Basics

What is a website?

A website is just a page that can be found on the Internet. It is displayed through a browser when you type the address (aka unique name) in the address bar.

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Parts of a website

Common website elements include navigation bars, footers, search bars, and contact forms.

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Website design

The first step in making a website is to decide which elements we want, and how they will look. This process is called layout design and it’s just a rough sketch of how the different pieces are going to come together. There are many tools to help you do this, but the oldest and one of the most popular is good ol’ pen and paper. Here’s how I sketched mine:

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This sketch is just a guideline. It’s okay to change things around as we start putting it together. A good rule of thumb is to start as simple as possible.