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HTML

Beginning Websites

Hello. I am generally new to web design. My goal is to make small websites for small businesses for industries such as lawyers, plumbers, landscapers, electricians, tow truck drivers, and more. About 3-5 pages. Do you guys generally recommend using WordPress? What are the best languages for small business sites such as these?

What were some of your first websites like? Any tips for someone new to all of this? How long should I be studying teamtreehouse tutorials before I should actually get out there and start coding real sites?

When i first started building websites i only knew HTML and CSS. If you have those mastered you can create a simple website for marketing purposes. Once i learned php i wanted to go back and re do them because i realized that i could do so much more with less coding. So in a nut shell you really only need HTML and CSS to do those sites if you only wanted to learn a little. Id suggest learning php and javascript to make the site more dynamic and presentable. As far as wordpress and cms goes i always let my clients know of them because they can add a lot more cash in you pocket and gives the client the ability to manage their website by themselves which gets them out your hair for a while. To sum everything up just try it. Learn the trade make yourself a site first. Them make another for fun and to get the hang of it then see if you can pick up a small client and go from there.

5 Answers

I recommend whatever you feel most comfortable with. Wordpress if very give if eventually you want to give your customers control over there own content. Because they're only going to small static websites all you really need to know is HTML and CSS but a bit of javascript wouldn't hurt.

If i was you i would start with basic html and css pages with sites only being 3 to 5 pages there isn't a mass of content that needs to be managed. But you could always adventure into wordpress when you feel comfortable with what you know and want to learn something new. Wordpress is always a useful skill to have.

Squarespace. It's literally one of the best places to get started.

One more option: LightCMS

Thanks guys :D