Creating a Website

Files, HTML and CSS

Why Have a Website?

Although you can share information via blogging and social media, such services don’t provide you with a permanent place on the internet, one that’s entirely under your control. Even a simple ‘nameplate’ with details of what you do or provide, is best achieved via a website. Having such a site shows that you’ve put in the effort with a degree of professionalism.

The Purpose of This Guide

This document gives an introduction to creating simple websites, the sort used by individuals or small organisations. It doesn’t cover those used for trading or complex exchanges with site visitors. Even so, it can be used as a starting point for those who need such a site.

This document isn’t intended as comprehensive course for web designers, but more as a general guide to the various problems and traps that can be encountered in creating a website. For further information you should consult the World Wide Web Consortium site and other related resources.

Computer users are split between people who use technology as a tool, making spreadsheets or word-processing documents, and those who do real programming. Creating a good website isn’t easy, the effort needed lying somewhere between these two extremes.

Although What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) applications are available, the results can be unpredictable or have long loading times. Knowing how web pages are created and how they work is always useful, enabling you to fix any problems you have with your site.


1. Background

2. The Web Server

3. Files

4. HTML Basics

5. The HTML Framework

6. Block Elements

7. Inline Elements

8. Stylesheets

9. Layout


The author grants free permission to distribute this document in its original form on condition that the recipient is not charged for its use. Small extracts may also be used for the purposes of genuine study. No changes whatsoever can be made to the original text.

©Ray White 2020.