THE WORLD'S LARGEST WEB DEVELOPER SITE

HOW TO

HowTo Home

Menus

Icon Bar Menu Icon Accordion Tabs Vertical Tabs Tab Headers Full Page Tabs Hover Tabs Top Navigation Responsive Topnav Navbar with Icons Search Menu Search Bar Fixed Sidebar Side Navigation Responsive Sidebar Fullscreen Navigation Off-Canvas Menu Hover Sidenav Buttons Sidebar with Icons Horizontal Scroll Menu Vertical Menu Bottom Navigation Responsive Bottom Nav Bottom Border Nav Links Right Aligned Menu Links Centered Menu Link Equal Width Menu Links Fixed Menu Slide Down Bar on Scroll Hide Navbar on Scroll Shrink Navbar on Scroll Sticky Navbar Navbar on Image Hover Dropdowns Click Dropdowns Dropdown in Topnav Dropdown in Sidenav Resp Navbar Dropdown Subnavigation Menu Dropup Mega Menu Mobile Menu Curtain Menu Collapsed Sidebar Collapsed Sidepanel Pagination Breadcrumbs Button Group Vertical Button Group Sticky Social Bar Pill Navigation Responsive Header

Images

Slideshow Slideshow Gallery Modal Images Lightbox Responsive Image Grid Image Grid Tab Gallery Image Overlay Fade Image Overlay Slide Image Overlay Zoom Image Overlay Title Image Overlay Icon Image Effects Black and White Image Image Text Image Text Blocks Transparent Image Text Full Page Image Form on Image Hero Image Blur Background Image Change Bg on Scroll Side-by-Side Images Rounded Images Avatar Images Responsive Images Center Images Thumbnails Meet the Team Sticky Image Flip an Image Shake an Image Portfolio Gallery Portfolio with Filtering Image Zoom Image Magnifier Glass Image Comparison Slider

Buttons

Alert Buttons Outline Buttons Split Buttons Animated Buttons Fading Buttons Button on Image Social Media Buttons Read More Read Less Loading Buttons Download Buttons Pill Buttons Notification Button Icon Buttons Next/prev Buttons More Button in Nav Block Buttons Text Buttons Round Buttons Scroll To Top Button

Forms

Login Form Signup Form Checkout Form Contact Form Social Login Form Register Form Form with Icons Newsletter Stacked Form Responsive Form Popup Form Inline Form Clear Input Field Hide Number Arrows Copy Text to Clipboard Animated Search Search Button Fullscreen Search Input Field in Navbar Login Form in Navbar Custom Checkbox/Radio Custom Select Toggle Switch Check Checkbox Detect Caps Lock Trigger Button on Enter Password Validation Toggle Password Visibility Multiple Step Form Autocomplete Turn off autocomplete Turn off spellcheck File Upload Button Empty Input Validation

Filters

Filter List Filter Table Filter Elements Filter Dropdown Sort List Sort Table

Tables

Zebra Striped Table Responsive Tables Comparison Table

More

Fullscreen Video Modal Boxes Delete Modal Timeline Scroll Indicator Progress Bars Skill Bar Range Sliders Tooltips Popups Collapsible Calendar HTML Includes To Do List Loaders Star Rating User Rating Overlay Effect Contact Chips Cards Flip Card Profile Card Product Card Alerts Callout Notes Labels Circles Style HR Coupon List Group Responsive Text Cutout Text Glowing Text Fixed Footer Sticky Element Equal Height Clearfix Responsive Floats Snackbar Fullscreen Window Scroll Drawing Smooth Scroll Gradient Bg Scroll Sticky Header Shrink Header on Scroll Pricing Table Parallax Aspect Ratio Toggle Like/Dislike Toggle Hide/Show Toggle Dark Mode Toggle Text Toggle Class Add Class Remove Class Active Class Tree View Remove Property Offline Detection Find Hidden Element Redirect Webpage Zoom Hover Flip Box Center Vertically Transition on Hover Arrows Shapes Download Link Full Height Element Browser Window Custom Scrollbar Hide Scrollbar Device Look Contenteditable Border Placeholder Color Text Selection Color Bullet Color Vertical Line Dividers Animate Icons Countdown Timer Typewriter Coming Soon Page Chat Messages Popup Chat Window Split Screen Testimonials Section Counter Quotes Slideshow Closable List Items Typical Device Breakpoints Draggable HTML Element JS Media Queries Syntax Highlighter JS Animations Get Iframe Elements

Website

Make a Website Make a Website (W3.CSS) Make a Website (BS3) Make a Website (BS4) Center Website Contact Section About Page Big Header Example Website

Grid

2 Column Layout 3 Column Layout 4 Column Layout Expanding Grid List Grid View Mixed Column Layout Column Cards Zig Zag Layout Blog Layout

Google

Google Charts Google Fonts

Converters

Convert Weight Convert Temperature Convert Length Convert Speed

Python

Remove List Duplicates Reverse a String

How TO - Build a Website


Learn how to create a fast and awesome responsive website that will work on all devices, PC, laptop, tablet, and phone.


Create a Website with a CSS Framework


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

Slideshow

The Band

Description of the band

Description of the band

Description of the band


Article

Article

Article


Footer


Doctype, Meta Tags, and CSS

The doctype should define the page as an HTML5 document:

<!DOCTYPE html>

A meta tag should define the character set to be UTF-8:

<meta charset="UTF-8">

A viewport meta tag should make the web site work on all devices and screen resolutions:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

W3.CSS should take care of all our styling needs and all device and browser differences:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.w3schools.com/w3css/3/w3.css">

To learn more about styling with W3.CSS, please visit our W3.CSS Tutorial.

Our first empty web page will look much like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://www.w3schools.com/w3css/3/w3.css">
<body>

<!-- Content will go here -->

</body>
</html>

Note: If you want to create a website from scratch, without the help of a CSS framework, read our How To Make a Website Tutorial.


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 define 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".

<!-- Navigation -->
<nav class="w3-bar w3-black">
  <a href="#home" class="w3-button w3-bar-item">Home</a>
  <a href="#band" class="w3-button w3-bar-item">Band</a>
  <a href="#tour" class="w3-button w3-bar-item">Tour</a>
  <a href="#contact" class="w3-button w3-bar-item">Contact</a>
</nav>

Try it Yourself »

We can use a <nav> or <div> element as a container for the navigation links.

The w3-bar class is a container for navigation links.

The w3-black class defines the color of the navigation bar.

The w3-bar-item and w3-button class styles the navigation links inside the bar.



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:

<!-- Slide Show -->
<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>

Try it Yourself »

We need to add a little JavaScript to change the images every 3 seconds:

// Automatic Slideshow - change image 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);
}

Try it Yourself »


Sections and Articles

Looking at the "Layout Draft" we can see that the next step is to create articles.

First we will create a <section> or <div> element containing band information:

<section class="w3-container w3-center" style="max-width:600px">
  <h2 class="w3-wide">THE BAND</h2>
  <p class="w3-opacity"><i>We love music</i></p>
</section>

Try it Yourself »

The w3-container class takes care of standard padding.

The w3-center class centers the content.

The w3-wide class provides a wider heading.

The w3-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:

<section class="w3-container w3-content w3-center" style="max-width:600px">
<p class="w3-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>

Try it Yourself »

The w3-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:

<section class="w3-row-padding w3-center w3-light-grey">
  <article class="w3-third">
    <p>John</p>
    <img src="img_bandmember.jpg" alt="Random Name" style="width:100%">
  </article>
  <article class="w3-third">
    <p>Paul</p>
    <img src="img_bandmember.jpg" alt="Random Name" style="width:100%">
  </article>
  <article class="w3-third">
    <p>Ringo</p>
    <img src="img_bandmember.jpg" alt="Random Name" style="width:100%">
  </article>
</section>

Try it Yourself »


Footer

Finally we will use a <footer> or <div> to create a footer:

<!-- Footer -->
<footer class="w3-container w3-padding-64 w3-center w3-black w3-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="w3-medium">
    Powered by <a href="https://www.w3schools.com/w3css/default.asp" target="_blank">w3.css</a>
  </p>
</footer>

Try it Yourself »

The fa fa classes are Font Awesome Icon classes.

To use these classes you must link to a Font Awesome library:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/font-awesome/4.6.3/css/font-awesome.min.css">

To learn more about using icons, please visit our Icons Tutorial.