How TO - Build a Web Site in 2016
Learn how to create a fast and awesome responsive website that will work on all devices, PC, laptop, tablet, and phone.
A "Layout Draft"
It is always wise to draw a layout draft of the page design before building a website.
Having a "Layout Draft" will make it a lot easier to create a web site:
Navigation bar
The Band
Description if the band
Description if the band
Description if the band
Article
Article
Article
Footer
Doctype, Meta Tags, and CSS
The doctype should define the page as an HTML5 document:
A meta tag should define the character set to be UTF-8:
A viewport meta tag should make the web site work on all devices and screen resolutions:
subhodaya.css should take care of all our styling needs and all device and browser differences:
To learn more about styling with subhodaya.css, please visit our subhodaya.css Tutorial.
Our first empty web page will look much like this:
<html>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://tutorials/lib/subhodaya.css">
<body>
<!-- Content will go here -->
</body>
</html>
Creating Page Content
Inside the <body> element of our web site we will use our "Layout Picture" and create:
- A navigation bar
- A slide show
- A header
- Some sections and articles
- A footer
Semantic Elements
HTML5 introduced several new semantic elements. Semantic elements are important to use because they define the structure of web pages and helps screen readers and search engines to read the page correctly.
These are some of the most common semantic HTML elements:
The <section> element can be used to define a part of a website with related content.
The <article> element can be used to defines an individual piece of content.
The <header> element can be used to define a header (in a document, a section, or an article).
The <footer> element can be used to define a footer (in a document, a section, or an article).
The <nav> element can be used to define a container of navigation links.
In this tutorial we will use semantic elements.
However, it is up to you if you want to use <div> elements instead.
The Navigation Bar
On our "Layout Draft" we have a "Navigation bar".
For the navigation bar we can use an unordered list of links:
<nav>
<ul class="subhodaya-navbar subhodaya-black">
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)">Home</a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)">Band</a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)">Tour</a></li>
<li><a href="javascript:void(0)">Contact</a></li>
</ul>
</nav>
We can use a <nav> or <div> element as a container for the navigation links.
The subhodaya-navbar class styles the navigation links.
The subhodaya-black class defines the color of the navigation bar.
javascript:void(0) prevents the links from linking (since the project is under development).
Slide Show
On the "Layout Draft" we have a "Slide show".
For the slide show we can use a <section> or <div> element as a picture container:
<section>
<img class="mySlides" src="img_la.jpg" style="width:100%">
<img class="mySlides" src="img_ny.jpg" style="width:100%">
<img class="mySlides" src="img_chicago.jpg" style="width:100%">
</section>
We need to add a little JavaScript to change the images every 3 seconds:
var myIndex = 0;
carousel();
function carousel() {
var i;
var x = document.getElementsByClassName("mySlides");
for (i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {
x[i].style.display = "none";
}
myIndex++;
if (myIndex > x.length) {myIndex = 1}
x[myIndex-1].style.display = "block";
setTimeout(carousel, 3000);
}
Sections and Articles
Looking at the "Layout Draf" we can see that the next step is to create articles.
First we will create a <section> or <div> element containing band information:
<h2 class="subhodaya-wide">THE BAND</h2>
<p class="subhodaya-opacity"><i>We love music</i></p>
</section>
The subhodaya-container class takes care of standard padding.
The subhodaya-center class centers the content.
The subhodaya-wide class provides a wider heading.
The subhodaya-opacity class provides text transparency.
The max-width style sets a maximum with of the band description section.
Then we will add a paragraph describing the band:
<p class="subhodaya-justify">
We have created a fictional band website. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p>
</section>
The subhodaya-justify class justifies the text's right and left margins.
Then create a <section> or <div> with an <article> or <div> about each band-member:
<article class="subhodaya-third">
<p>John</p>
<img src="img_bandmember.jpg" alt="Random Name" style="width:100%">
</article>
<article class="subhodaya-third">
<p>Paul</p>
<img src="img_bandmember.jpg" alt="Random Name" style="width:100%">
</article>
<article class="subhodaya-third">
<p>Ringo</p>
<img src="img_bandmember.jpg" alt="Random Name" style="width:100%">
</article>
</section>
Footer
Finally we will use a <footer> or <div> class to create a footer:
<footer class="subhodaya-container subhodaya-padding-64 subhodaya-center subhodaya-black subhodaya-xlarge">
<a href="#"><i class="fa fa-facebook-official"></i></a>
<a href="#"><i class="fa fa-pinterest-p"></i></a>
<a href="#"><i class="fa fa-twitter"></i></a>
<a href="#"><i class="fa fa-flickr"></i></a>
<a href="#"><i class="fa fa-linkedin"></i></a>
<p class="subhodaya-medium">
Powered by <a href="http://tutorials/subhodayacss/default.asp" target="_blank">subhodaya.css</a>
</p>
</footer>
The fa fa classes are Font Awesome Icon classes.
To use these classes you must link to a Font Awesome library:
To learn more about using icons, please visit our Icons Tutorial.
