Web Development for Beginners: A Comprehensive Step-by-Step Guide to Website Creation
For many, web development is a dream career. Developers are often in high demand and can work from anywhere. They’re free to be consultants, independent entrepreneurs, or in-house agents. It’s hard to top that level of elasticity in a career.
But if building websites is as easy as snapping your fingers, there’d be plenty more people in the industry. The U.S. only has about 4.4 million developers against a population of 335 million+.
There’s a steep learning curve to web development. And we want to help you understand why it’s worth your time and effort.
So, sit back, relax, and read on while we fill you in on the tips, tricks, and insights you need to kickstart your web development journey.
Why Learn Web Development as a Beginner
Before we get into the specifics of website building for beginners, let’s dive into how learning web development can open a world of opportunities.
1. A Great Job Market
The market for web developers is incredible. Companies of all sizes will always need someone to build and maintain their online presence. With the right skills, you won’t have to worry about finding jobs anytime soon.
2. Good Pay Scale
Certified web developers earn an average salary of $81,296 per year. While money shouldn’t totally influence your decision to look into website building for beginners, there’s no harm in considering it. After all, a web developer’s salary does look nice against the United States’ average household income of $59,428 in 2023.
3. Solving Real-World Problems
Web developers can solve real-world problems through technology. You can create apps to help people track their fitness goals, design websites for local businesses, or even build platforms for social change.
4. Building Your Brand
Learning web development also gives you the power to build your personal brand or showcase your talents online. Whether you’re a writer, artist, musician, or aspiring entrepreneur, web development skills can help you create a professional digital persona.
Now that you understand the benefits of web development, here’s a step-by-step on website building to guide you in the right direction.
Understanding the Basics
Web development involves creating and maintaining websites or web applications. Unlike web design, web development is concerned with the technical aspects of a website.
Generally speaking, there are two categories of web development.
- Front-End Development: Also known as client-side development, it focuses on what users see in a web browser. Front-end developers ensure that websites are visually appealing, responsive (work well on different devices), and user-friendly.
- Back-End Development: It deals with the behind-the-scenes functionality of a website, like databases, server configuration, and application logic. Back-end developers create and manage servers, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and databases to handle data storage and retrieval. They also enable websites to process user input, store information, and deliver dynamic content.
Other types of web development include:
- Full-stack development
- Desktop development
- Game development
- Mobile development
- Embedded development
The first step to kickstarting your web development career is to choose your specialization. Once you take your pick, you can move on to the next phase.
Setting Up Your Development Environment
It’s time to set up your development environment! Start by picking your text editor- a lightweight, simple tool- to write your code. Your computer likely has one built in, but we recommend opting for something more robust.
You’ll also need a web browser (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge) to test and debug your web applications.
Install Git, a version control system, to track changes in your code, collaborate with others, and manage your projects efficiently.
Additionally, if you plan to work with JavaScript or use build tools like npm, install Node.js. It comes with npm (Node Package Manager), which helps manage project dependencies and packages.
Finally, familiarize yourself with your operating system’s terminal or command line.
Once you’ve completed these steps, you’ll have a well-equipped development environment ready to tackle anything. Remember, your choice of tools and configurations will change as you gain more experience and refine your preferences.
Responsive Design and Mobile Optimization
Over 282.5 million Americans used web-enabled smartphones to browse the internet in 2022. And this number is only slated to rise. If your website isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you might miss out on a good chunk of traffic.
A mobile-first website is designed to prioritize user experiences (UX) on smaller screens. It can help increase engagement, boost conversions, and build credibility.
That’s not all. Search engines rank mobile-friendly websites higher in their results. Responsive design can improve your site’s SEO ranking, potentially driving more organic traffic.
Intrigued? Here are a few best practices to develop mobile-friendly websites.
- Use Responsive Web Design: Use CSS media queries to adapt your site’s layout and content based on screen size.
- Mobile-First Approach: Start the design process with mobile devices in mind. Develop the mobile version of your site first, and then progressively enhance it for larger screens.
- Optimize Images: Compress and resize images to reduce their file sizes. Use modern image formats like WebP and the “srcset” attribute to serve different image resolutions based on the device’s capabilities.
- Touch-Friendly Buttons and Links: Make sure the buttons and links are large enough to be tapped with a finger. Proper spacing between elements prevents accidental clicks.
- Performance Optimization: Optimize your site’s performance by minimizing HTTP requests, leveraging browser caching, and enabling GZIP compression. Faster load times improve UX.
- Test Across Devices: Regularly test your website on various devices and browsers to ensure it functions correctly. Emulators, real devices, and browser developer tools can help with testing.
- User Testing: Gather feedback from real users to identify any usability issues specific to mobile devices. User testing can reveal insights that might not be apparent during development.
Hosting and Domain
Every website on the internet is hosted on a server. Simply put, hosting is a service that helps you publish your site. It’s like renting or buying a plot for your website.
When it comes to hosting your website, you have several options, including:
- Shared Hosting
- Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting
- Dedicated Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Managed WordPress Hosting
- Content Delivery Network (CDN)
But first, you’ll have to choose and register your domain name: your site’s home address on the World Wide Web.
- Start by brainstorming potential domain names that reflect your site’s purpose or brand. Keep it concise, memorable, and easy to spell.
- Use a domain registrar’s search tool to check if your desired domain name is available.
- Consider domain extensions (.com, .net, .org) that align with your website’s purpose.
- Create an account with a domain registrar and follow their process to register the domain name.
Website Deployment
What happens when you’re done designing and developing your website? You push it to a live website server. This process, known as web deployment, marks the transition from a staging environment to a production environment, where the website is live and operational.
To deploy your website, you must:
- Ensure your website is fully developed, tested, and optimized.
- Log in to your hosting account and access the control panel or dashboard.
- Use an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client or the hosting control panel to upload your website files to the server.
- Organize files according to your desired directory structure.
- If your website uses a database, create a database and user through the hosting control panel and import it.
- Modify configuration files (e.g., database connection settings) to match the server configurations.
- Use the domain to visit your website to check if everything’s functioning correctly on the server.
- Configure DNS settings to point your domain to the hosting server’s IP address.
- Test your site’s functionality, links, forms, and performance on the live server.
Scared of running into trouble during deployment? Don’t worry! Here are a few tips to troubleshoot common issues.
- If your domain is not resolving correctly, give it some time for DNS propagation. It can take up to 48 hours for changes to take effect.
- Make sure your SSL certificate is installed and configured on the server.
- Don’t hesitate to contact your hosting provider’s support for assistance.
Additional Resources and Learning Pathways
If we’re being honest, no one web development guide covers everything. Tech evolves at lightning speed, and the only way you can stay updated is through continuous learning. We’ve compiled a list of resources to help you out.
- Coursera
- EdX
- Udacity
- Codeacademy
- FreeCodeCamp
- Mozilla Developer Network (MDN)
- Smashing Magazine
- CSS-Tricks
The Bottom Line
There you have it- your introduction to website development for beginners! We understand all this might be a lot to digest at once, so start by learning the basics before progressing to more complex concepts. Seek guidance, ask questions, and connect with fellow learners. And most importantly, keep up with industry trends and hone your skills persistently.
Don’t have enough time to master web development? Why not leave it to the pros at Wahha Design? Whether you’re revamping an old website or creating a new one, we can do it all and more. Get in touch with us today!