Member Avatar for walba

Hey, I'm new to web design and I need tips on how to start to deign a website starting from the basics, step by step

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The original posts have useful beginner pointers, but the landscape has changed since 2009. Modern, practical first steps are: decide the site goal and content, sketch a simple wireframe (even on paper), mark up the content with semantic HTML5, style with CSS using a mobile‑first approach (Flexbox/Grid), add JavaScript only for progressive enhancement, and test on real devices and browsers. The XHTML discussion from is understandable historically, and ’s compatibility warning is still relevant — today HTML5 is the default choice for new projects.

A compact, repeatable workflow:

  1. Define content and primary user tasks. 2) Wireframe and choose a simple layout. 3) Create semantic HTML first. 4) Add responsive CSS (mobile‑first). 5) Test, optimize images/assets, and iterate. Version control and small, frequent commits make rollback and learning easier.

A minimal modern page skeleton (for reference) shows the essentials:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1">
  <title>Page title</title>
</head>
<body>
  <main>Content here</main>
</body>
</html>

For learning and reference (answers to ): MDN’s HTML and CSS guides are current and authoritative, freeCodeCamp provides interactive practice, and Google’s web.dev covers performance and accessibility. CSS‑Tricks has practical layout guides and Can I Use helps with browser support decisions.

Common beginner pitfalls: starting with a framework before fundamentals are understood; neglecting accessibility and mobile layouts; and skipping testing on different viewports. ’s “learn as you go” approach is solid—build small, focused projects (a landing page, a blog post template, a portfolio) and iterate while consulting the linked references.

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Member Avatar for cfajohnson


Start with:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>YOUR PAGE TITLE HERE</title>
    <link href="" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
    <meta name="description" content="">
    <meta name="keywords" content="">
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>MAIN HEADING HERE</h1>
    <p>
      <!-- PARAGRAPH HERE -->
    </p>

Read about HTML and CSS at http://www.w3.org.

Read the tutorials at http://htmldog.com (use HTML not XHTML).

Always validate your pages at http://validator.w3.org.

Member Avatar for seanooi

After you're familiar with CSS and HTML, I would suggest you move into XHTML. I find the semantics to be cleaner. HTML and XHTML are pretty much the same except they enforce HTML rules more strictly.

Member Avatar for Beg.CProgrammer

I'd start with web development tools such as adobe dreamweaver or eclipse. I started with just developing a simple myspace page to my likings. Adjust background, quizzes, widgets, etc.

Of course you could just try to code directly from a text editor with the bare bottom basics instead of learn as you go. I recommend a learn as you go approach rather than trying to memorize a bunch of different concepts and then code from scratch.

Member Avatar for mhovidz

If you are newbie in creating a Web I think you should goto this url
<b>http://w3schools.com/html/default.asp</b>
It is a free online tutorial about anything...^_^
The instructions are very easy to get...

Member Avatar for cfajohnson

Note that w3schools has nothing to do with the W3 Consortium, and much of its information is inaccurate.

Member Avatar for mhovidz

Inaccurate?Really? Thanks for your reply...im still newbie ^_^

Member Avatar for cfajohnson

After you're familiar with CSS and HTML, I would suggest you move into XHTML. I find the semantics to be cleaner. HTML and XHTML are pretty much the same except they enforce HTML rules more strictly.

XHTML cannot be served as XHTML because the most-used browser wouldn't know what to do with it. IE will offer to download the file is it is served as XHTML.

If it is not served as XHTML, then all browsers will treat it as badly formed HTML, possible going into quirks mode as a result.

There is currently no point in using XHTML.

Member Avatar for mhovidz

I see! Sir can you suggest me a site where can I learn HTML & CSS fast. Thanks and regards..

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