Coding and Website Development
Coding and website development can sound like a scary topic to discuss and learn, but there is no need to panic! If you can put some time aside and learn the basics of coding and website development, this will bring you many benefits down your digital marketing career path. To begin my coding and website development journey, I spent some time learning three different platforms Codecademy, Squarespace, and WordPress.
Codecademy
Codecademy is an online platform that allows people to learn how to code. In their free subscription, you can learn the basics of HTML, JavaScript, Python, SQL, and other languages of code. To begin my code website building journey, I chose to learn the first “language” as HTML. HTML, which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the first step in creating websites and is the skeleton of all web pages. It’s often the first language learned by developers, marketers, and designers and is core to front-end development work.
Going through the HTML code course, you are given information about a particular aspect of HTML and instructions on how to do it yourself. In the middle panel, which is called the terminal, you type in the code instructed. In the right-hand panel, you will see the real-time changes the code makes to the website.
HTML is built of several elements that help structure the webpage and define its content. They are the opening tag, content, and closing tag.
As I was moving through the course, I was able to learn:
- HTML elements can be nested inside other elements. The enclosed element is the “child” of the enclosing “parent” element.
- Any visible content should be placed within the opening and closing <body> tags.
- Headings and sub-headings, <h1> to <h6> tags, are used to enlarge text.
- The <em> and <strong> tags are used to emphasize text.
- Line breaks are created with the <br> tag.
- Ordered lists (<ol>) are like bulleted unordered lists(<ul>), except that each list item is numbered.
- Images (<img>) and videos (<video>) can be added by linking to an existing source.
Below you can see code components such as headings, divs, attributes, text styling, and ordered, unordered lists, images and videos being applied.
Squarespace
If creating a website with code is not your thing and seems complicated, Squarespace can be your hero. Squarespace is an all in one platform to build a beautiful website. Squarespace offers many templates that customers can customize to create their perfect website reflecting their business or blog. Every Squarespace website or store comes with built-in SEO tools that help maximize prominence in the search result and analytics that show where your website traffic is coming from and so much more.
When I played around on Squarespace, I wanted to build a website for my mock business, "Glory Coffee Roasters." I chose a template called "Eldridge," that would best represent the coffee shop's image and style.
I could easily customize elements like the header, the buttons, fonts, titles, colors, etc. Below is a screenshot of me customizing the color palette of the website
I then was able to enter into different pages like the menu and make changes there as well. The template came with a set menu that didn't represent the food I wanted to serve. I was able to easily delete the food I didn't like and create my menu. Below is an example of the menus I made.
With my chosen template, I was able to see how my customers would see my website on their phone or computer. It is crucial to optimize your website to be mobile-friendly, so it would be easy for your customers to navigate on your site through their phones. Below is an example of how customers would see my site through a desktop view.
Overall, Squarespace was quite fun for me to use. They made everything feel fast, easy, and not overwhelming, something that coding can do.
WordPress
WordPress is another platform that you can create a website or blog that is somewhat similar to Squarespace. Wordpress's mission is "software designed for everyone, emphasizing accessibility, performance, security, and ease of use." With WordPress, users can use HTML code while customizing their site, something Squarespace doesn't offer. Before I began building my mock business website, I was prompted to create a domain name and a site template.
Once I started to work on my business website, "Glory Coffee Roasters," I changed the background of the main page, the font, and added more tabs under the site menu. Below is me adding more tabs on the menu.
This is the outcome of what I created.
Sqaurespace Vs WordPress
When comparing the two website building platforms, I would say Squarespace is easier to use, making it an excellent option for a small business or individuals with a limited software development team. You don't need to know anything about web development to use it. The features of Squarespace are easily accessible and easy to use. On the other hand, WordPress is geared more towards large developed companies with software development teams that help out with writing the HTML code. WordPress is a flexible, open-source CMS that is more customizable than Squarespace and takes longer to learn and gain a great understanding of all the tools they offer.
Marketers
A digital marketer must have a basic understanding of coding, Squarespace, and WordPress. Having a basic knowledge of web development and coding comes in helpful for optimizing the user experience with the website your working on, content included on the website, and search engine optimization. As a marketer who understands the necessary code, you can apply any changes to a site without a developer's help. If you are not terrific with coding, Squarespace and WordPress can help you develop a beautiful site quickly and efficiently, taking away the coding stress.
Have you ever built a site with code or through a website building platform like Squarespace? I would love to hear your experience!
Cheers!
Alina