If you possess some basic HTML knowledge, you can easily build a fully functional website by using free templates. Templates expedite setting up a new website, and they do allow some customization to fit your needs. Some templates will be very simple and clean in their design, while other templates will offer advanced design and code options. Using these templates you can save a lot of time; because the creative design, layout and foundation HTML is already in place.
Templates are ready-made, and can be easily edited allowing you to instantly create a website. This saves money since you will not need a designer; and can be completed in a time frame that you decide upon. There are a lot of sites that offer free templates with amazing designs. I used W3 School for a responsive website template. You are able to use their templates without any restrictions and they have a large array of design options to choose from.
How to get started
Once you have picked your template, you can play around with it on W3School to see if it fits your needs. Once you are satisfied, copy the HTML and paste it into your HTML editor of choice. Some common editors are DreamWeaver, FrontPage, or Web Express. The images that you use to replace what is in the template can be edited in a few different image applications such as PaintShop Pro, Gimp, or PhotoShop. I use DreamWeaver for my HTML editing and PhotoShop for my image editing. Some templates will also use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to control and standardize things like font sizes and colors across all your pages. These CSS files can also be edited using a CSS editor such as DreamWeaver.
Once your HTML is ready, you can upload it to your server. Congratulations, you now have a fully functional website!
Holly Checchia 