Astra – Super fast and lightweight theme.

• GeneratePress – Boasts simplicity and speed.

• OceanWP – Powerful theme with many customization options.

You can browse and preview themes under Appearance » Themes within your WordPress dashboard. Once you find one you like, click the Activate button to make that theme live on your site.

4. Customize Design With Page Builder

At this point, your basic website should be online with content you can update through WordPress. But how do you customize the design and layout?

That‘s where WordPress page builder plugins come in. Page builders give you a drag and drop interface for modifying your theme design without coding.

Some of the most popular WordPress page builders include:

• Elementor – The most used page builder with 50+ million active installs. Offers a free version.

• Beaver Builder – Fast page builder with deep customization options.

• Brizy – Beginner-friendly and easy to master. 100% free.

• Divi – Powerful visual editor from Elegant Themes.

These page builders make it easy to customize header, footer, page layouts, colors, typography, and spacing by tweaking options in a visual editor instead of needing to edit code.

Simply install and activate the page builder plugin, then edit your pages and posts using the new editor that appears.

5. Add Content

Now for the fun part…filling your site up with content!

Start by creating a few new pages like "About" and "Contact". These are commonly used secondary pages in addition to the home page.

When editing pages, you can use the page builder tools mentioned above to customize each page‘s layout and design.

You can quickly add content blocks like text, images, videos, buttons, and more through the WordPress editor. Change up column widths and spacing until you have a layout you‘re happy with.

Take time to create well-written, helpful content optimized with your ideal audience in mind. The quality of your content will ultimately determine whether visitors stay and convert into subscribers or customers.

Once you have created a few pages, take a look at your site by clicking "Visit Site" from your WordPress dashboard. At this point you should have a basic but polished website.

6. Launch Your Website!

The final step is going live by launching your new WordPress website for the world to see.

Make sure you have configured all the right settings in WordPress. Double check items like your site title, time zone, contact email, and more under Settings.

It‘s also wise to install security plugins like Wordfence for protection against attacks. There are various performance enhancing plugins that can help speed up your site too.

When you‘re ready, upgrade to an SSL certificate to enable HTTPS on your site. This adds a layer of security and trust.

Lastly, submit your new site to search engines like Google and Bing through a process called sitemap indexing. This tells the search bots to come and index all your content so your site can start ranking.

Congrats! Your hard work learning how to code a website with WordPress has paid off. Now the fun of attracting visitors, gaining subscribers, and growing your online presence begins.

Learn HTML and CSS from Scratch

While tools like WordPress make website building easy, many beginners want to code their own site from scratch to unlock greater customization potential and to learn valuable web development skills.

Creating an entire website purely through HTML and CSS code may sound daunting, but the fundamentals can be learned in just days or weeks through high-quality courses.

Why Learn HTML and CSS?

Here are a few of the top reasons to learn web design fundamentals like HTML and CSS:

• Complete control – Handcoding HTML/CSS allows endless customization options compared to templated site builders.

• Better performance – Less code means faster loading and render times. Every line of markup and CSS you write has a purpose.

• Universal languages – HTML and CSS underpin the web. Mastering them provides the core skills to code all kinds of sites and apps.

• In-demand skills – Knowing HTML and CSS is required for web designers, front end developers, UX engineers, and many other lucrative careers.

• Satisfaction – Bringing a website to life through your own code is hugely rewarding, especially the first time.

With foundational web languages like HTML and CSS in your toolbelt, you can create any custom website design imaginable.

Web Development Basics

Before diving into HTML and CSS syntax, it helps to understand what these and other common web languages actually do:

• HTML – Stands for HyperText Markup Language. HTML provides the structural framework that all websites are built upon. It allows you to mark up content like text, images, videos, forms, etc.

• CSS – Cascading StyleSheets are used to control the appearance and layout of web pages including colors, fonts, spacing, and where elements are positioned.

• JavaScript – Programming language used to create interactive elements on websites. Powers dynamic functionality like menus, animations, widgets, and more.

• PHP – Scripting language commonly used for web development and in WordPress. Allows for server-side scripting to build dynamic sites with databases.

Focus on learning HTML and CSS first. Once you master those, you can start diving into JavaScript and backend languages like PHP later on.

Getting Set Up for Web Development

To code websites from scratch, you will need:

• Text editor – We recommend Visual Studio Code to get started. This free editor has great code snippets, tools, and extensions for web development.

• Web browser – You‘ll need a browser like Chrome or Firefox to preview your work as you build out pages.

• Assets – Grab image files, videos, logos, fonts, and other digital assets you want to use on your site. Organize them in subfolders within your overall project folder.

Once your environment is set up, you‘re ready to write your first lines of HTML and CSS!

HTML Page Structure

All HTML documents have the same overall structure:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
  <!-- meta, title, styles, etc -->
</head>

<body>
  <!-- visible page content -->  
</body>

</html>

The main components are:

• <!DOCTYPE html> – Tells the browser this is an HTML5 document.

• <html> – The root element that wraps the entire document.

• <head> – Contains metadata like page title, links to CSS, and SEO elements that aren‘t visible to users.

• <body> – Where you place the visible page content such as text, images, videos, etc.

Now let‘s look at a real world example:

<!DOCTYPE html> 
<html>

<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="description" content="Put your site description here">
  <title>Page Title</title>
</head>

<body>

  <header>

    <nav>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="/">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="/about">About</a></li>
        <li><a href="/contact">Contact</a></li>  
      </ul>
    </nav>
  </header>

  <main>
    <h2>Main Section Heading</h2>
    <p>Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipisicing elit. Quisquam, quod.</p>

    <img src="images/image.jpg" alt="My sample image">

  </main>

  <footer>
    <p>© My Website 2021</p>
  </footer>

</body>
</html>

This example includes common HTML elements like:

• <header> – Contains site branding, nav menus, etc.
• <nav> – Used for navigation links.
• <main> – Wraps the central page content.
• <footer> – Closing site credits, social links, etc.

And there are empty elements like <img> and <br> which don‘t need closing tags.

Basic CSS Syntax

Once you have your page structure with HTML markup in place, CSS is used to style and layout elements.

CSS works by targeting HTML tags and applying styling like:

/* Target element */
h1 {

  /* Styling rules */
  color: #333;
  font-size: 40px;
  text-align: center;

}

For example, to center align your main heading text, you would target the <h1> element then add a text-align: center; rule.

Some examples of common CSS properties you‘ll use include:

• color – For text/element colors.
• font-size – Sets size of text.
• width – Defines element width in pixels or percentages.
• margin – Outer spacing around elements.
• padding – Inner spacing within elements.

There are hundreds of available CSS properties you can utilize for design and layout.

Creating a Basic Web Page

Let‘s walk through a simple process for handcoding a basic HTML page with some styling:

1. Create an index.html file in your text editor.

2. Add the standard HTML page structure.

3. Fill the head with a <title> and meta description.

4. Mark up visible content in the <body> like paragraphs, headings, images, etc.

5. Create an external styles.css file for CSS rules.

6. Link styles.css in the HTML <head>.

7. Start adding CSS styling like colors, fonts, element positioning.

8. Open index.html in your web browser to preview.

9. Repeat process for additional pages, reusing similar styles and structure.

Once you have HTML markup and CSS styling in place, you will have a basic but functional static website hosted locally on your computer.

Later on, you can learn how to deploy your website online for the world to access.

Keep Learning and Growing Your Skills

I hope this beginner‘s guide provided a useful introduction to coding a website from scratch with HTML and CSS.

While it may feel daunting at first, stick with it! After spending time studying web development and practicing your skills, you will get comfortable with writing semantic HTML and styling pages with CSS.

Here are a few tips for continuing your journey as you grow your web development skills:

• Take interactive courses on platforms like Scrimba and freeCodeCamp. Code along with the instructor.

• Use resources like the Mozilla Web Docs and W3Schools for reference.

• Code a little every day. Consistency and practice is key. Try rebuilding sites you admire.

• Don‘t get overwhelmed. Break bigger projects down into smaller milestones.

• Ask questions and learn from the web development community.

• Build a portfolio of your projects as your skills improve.

• Don‘t stop at HTML/CSS! Dive into JavaScript and other languages down the road.

The web offers endless opportunities for growth, creativity, and career potential. I wish you the best on your coding journey!