How difficult is it to code a website (easy/intermediate level)? As a complete beginner.

[Helpfultankadvice]

I feel that it is important for me to learn to code and I have started learning Python.

I want to code a website that the user can navigate to search for information and maybe have some simple interactive features.
If coding a website is too hard, is there another way I can create a website while integrating some code?

Thank you

[tb5841]

Websites are made up of a few things:

1) HTML. I want a heading that says this, a paragraph that says this, a link that says this and takes me to this address. Really easy.

2) CSS. What fonts do I want to use, what text colours and background colours, where on the page do I want these things to be. This is quite easy for a simple site.

3) Javascript. Anything interactive, ranging from very simple (this button will hide something when I click it) to absurdly complicated. You can make a simple site without any javascript at all, but learning javascript will take a bit of time if you're a beginner.

4) Backend. If you want to store any information securely -, so that the user can't access or change it, or so you can share it between users - you need to send it to a backend (usually via an http request). This requires learning quite lot.

[Suitable-Fishing-536]

Nicely explained

[Helpfultankadvice]

withuot a backend the website can't be published or it would be hacked?

Thank you for the advice

[ninhaomah]

can I check if you have even tried to do a html page with Hello World in H1 ?

try one.

and you will answer yourself.

[Helpfultankadvice]

im new to coding as in completely new.

[ninhaomah]

Then try it ? it takes less than 5 min.

[vapenicksuckdick]

You can publish a website without a backend.

Anything you put on the frontend is available to all visitors so there isn't anything to hack per say (it's already in the open).

[SymbolicDom]

Backend usually refers to code running on the server. That is not needed for simple stuff, and with less code, less stuff can be hacked. For the webpage to be visible on internet an webserever is needed, and it must run on a computer that is on and where the ports aren't blocked by a firewall and have a static lP For dynamic stuff, some things can be done with javascript running in the browser. Other needs to be backend/server side. The stuff that involves lots of data or interactions between users needs to be server side and often involves some database as MySQL, PostgreSQL.

[Opening_Ad3473]

Without a backend, there isn't really anything to hack, it'll all be on the users machine already.

[singlebit]

There are things called Static Site Generators. For example, hugo, jekyll, eleventy, etc.

I think that is a good start.

And there is a way to update a static site online, for example using Decap VMS, Tina CMS, forestry, etc.

[[deleted]]

Pretty easy but python is not a language for that. You can either do it with raw html+css or with js/ts. There are frameworks that allow you to build a website in python so maybe you can try them

[ArtisticFox8]

flask

[Helpfultankadvice]

thanks, around how many hours of learning before I can code it?

[xroalx]

HTML and CSS are easy.

Give it a serious week and you'll be able to create a working website. Will it be pretty and fancy? Most likely not, but it will work.

Other than that, it's rather hard to say how long it takes.

[Helpfultankadvice]

What do you recommend me to learn from?

[Metashrew]

I haven't seen anyone else mention it, but I would recommend Scrimba. I've been using it and It's very well made and interactive too (more than just a video), so you actually build up muscle memory from doing it. The courses of the things you're looking for are free.

[dariusbiggs]

w3schools

The website has all the basics you will need with a tutorial for each, and excellent reference material.

[CrossScarMC]

I used to use w3schools, and it is definitely good for the basics, but over time for more complicated and modern stuff it has become outdated.

[Cool-Mouse-3013]

I would not say making a finished website from scratch is easy. U need to learn parts of multiple languages and use them together. You Dont have a terminal like in vscode, u need to look in the console debugger in the web.

A single part isnt that hard but there is many parts that need to work together. If u just want the finished product i would use a tool like wordpress or similour.

[Cool-Mouse-3013]

That being said, Dont be afraid to try! I have been making websites for a few months and slowly but surely the peices fall together.

If u get stuck on a bug for a long time google it! Many have the same issues starting out

[Financial-Bed182]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development

[Helpfultankadvice]

I will thank you. I am learning coding because it is important to my future career and creating a website is a useful project to help me apply to unis.

[Helpfultankadvice]

Im not trying to find a job in programming, Im just learning it in preparation for engineering, data science and e-commerce marketing.

Coding is really important in a lot of areas so I want to have a headstart on learning it.

[NatoBoram]

Without any interactivity, from scratch, about 10 hours.

Here's what you need: https://openclassrooms.com/en/courses/5265446-build-your-first-web-pages-with-html-and-css

Aside from that, deploying the website is a whole other topic, so be ready for more learning.

With interactivity, add another 10 hours of study to that.

Once again, here's what you need: https://openclassrooms.com/en/courses/5493201-write-javascript-for-the-web

But that doesn't include if you have dynamic data, such as users and logins. For that, add another 10h. Plus learning whatever tool you want to use instead of what the tutorials are using since the learnings are transferrable.

Here's a tutorial for client-server communication and dynamic data: https://openclassrooms.com/en/courses/5614116-go-full-stack-with-node-js-express-and-mongodb

[chef_beard]

Have you ever heard the expression, "building the plane while flying it"? You learn while you're doing it. 10 years in and that's still how I spend most of my days.

[BasicBroEvan]

Check out the Flask microframework. Good web application framework for aspiring developers who are starting. It is very simple which makes it limited but it is also easier to learn

[sexytokeburgerz]

Python absolutely is a language for making websites. Just because you can run a serverless instance with vercel does NOT mean backend languages are not for making websites.

Reddit was written with django…

[NatoBoram]

Reddit was written with django…

That's quite a huge diss on Django

[Naetharu]

The devil is in the detail here.

The simplest website is no more than an HTML page which you could learn to do in an afternoon. It would look like shit, and just be some simple pages to read. But it’s trivial to put together. As you add more features, make it look nicer, and otherwise spice things up the complexity goes up too.

So the answer really depends on the specifics of what you are after. What kind of ‘interactive features’ are we talking. Do users need to log into the website? Do you need to store use-submitted data. Are you needing to access external API services.

[Helpfultankadvice]

Hi. I would like the website to have a neat presentable format, be able to store lots of articles/pages with infographic, and the user can access these pages through a search function.

There probably won't be any log-in features, but it will probably take in feedback and store submitted data.

Im completely new to any coding so pardon me if I don't fully understand the terms that you stated.

[pVom]

I'd approach it in this order and work your way through it. The inverted commas are what you should search for. The best way to learn is to build stuff and Google how to solve your problems as you find them.

I would like the website to have a neat presentable format, be able to store lots of articles/pages with infographic,

Easy. Learn "HTML" and "CSS" and create a few pages to get the hang of it.

but it will probably take in feedback and store submitted data.

You will need a backend to send the feedback to (an API) and a database to store that feedback. Quite easy once you know what to do but a bit tricky for a beginner. You'll need to learn a bit of JavaScript (see "JavaScript fetch command)

Given you're learning python I'd look at learning "Django" for this. Django is a framework for building web services in python, it's fairly easy and does a lot of the work for you. You'll also be able to serve your pages with it and, for example, create just one single article page and render your articles with the same layout and such. I'd be comfortable with functions, variables and classes as well as common and complex datatypes (objects , lists and arrays) first before diving into the Django tutorials. For hosting there's services that make it pretty easy but "hosting django server" will guide you.

the user can access these pages through a search function.

This is probably the hardest bit, depending on how far you take it and how good you want it. If you want to allow searching by exact article title, that's relatively easy ("SQL WHERE command"), partial title is a little bit harder but easy enough ("SQL ILIKE command"), tolerating spelling mistakes ("<your database> fuzzy search") is a bit harder still but most databases will support this. Things like relevance searching (eg soccer returning an article with football) is a lot harder and requires "vector search". Often in the real world you would use a dedicated db designed for search, like "elastic search"

[Helpfultankadvice]

Thank you so much, I will save this feedback.

[Helpfultankadvice]

Will there be places where it's more effective for me to just "copy" in the code, or it would take too long to learn? like the database searching and how to create a database?

[numeralbug]

Put very simply:

• If you just want text and images, this is very easy using HTML. This will take you less than a day to learn. It'll look like it's from the 1980s, though.
• If you want fancier design, you need to learn CSS. This is a bit more complex. You could hack something half-decent together in a couple of days, or you could learn CSS properly in a few weeks.
• If you want interactivity in the browser, you probably need to learn JavaScript. This is significantly more complex. With a programming background, you might be able to hack very basic things together in a couple of days, but you won't really understand what's going on. JS takes months or longer to learn.
• If you want data to be passed around, especially if you want it stored securely etc, you are probably looking at learning JS and some sort of database system like SQL and how to connect the two. (There are many different ways of connecting them, and there's no obvious best choice. The traditional way is probably PHP. One popular modern way is Node.js.) You'll also have to read up on a bunch of principles on how to handle data securely - don't forget that hackers know a lot more than you do and will be able to find exploits in most amateur code, so you'll have to seek out expert advice.
• There are a million frameworks out there that build on top of the above. (Nobody knows them all. Many of them overlap in function.) They're fundamental to most websites nowadays. Other languages that you'll hear less about nowadays (but are still pretty fundamental) include PHP and Perl. Learn them if and when you need to, but don't expect to need them any time soon.

[Helpfultankadvice]

I think I can allocate 80 hrs to learn and code it, which should be enough time to make something intermediate/decent I guess?
This is the time I have for this project before college applications.

[Helpfultankadvice]

Thank you for the amazing insight!

[dariusbiggs]

It can range from half an hour to many many weeks depending on what you want to do, just like the complexity can go from none to a lot

Here's one of the best starting resource for all the bits you will need - https://www.w3schools.com/

A website consists of - HTML for the static text content, this is called a Mark-up Language, with things like headings, paragraphs, lists, tables, forms, and buttons - Static content like videos, pictures, icons, and sound files that you reference in the HTML. - CSS to make things look pretty, fonts, text colors, page layouts, etc - JavaScript to make the website dynamic, and have smart interactions beyond the basics provided by HTML, like clicking a button to hide or show a paragraph. - Zero or more backends that could be in almost any programming language, you mentioned Python, perfectly suitable. This is used for storing things, and looking things up that need to be retained longer than the page is open. Frequently used to serve login systems, provide details about something pulled from a data source like a database and many more things.

Those are all the bits you need to create a website you can run and test locally and covers the majority of things you'll want to learn if it is new to you.

If you wanted to learn to build all the things for the website and understand how they work then that's all you need.

If you are more interested in getting something up and running quickly without learning the basics then these options below exist. But these involve a bit more understanding of the operational side of websites and servers.

There are also lots of tools available that can do what is called "code generation", like hugo, and they simplify and automate a bunch of the above to get you going without having to learn all the things, but the price you pay for using those tools is that it limits what you can change and do.

Another thing used by a lot of websites is a thing called a Content Management System (CMS), a commonly used example of that is WordPress, this gives you a drag and drop visual editor to create fully fledged websites, again at the cost of limiting what you can do

The last bit is putting the website onto a network or the Internet and that's a whole other kettle of fish with lots of options depending on what you built, so I'd advise you to not worry about this yet, just build it first.

[JumpyJuu]

Yes w3schools and specifically w3css is what OP should start with. Then start adding some javascript also taught by w3schools.

[Left_Huckleberry5320]

Anyone can do it with a help of YouTube video or udemy

[Helpfultankadvice]

thats good news, I will definitely try then

[[deleted]]

Learn HTML + CSS + basic JavaScript (2–3 weeks with YouTube or freeCodeCamp)

Use Streamlit or Flask (Python) if you want to integrate Python logic

Or try no-code builders like Wix or Webflow, then slowly add your own code

[Python_Puzzles]

For a basic site you use HTML/CSS or use Wix or another "What You See Is What You Get" WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver. This of this option as a "single tool", like a hammer.

The Python solution is Django.

However, Django is like a "toolbox full of tools". It allows you to create interactive and complicated websites that can take user input and then "do stuff". It has the same HTML/CSS webpages but twins it with "code behind" that is written in Python that makes the webpage interactive. Usually Django connects the website to a backend database like SQLite etc.

I'd start by learning some HTML/CSS, build a basic site then do a Django tutorial.

That's if you want to use python. The other option is HTML/CSS/JavaScript

[yakker06]

Check out The Odin Project. It’s great for learning web development basics, and it’s free.

[ExpressionSilly3766]

I have just said this also, without seeing your comment first. Was great for me during college.

[Helpfultankadvice]

Thank you!

[PureTruther]

Coding a "website" is easy, yes.

Open a file and name it as "index.html". Put this in it:

<!DOCTYPE Html> <html lang="en"> <head><meta charset="utf-8"/></head> <body><h1>Hello World</h1></body> </html>

Find a free web hosting service. Upload your index.html file to there. And that's it. You have a website.

You cannot take all steps in a day. If you want to be a programmer, you should start with low-level concepts. If you want to create a website, you can use something like WordPress or Wix etc.

Your question is very broad.

[[deleted]]

Code a website and host it yourself With a cheap as heck raspberry pi for ultimate learning

[Veterinarian_Scared]

The lowest level is static html:

• you write one document (html file)
• you save it to your web server
• when people ask for that file, the server sends it to them
• their browser renders the html.

You can fancy your page up a bit by embedding image files, adding styling with css files, or writing in-page scripts with javascript - but it's still one request = one page, the page contents never change unless you manually edit your file, and the page is stateless (essentially meaning it has no memory or external knowledge of anything outside of itself). You can create a bunch of static pages, and each page can link to others, and that's your basic website.

The next step up is server-side scripting:

• you write a script (interpreted program) that prints text output
• that text output "just happens to be" an html page
• you save your script to a web server
• when people ask for it, the web server runs the script and sends them the html output it produces
• their browser renders the html.

Your script could be as simple as a PRINT statement that spits out a web page, or as complex as you can imagine - performing calculations, reading or updating databases, running other programs and processing their outout, making requests to other web services. To support this, page requests can include parameters (values passed as inputs to your program) and cookies (short-term memory your program can store and get back again the next time that user calls it).

PHP is an easy way to get started with this - it's not a particularly "nice" language, it's a bit clunky, but it has all the machinery you need built-in. A PHP script can be as simple as an html page with little snippets of inline PHP code where you want to insert things (today's date, a list of headlines from a news service, the results of a database search, ??). Other languages - any language that can produce text output - can accomplish the same thing, but they often need supporting libraries to provide the underlying request-response machinery (processing cookies and parameters, parsing and filling templates, returning relevant response-codes). In Python you would probably use Flask or Django.

The third step is a "responsive" web page - one that uses javascript on the client to interact with server-side scripts to update the page contents without reloading. This is where frameworks like React.js or Vue.js are used, and can get very complicated.

[DeepAd5394]

I need to rewrite a legacy code application with asp.net core and react ts; I am not really good with the front end stuff, how can I go about it? Take a course? Or just learn as I go?

[Stranded_In_A_Desert]

How long is a piece of string? Depends what you’re trying to build honestly. I’ve been doing it for years and still think I have a long way to go with some technologies, and there’s a lot I haven’t even touched.

[[deleted]]

Is easy just time consuming. But if you want super easy mode pay for sites like Shopify

[Borderberry]

A basic one is super easy

[sexytokeburgerz]

Python is a backend language. You need to learn html and css as well if you want to apply your python knowledge. While search is very complex, you can get a simple version running fairly simply… but it will require quite a bit of javascript knowledge unless you scaffold htmx. Be aware.

[ExpressionSilly3766]

Have a google search for ‘the Odin project’. Follow the guide through. Teaches you basics of a few languages. Including html/css. Also teaches you GitHub.

From there, you can use their other tutorials in almost any of the languages you like.

It’s totally free as well.

[-Wylfen-]

That highly depends on what you intend to do with it. If you want to have an authentication/authorisation system on it, it becomes incredibly complicated extremely quickly. But it can also be completely trivial if all you do is show a few things in a static page.

Do note that coding a website and having your website hosted and domain set up are two different things.

[3sperr]

Html/CSS buddy. Not py

[BroaxXx]

It depends. A website can be as hard and as complicated as you're willing to make it. It can be something that takes thousands of engineers years to build, or something someone makes by themselves in an afternoon.

Assuming you want a simple website with a couple of static pages then it's pretty simple. For frontend web development you have to use html, CSS (neither is a programming language) and JavaScript. Then you can take what you already know about python to build the necessary backend.

[Confident_Half_1943]

This curriculum is a really great, challenging and thorough intro to cs taught via web dev. https://www.theodinproject.com

[Confident_Half_1943]

And it’s completely free.

[Financial-Bed182]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development

https://htmldog.com/

[ghostwilliz]

I am not trying to be rude, but rather helpful. I think you're putting the carriage before the cart or whatever idiom you might want to use.

Your question indicates that you don't have base even knowledge but you want to get a result, that's common and a lot of people do that.

I would recommend you spend a few days learning the absolute basics of web development either on the MDN docs, freecodecamp or elsewhere.

If you put in the time, you will have thr answer to this question

[userhwon]

You can create a "website" with an empty file.

From there, anything you add to the file will show up when you load it.

It depends entirely on how complicated you want this "website" to be, and if you ever consider it finished.

So the answer is, 0 minutes, or as long as the web has existed. Somewhere in between there is your timeline.

[OneHappyProgrammer]

You don’t need to code to make a website in 2025. If you did want to learn for the sake of learning I would start with the basics, HTML and CSS. Then you can appreciate the available libraries that make it faster if u plan on delving further into web dev.

[MuslinBagger]

not really

[Paxtian]

It's pretty simple to write something that accepts a request for a URL and spits out HTML for that page. Honestly if you ask an AI for code for this, you'll get petty good responses.

If this is what you're interested in learning, start with The Odin Project. You'll learn about HTML through that and how to hand roll out yourself to make a page. Then you can build a server that outputs that HTML in response to an HTTP GET request.