There’s a widely-held misconception about what it takes to create a website, even accounting for differences across class, gender and educational levels. It is generally thought that a degree in computer design or programming is necessary for web design, or, at least a lot of hands-on experience with computers. Having done web design and coding for eight years for many clients with widely-differring needs, I know that the opposite is true. Designing and creating a website is not only enjoyable but is not as difficult as the general public seems to think.

It helps when you start the process to already have in mind how you want to go about the design part when you create a web site. Having graphic software is helpful, but truthfully no longer entirely necessary today if you are just creating a simple site for yourself. Many free image sites are out there that can resize the images for you or even add graphic effects, or provide changes such as changing your photos into black and white images.

When you are looking to create a website, there are several services available online that provide web hosting for free as well as for pay. For those who are new to website creation, free hosting may be a good place to start to build up your skill levels to create ever better sites. The biggest benefit to many of these free hosting sites is that they offer free HTML editors

For those who are novice website designers, the best HTML editors are WYSIWYG editors. This acronym stands for “what you see is what you get”. This is another way of saying that as you proceed to layout a page using WYSIWYG software, it will appear in final published form as it appears on the screen at the time you’re working on it. Such accurate and graphical representation is far more convenient and simple than coding a site by hand.

As you become more advanced over time in designing and coding, in time you may consider using different software other than a free WYSIWYG editor to create your sites. There are editors one can use that are combination WYSIWYG and viewing the code used to create your site. As you grow to learn more complex coding, these may be more efficient than what a straight WYSIWYG editor can accomplish.

In any way, learning to create a website can be a fun and at the same time demanding activity. As you become more expert in doing it, you can eventually grow even bigger as to offer your very own design skills on the market for sale for others wishing to learn to create sites. That’s exactly how I started with web design back when I was in school, and today it serves as the sole mean of earning my living. It may demand your persistence and research, however, after some time, it will become a fun skill that anyone can learn to do.

As someone who has done web design and web coding for the last 8 years for a wide variety of clients, I have come across a wide variety of clientele who have the assumption that to create a website, one must have a degree in design or programming and far more experience than they have or hope to possess. Quite the opposite is actually true, and creating a website can not only be fun, but much easier than you think. When you create a web site, the best way to begin is by having your design concept in mind.

- Tem Balanco