You do not need to understand every technical detail before starting a website. This guide explains common website terms, the security threats a well-built site should guard against, and the steps involved in getting a website published and ready for visitors.
Your website's address, such as g2webworks.co.uk. Registration can cost only a few pounds for an available standard name, while a premium or already-owned name may be much more expensive depending on demand. A domain is an ongoing cost, commonly renewed each year, and must be renewed to remain under your control.
Web hosting is the service that stores your website and makes it available online. It is a recurring cost and may be billed monthly, yearly or as a longer plan. Good hosting helps with speed, reliability, security and backups.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It provides the structure and content of a web page, including its headings, paragraphs, images, links and forms. It is the foundation that the browser uses to understand what appears on the page.
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It controls how HTML content looks and is arranged, including colours, fonts, spacing and layouts. It also helps a website adapt neatly to different screen sizes.
JavaScript adds interaction and changing behaviour in the visitor's browser. It can open menus, check forms, update parts of a page without reloading it and provide features such as sliders or interactive calculators.
PHP is a programming language that runs on the web server before a page reaches the visitor. It can process forms, manage user accounts, build pages from stored content and securely connect the website to other systems.
MySQL is a database system used to store organised information for a website, such as users, products, bookings or orders. Server-side code such as PHP can add, find and update that information when the website needs it.
DNS stands for Domain Name System. Website servers are located using numerical addresses called IP addresses; DNS connects those numbers to familiar domain names that people can remember and type. Its settings also direct your domain to the correct website and email services, rather like an internet address book.
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer, the familiar name for the security now provided by TLS. HTTPS means Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. Together, they encrypt information between a visitor and your website; the browser padlock shows the secure connection is active.
A layout that adapts to phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers, keeping content readable and controls easy to use on every screen. This is essential: visitors expect a smooth experience on whichever device they choose, and many will simply leave a site that is difficult to navigate.
CMS stands for Content Management System. It allows a site owner with little or no technical knowledge to update text, images or products and, where supported, create new pages or sections without involving a developer each time. You stay in control of routine changes and save the cost of paying someone else to make them.
The parts of a website that visitors see and interact with in their browser: its pages, words, images, menus, forms and visual layout. Front-end development makes these elements work clearly across phones, tablets and computers.
The systems working behind the visible pages. A back end can process forms, store and retrieve database information, manage secure accounts, take bookings, handle shop orders and provide administration tools for the site owner.
Building both the front end that visitors use and the back end working behind it. A full-stack developer can connect the visible pages, databases and other systems into one complete website rather than working on only one side.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimisation. It is essential for making your website visible in search results—a well-designed site has limited value if people cannot find it. Useful content, clear structure, metadata, speed and technical quality help search engines understand your pages and can improve where they appear in relevant searches, although no particular ranking can be guaranteed.
A page title tells visitors and search engines what an individual page is about and usually appears as the clickable heading in search results and browser tabs. Metadata supplies additional information, such as the short description that may appear beneath the title in search results.
This means using the correct building blocks for each part of a page, such as real headings for sections, lists for related items and clearly identified navigation. It helps browsers, search engines and assistive technology understand how the content is organised.
A sitemap lists the important pages of a website and helps search engines discover them. A robots.txt file tells search-engine crawlers which areas they should or should not visit. It guides well-behaved crawlers but is not a security measure.
Google Search Console is a free service that shows how Google finds and understands a website. It can report which pages are indexed, highlight some technical or mobile-usability problems and show the search terms that led people to the site.
Performance describes how quickly and smoothly a website loads and responds. Mobile usability means that its text, menus, forms and buttons remain clear and easy to use on smaller screens. Both improve the visitor experience and can support search visibility.
Designing and building so more people can use the site, including visitors who navigate with a keyboard, screen reader or other assistive technology. Techniques include clear menus and headings, full keyboard navigation, visible focus indicators, descriptive links, labelled forms, alternative text for images, good colour contrast and links that skip repeated content. Accessibility is also a legal responsibility in the UK: service providers must make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, while public-sector websites and apps have additional accessibility requirements.
Analytics provides information about how people find and use your website. It can show how many visits the site receives each day, week, month or year, which pages are viewed most often, how long visitors spend on them and where visits come from. This helps reveal which content is useful and where the site could be improved, without needing to identify individual visitors.
Ongoing checks, security updates and safe copies of the site help prevent problems and make recovery possible if something goes wrong.
A secure website uses several layers of protection. No website can be guaranteed completely immune from attack, but careful development, regular updates, monitoring and reliable backups greatly reduce the risk and limit the impact of a problem. The threats below can be guarded against through well-written code, careful configuration, thorough testing and appropriate protection from hosting and network providers.
An attacker tricks someone who is already signed in into unknowingly making a change, such as updating account details or placing an order. The website can prevent this by adding a unique hidden code to forms and checking it before accepting the request.
An attacker places harmful instructions into a form, comment or web address so they run in another visitor's browser. This could be used to steal information or alter what the visitor sees. The website helps prevent it by checking submitted content and displaying it only as ordinary text, never as instructions to run.
An attacker enters malicious text into a form or web address in an attempt to read, change or damage information in the website's database. Secure coding keeps anything a visitor submits separate from the commands sent to the database, so it is treated only as information and cannot take control.
Someone guesses or changes a web address to reach a page or file they should not see. The website must check that a person is signed in and has permission before showing any protected page, file or information.
Automated tools repeatedly try passwords or submit forms until they find a way in. Secure passwords, an extra sign-in check, limits on repeated attempts, temporary account locks and checks for suspicious activity all help reduce the risk.
Old software can contain publicly known weaknesses. Prompt security updates, reliable backups and removing unused components reduce the opportunity for attack.
A large number of computers or devices flood a website with traffic at the same time, attempting to overwhelm it and make it unavailable to genuine visitors. Protection is usually provided partly by the hosting or network provider, which can identify and filter suspicious traffic before it reaches the site.
During design and development, the website is kept in a separate test environment rather than being made available to the public. Reviews, revisions and comprehensive testing are completed there. Only when the preparation and testing stages are complete and the site has been approved is it deployed to the live environment, where visitors can access it.
A suitable domain should be checked and secured as early as possible, once the business or project name has been agreed. Domain availability can influence naming, branding and business email addresses, and an available name may be registered by someone else if it is left too long. If you already own a suitable domain, I can help check its settings and plan how it will be used.
A suitable hosting service is needed to store the website and make it available online. I can provide hosting on the server I normally use or configure a suitable package you purchase from another provider. If you purchase hosting directly, you will be responsible for the provider’s account, billing and renewals. I handle the technical setup and will need access to any client-owned hosting account used for development and launch.
We discuss what you do, what the site needs to achieve and any practical limits such as budget or timescale. We also identify your target audience—the people you most want to reach—so the content, design and priorities can be shaped around their needs.
I turn those goals into a clear scope: the pages, features, responsibilities, price and stages of the work. Staged quotations can separate the essential first version from future additions, allowing the website to start simply and grow naturally as time and budget permit.
Before deciding how the website should look, we identify the words, images, branding and other content it needs, then organise everything so visitors can quickly find what matters to them. Form follows function: the design is shaped around the site's purpose and content, rather than forcing the content into a pre-made layout.
The visual direction and key page layouts are developed around your identity, content and users, with mobile screens considered from the start. Several design iterations may be reviewed and refined using your feedback, allowing the layout, details and overall character of the site to be tailored properly.
The agreed design direction is built into a working website, including forms, databases, administration or other features the project needs. The important functions are built and tested before the final visual details are completed, ensuring the finished appearance rests on a reliable, properly working foundation.
You review the working site and provide final feedback. Comprehensive testing is vital before launch: I check the main visitor journeys across different phones, tablets and screen sizes, using browsers including Firefox, Chrome, Edge and Safari on Macs. I also test forms, validation, links, error handling, speed, accessibility and security. Any problems found are corrected and checked again before the site goes live.
The domain is connected to the hosting, the site's secure connection is activated and the finished website is made available to the public. When a new website replaces an existing one, the change can be planned to keep any interruption to a minimum.
I check the live site and, where appropriate, send search engines a sitemap: a file listing the site's important pages. This helps services such as Google and Bing discover and include those pages in their search results, although it does not guarantee a particular ranking. I can also provide maintenance, backups and future improvements.
You do not need a technical brief. Tell me what you would like the website to do, and I will help make sense of the options.