How I Built my Website from Scratch: a Complete Journey! 🌍

Some days ago, on this website, I asked if someone wanted to learn how I built my website from scratch. I love the Web’s ability to connect people and information. Furthermore, it allows anyone to create their own online home, a place to express whatever they want. Whenever I visit a website, the first thing I do is not looking for the info I need, but rather analyzing it. I also love looking for bugs in layout, trying to understand how I could fix them myself. I’m a maniac of perfection, and I feel a slight tingling when I notice a defect in layout, fonts, responsiveness, etc.

I told you these things to make you understand how deep is the love I harbor for web sites and applications. I love all of the aspects concerning their building: from appearance to performance, from the philosophy on the use of personal data to the tools used to build them.

If you haven’t read my last post on dev.to yet, francoscarpa.com already existed. I accidentally deleted its source code with a ruthless rm -r _site/ (Eleventy users will understand). In other words, I demolished the directory that contained all of its files. Since I hadn’t use source control, I felt like crying: I had completely lost my website. Sure, it was online, but it only existed there at that point. I had to start from scratch.

However, in light of the work I’ve done to rebuild it, I can say it has been a good thing. Not because I didn’t like the previous site, but because I like the current one too much. I’ve always promised myself to let other people know how I built my website. francoscarpa.com has finally come to a new, and (most importantly) stable version, so that moment has come.

I found this premise adequate to inaugurate the series of articles in which I explain how I built my website from scratch. I’ll talk about everything. Maybe YouTube videos were a better choice, but I have no moments of peace in my house, so this is the best solution.

If you are:

• a passionate web designer and developer like me;
• attracted to websites;
• a beginner who wants to make his first step in the world of Web development;

these articles are for you. I will divide them as follows:

1. tools I used;
2. appearance (layout, fonts, and colors);
3. philosophy, principles and privacy policy
4. PWA behavior.

Get on board! I will take you on a journey up and down on francoscarpa.com! Argh!