When we refer to basic website development, we’re talking about the creation of simple websites that don’t do much other than providing information in an accessible way. At their core, the most simple websites exist solely for this reason. Now that so many working class people have internet access, information is most accessible to the widest range of working class people through the internet. Designing a simple and easy-to-navigate website is the most effective way to communicate information to normal people using the internet, who would rather not sift through long PDF documents or go to physical locations to receive information.
Of course, not all websites are as simple as that. Some websites we use all the time, like Twitter, Netflix, and PayPal are different from the kind of website described above. This is because they do more than just provide information, they provide interactive functionality. And those interactive functionalities can get quite complex. Netflix, for example, has to store many terabytes of high quality video, and its website has to provide a way for users to:
- Sign up and pay for a subscription if they don’t have an account
- Log in if they do have an account
- Access the many terabytes of video they have stored
- Keep track of a user’s “list,” their progress in various shows and films, and their preferences
- Display an easy to use User Interface that organises videos by genre, as well as differentiating between shows and films
and much more. This goes far beyond what we mean by basic website development, but it does fall under what we consider web application development, which you’re going to learn eventually! But learning how to make simple sites is the best way to start our journey, and it’s not entirely unexciting! This website can be considered a “simple” website, often referred to as a static site. Being able to build static sites is an incredibly useful skill that’s made our lives easier at ProleSoft.
How to Learn
- Codecademy: Make a Website (sign-up required)
- An interactive explanatory course in basic website development that runs entirely in your browser.
- w3schools: HTML Tutorial + w3schools: CSS Tutorial
- The classic interactive HTML resource and reference. Get comfortable with it, because you’ll be going back to it whenever you forget something about HTML, CSS, and much more. Less strict and hand-holding than Codecademy.