another approach to creating your web site

My last entry was about using a cloud-based service to create your web site. When you take this approach you can create a beautiful web site with little or no HTML knowledge. The service will also optimize your site for mobile devices.

Perhaps you are a get-under-the-hood kind of person, however. If that's your style you can certainly code your site by hand. There are a lot of tools out there that will help you in this task. There is a cool open source editor from Adobe called Brackets. I have come to really like it and to rely on it for my web site.

Of course you need to make sure that your code is optimized for mobile. That is essential. I took a marvelous course from udemy entitled Build Responsive Real World Websites. (Responsive, of course, means making your site viewable on any kind of device.) The course is clear, complete, and comprehensive. The instructor includes a useful PDF manual and directs you to a number of free tools to assist you with web design in general and making your site responsive in particular. (By the way, I'm not getting any sort of kickback on this. I simply found the course extremely useful and well done. I used the principles in the course to build my web site.)

For HTML reference, the W3C HTML/Elements listing is the definitive source. However, I find the independent W3C Schools HTML Element Reference much more accessible. It is my go-to source when I have an HTML question.

Creating your site by manually coding it can be challenging if your are not an HTML expert. At the same time it can be a satisfying process to build a site from the ground up with your own hands.