How to Code a Website: A Beginner's Guide to HTML and CSS

Feb 20, 2025

Faradilla A.

8-minute read

Building a website might seem daunting, especially if you think it always requires advanced coding skills. Platforms like Hostinger website builder offer a no-code solution with drag-and-drop features, simplifying website creation even for beginners.

However, there might be times when you want to learn how to code a website using HTML and CSS. While it’s more complex, an HTML website offers greater flexibility and is generally faster due to its minimal resource requirements for loading.

In this article, we will explain how to code a website using HTML and CSS, guiding you through the process of building your own website with these markup languages. We’ll also provide advanced tips to enhance the look and functionality of your HTML website. Let’s dive in!

How to Code a Website with HTML and CSS

This section will cover all the essential steps on how to code a website using HTML. If you’re new to HTML, consider checking out our HTML cheat sheet to get familiar with this markup language.

1. Choose an HTML Code Editor

A code editor is software used for writing website code. While you could technically use default text editors like Notepad to create HTML pages, they lack crucial features that streamline the development process, such as:

Syntax highlighting – this feature uses different colors to mark HTML tags based on their categories, making the code structure easier to read and understand.
Autocompletion – automatically suggests HTML attributes, tags, and elements based on previous values, speeding up the coding process.
Error detection – highlights syntax errors, allowing web developers to quickly identify and fix mistakes.
Integration – some code editors integrate with plugins, Git, and FTP clients to improve deployment efficiency.
Live preview – eliminates the need to manually open HTML files in a browser; you can install plugins for a live website preview.

With numerous options available, we’ve compiled a list of the best HTML code editors to help you find the one that best suits your needs:

Notepad++ – a free, lightweight text editor with added programming features and plugin support.
Atom – an open-source HTML editor with a live website preview feature and excellent compatibility with scripting and markup languages.
Visual Studio Code (VSCode) – a popular web development tool with a comprehensive extension library to add functionalities.

2. Plan Your Website Layout

Next, create a detailed website layout plan when learning how to code a website with HTML and CSS. This will help you visualize your website’s appearance more effectively.

You can also use it as a checklist to keep track of which elements to include on your website.

Furthermore, a layout plan aids in determining website usability and navigation, which will impact user experience. Some elements to consider in this process include the website header, footer, and navigation.

You can use pen and paper or web design software like Figma to design your website layout. Your layout concept doesn’t need to be overly detailed, as long as it reflects the website’s look and feel.

3. Start Writing HTML Code

Once your layout plan and tools are ready, you can begin writing code to start learning how to code a website with HTML. The steps might vary depending on your chosen code editor, but the basic process remains the same.

In this tutorial, we’ll demonstrate how to code a website with HTML using VSCode:

Create a new folder on your computer. This folder will serve as the directory for all your website files.
Open VSCode → File → Open Folder.
Locate the new folder and click Select Folder.
Select New File. Name the file index.html and press Enter.
Click Create File to confirm.
When prompted to open the index.html editor tab, enter the basic HTML document structure:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Document</title>
</head>
<body>

</body>
</html>

To help you understand the code, here’s an explanation for each tag:

<!DOCTYPE html> – informs the web browser that this website is an HTML page.
<html lang="en"> – the opening tag of the HTML document, indicating the start of the code. The lang="en" attribute specifies the language of the website as English.
<head> – contains website metadata, such as character set and viewport settings.
<meta charset="UTF-8"> – defines the character encoding for the document as UTF-8, which supports a wide range of characters.
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> – configures the viewport for responsive web design, ensuring the website scales properly across different devices.
<title>Document</title> – defines the text displayed on the browser tab when visiting the webpage.
<body> – contains all the visible content of the webpage.

4. Create Elements Within the Layout

Add HTML code within the <body> tags in your index.html file to create elements from your layout plan. Depending on your website design, you may need to use several different HTML semantic elements.

These elements will divide your website into sections and act as containers for content. Here are the tags we’ll use:

<header> – a container for introductory content or navigation.
<main> – indicates the main content of a webpage.
<div> – defines a division or a section in an HTML document, often used as a container for other HTML elements.
<footer> – contains content displayed at the bottom of your website.

Place these elements between the <body> tags in your index.html file code. Make sure to close each element with a closing tag, or your code won’t work.

Here’s an example of the complete code:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Personal Blog</title>
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <nav></nav>
    </header>

    <main>
        <div></div>
    </main>

    <footer></footer>
</body>
</html>

5. Add HTML Content

Once the layout is ready, start filling it with website content, such as text, images, links, or videos. If your content isn’t ready yet, use any sample content as a placeholder, which you can replace later.

Here are some tags you’ll use to add website content:

<h1> to <h6> – contain headings and subheadings. <h1> is for the main heading, while <h6> is for the least important.
<p> – contains paragraphs of text. Use <br> tags to add spaces or line breaks if the text is too long.
<nav> – defines a navigation bar and its related elements (anchor elements). Use the href attribute to specify the URL that the anchor links to.
<img> – a placeholder for image elements. It includes the src attribute, which specifies the link or file name of the image.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Personal Blog</title>
</head>
<body>
    <header>
        <nav>
            <a href="#">Home</a>
            <a href="#">About</a>
            <a href="#">Blog</a>
            <a href="#">Contact</a>
        </nav>
    </header>

    <main>
        <div>
            <div>
                <h1>Newest Post</h1>
                <section>
                    <h1>First Post</h1>
                    <p>The first post’s content</p>
                </section>
            </div>
            <div>
                <h1>About Me</h1>
                <img src="profile-picture.png" alt="Author's profile picture">
                <p>About the author</p>
            </div>
        </div>
    </main>

    <footer>
        <p>© 2025 My Personal Blog</p>
    </footer>
</body>
</html>

After adding the code above, your first version of a website coded with HTML is ready. It will look something like this:

6. Include CSS for Layout

Since HTML only allows you to create the website structure and add basic content, use CSS to modify its layout. CSS is a language that dictates the style of an HTML document.

To do this, create a style.css file and link this stylesheet to the HTML document by adding the following code between the <head> tags in your index.html:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">

To create a two-column website layout, we’ll use the flex property. This property arranges HTML elements using flexible placeholders that can adjust to users’ screen sizes.

Here’s the code for your style.css file:

/* header style */
header {
    text-align: center;
    padding: 20px;
}

/* navigation menu style */
nav {
    text-align: center;
    word-spacing: 30px;
    padding: 10px;
}

/* creating the two-column layout */
* {
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

.row {
    display: flex;
    flex-wrap: wrap;
}

.post-text-box {
    flex: 70%;
    padding: 20px;
}

.profile {
    flex: 30%;
    padding: 20px;
}

/* profile image and heading style */
.profile img {
    width: 120px;
    display: block;
    margin-left: auto;
    margin-right: auto;
}

.profile h1 {
    text-align: center;
}

footer {
    text-align: center;
    padding: 10px;
    background-color: #f0f0f0;
    position: fixed;
    bottom: 0;
    width: 100%;
}

After adding the code snippet to the CSS file, here’s how your website created with HTML and CSS will look:

7. Customize Your HTML Website’s Appearance

Besides changing the layout, use CSS to customize other visual aspects of your website. For example, you can change the website’s font types and background images.

To modify your website’s appearance, add CSS properties within the elements you want to customize. For instance, here’s the code to change the background color and text elements in the navigation menu:

/*navigation bar style*/
nav {
    text-align: center;
    word-spacing: 30px;
    padding: 10px;
    background-color: #f5f5dc;
    font-family: Helvetica;
}

/*navigation bar button style*/
nav a {
    color: #000000;
    text-decoration: none;
    font-size: larger;
}

After adding CSS styling for each element, your website’s appearance will become like this:

If you want to use different colors, replace the HTML color codes in the code above with options that better suit your preferences.

What’s Next After Coding a Website with HTML and CSS?

This section will explain the necessary steps after you finish learning how to code a website with HTML and CSS. Following these steps will make your website more accessible and functional.

Host Your Website on a Suitable Platform

To make your website accessible via the internet, use a web hosting service. Most hosting providers offer various plans that cater to different user needs.

Since HTML webpages are lightweight and require minimal resources for loading, basic shared hosting plans are generally sufficient.

Alternatively, you can use free hosting platforms like GitHub Pages to host static websites.

However, avoid free static hosting platforms if you plan to add code or create dynamic websites. Besides potential compatibility issues, limited server resources can slow down your website.

Add a Dropdown Menu for Better Navigation

Complex websites with numerous pages often have many navigation buttons, links, and texts. You can create a simple CSS dropdown menu to group these elements.

Users can expand the navigation bar to access these elements. This also helps improve the website’s appearance and usability, especially for users on smaller screens.

Enhance Website Design with Advanced CSS

CSS allows for advanced customization to enhance website design, providing a better user experience. For example, you can enable scroll snapping, text animations, hover zoom animations, and gradients.

Moreover, you can build responsive websites with media queries, CSS grids, and flexbox. Flexbox layouts will automatically adjust your website to the client’s screen size.

Increase Interactivity with JavaScript

JavaScript is a scripting language that lets you create interactive and dynamic website content. Examples include enabling animations, adding countdown timers, and incorporating buttons, forms, or menus.

These features make your website more engaging, improving user experience. The steps to add JavaScript to HTML are similar to CSS. You can use separate files or write it directly into the current code.

Is Learning HTML and CSS Necessary to Code a Website?

Some users might not have much time to learn HTML and code a website from scratch. Fortunately, several platforms allow you to create functional websites without coding.

Website builders like Hostinger are excellent alternatives, especially for beginners. These platforms feature a visual UI and a drag-and-drop editor, simplifying customization.

Furthermore, maintaining websites built with builders is much easier since you don’t need to manually update source code. Simply select the element you want to edit and apply changes directly in one view.

Best of all, Hostinger Website Builder is included in all our hosting plans, so you don’t need to purchase it separately. Starting from $2.99/month, you get a no-code website builder that can be upgraded to higher-tier plans.

Conclusion

Through this tutorial, you’ve learned how to code a website using HTML and CSS.

While no-code alternatives like website builders are available, coding a website from scratch with HTML and CSS offers customization and control. Although it’s more complex, HTML websites are more resource-efficient and flexible because you can edit the source code.

Here are seven steps on how to code a website with HTML and CSS:

Choose an HTML editor – select a program to write and edit your website code, like VSCode.
Plan your website layout – create a website layout mockup using programs like Figma or pen and paper.
Write HTML code – create an index.html file and add HTML document structure tags.
Create layout elements – structure your website into sections based on your layout by adding tags to the HTML file.
Add HTML content – add headings, content text, and images to each section.
Include CSS for layout – create a style.css file and add CSS code to change column positions, text alignment, and element padding.
Customize your website – use CSS style attributes to customize background colors, font sizes, font types, and other visual elements.

After creating your HTML and CSS webpages, you can also add advanced JavaScript to enhance navigation, interactivity, and overall design.

So, are you ready to code a website with HTML and CSS? Or will you opt for a website builder? If you prefer to avoid coding complexities, choose Hostinger Website Builder instead!

FAQ About How to Code a Website with HTML

Is HTML Enough to Code a Website?

You can create a fully functional website using only HTML. However, the content will be static, such as text, links, images, and videos.

Use CSS to enhance its appearance, like changing background colors and font sizes. For dynamic and interactive websites, you’ll also need to use JavaScript and backend languages.

Is HTML Good for Coding a Website?

HTML is good, especially for static websites. HTML websites require minimal resources for loading and are more flexible because their source code can be modified.

For complex websites, HTML must be combined with CSS and JavaScript. If you’re new to coding, consider using WordPress or a website builder for easier website creation.

How Long Does It Take to Code an HTML Website?

More complex websites take longer to build. The number of people working on it also influences the timeline, including their skill level. Generally, proficient developers can build a simple website in about 4-6 weeks.

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