The steps to making a website
What are the steps involved in creating a new website?
Lets see if we can answer that question
The building blocks of a website.
Virtually every website makes use of three core technologies.
HTML (Hypertext Mark-up Language)
HTML is the core of any website and is responsible for delivering the content, and declaring other required resources such as CSS and JavaScript files. When you use your internet browser to view a website, the response in the first instance is the HTML code.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
CSS is responsible for defining the look and feel of your website, and keeps the styling consistent throughout all the pages. Without CSS, your website would either look very bare or have to have a potentially large amount of styling code included within the HTML of every page.
JavaScript
JavaScript is generally responsible for bringing interactivity to a web page. A whole range of features and functions can be added to a website by using JavaScript, such as loading new page content without having to refresh the page, validating forms, and so much more.
The role of a Content Management System (CMS)
A content management systems (such as Umbraco) job to provide a ‘back-end’ to the website where owners can go in and edit the content of their site. The CMS would then take that content, and inject it into a HTML template and deliver it to the website visitor.
The steps to website building
The first step is to create an HTML template and CSS stylesheet. Within the HTML template we set out the layout and basic structure for the site, such as the header, footer, navigation and content areas. At the same time, we are styling each element within the CSS stylesheet, where colours, fonts, text-sizes, positioning of elements takes place. Generally speaking at this stage, we would put in dummy text and placeholder images, so our client can see the design as it comes together and give feedback.
Once we have a basic design concept approved, we would then look to bring that into a CMS system (typically for us, Umbraco). Within Umbraco, we would attach the different document types into the HTML templates, which brings together the ability for clients to easily create pages and add sections to their website.
The next step is to bring in any interactive elements into the site, and code up the relevant JavaScript files which powers that.
Once all major pieces are in place and tested, we can then look at the non-essential styling elements, such as animation, to really make the site look and feel special. We’d link your website with social media accounts and optimise it so it’s easy to share pages and articles through the major social media platforms.
Throughout the design and build, we are constantly checking the site is optimised for search engines and works correctly on all screen sizes.
Finally, we are at the stage where content can be added to the site. Dummy data is removed and replaced with live content. If the site made use of non-essential cookies, we’d bring in the necessary cookie consent banner to ensure the site was fully compliant with the law.
With all that complete, the site is ready to be delivered and go live.
If you would like a stunning new website for your business, then get in touch today.