How to Build a Website in Five Minutes

By Christopher Capelle

  • Overview

    Although complex Websites can take scores of hours to build, post and maintain, it is certainly possible to build a simple site in five minutes. While this limits the number of bells and whistles you can incorporate into the site (flash elements, multiple links and shopping cart capabilities, among many others), a one-page, no-nonsense site can be built and posted live on the World Wide Web in five minutes. Any Web page software will work.
    How to Build a Website in Five Minutes
    How to Build a Website in Five Minutes

    • Step 1

      Access your web creation software program and create a blank page by selecting "New" under the File menu. Adjust the size to tailor it to your content. A quick and dirty site will have a banner at the top, a footer at the bottom and content (images and/or text) in the middle.
      Create a blank page by selecting New under File.

    • Step 2

      Create a table by selecting the "Table" command under Insert in the File menu at the top of the page. A table gives each element (either graphical or text) its own space. You can dictate the number of rows (horizontal) and columns (vertical) to suit your design. By using the select tool, you're able to size your tables by hand. Note that you can put one table inside another.
      Creating the table--one column, three rows.

    • Step 3

      Insert graphics into the document. This is accomplished by selecting the cell you want, go to "Insert" in the File menu, and select "Insert Image." Repeat this step for all the cells you want to place graphics in.
      Inserting a second table inside the first. This one has two columns and two rows.

    • Step 4

      Add any copy by selecting the text tool. The best bet is to create the text in a Microsoft Word document, check spelling and grammar, and then copy it from the Word document and paste it into the Web document. You can select the font, style and size of the font by using the properties palette.
      The properties palette in Dreamweaver.

    • Step 5

      Save the page by selecting "Save" under the File menu. To preview the page, open a Web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari) and select "Open" under the File menu. This will allow you to preview your page, and confirm that all the images and text display properly.
      Uh oh, missing an image!

    • Step 6

      Upload the page and images to your Web host. For this, you need FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software, which transfers the files from your computer to your Web host. To accomplish this, you'll need the FTP address of your Web host, your user name and password. Not only will you have to upload your Web page (or HTML document), but all the associated photos and graphics as well.
      Using FTP software to upload your files.

    • Step 7

      Preview your Web page now that it's live. Open your Web browser and navigate to the site on the Internet to confirm that the site is live. If you haven't hit five minutes yet, go to another computer (preferably on a different platform, and using a different browser) to see how the site looks.
      Your site--live on the Web.
    • Skill: Moderately Easy
    • Ingredients:
    • Web creation software
    • FTP software
    • Web hosting account
    • Tip: Get all your ducks in a row before you begin--images, FTP password and copy.
    • Tip: Remember, the more pictures, the longer the page will take to load.
    • Tip: Low-res pictures display just as well as hi-res pictures on the Web.
    • Warning:
    • If your site contains questionable content (compromising pictures of yourself, for example), remember they can be copied to a site where you have no control over them.

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