During my first year of university, I learned how to build websites using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Although I had some prior experience with HTML and CSS from high school, my exposure was quite limited. It was at university where I truly began to explore and understand web development in depth.
Initially, I considered building my website with Wix. However, I soon realized that the platform’s setup process, various functionalities, and complex menus made it less ideal for my needs. Instead, I decided to put my foundational web development skills to the test and create a website from scratch. This approach not only allowed me to have more control over the design but also made the process much more enjoyable. Of course, I encountered some challenges along the way, but I resolved them by researching solutions online and leveraging AI tools like ChatGPT for troubleshooting, best practices, and new ideas.
The entire website was built using only HTML and CSS—no frameworks, no extra libraries, just pure, vanilla code. For the icons featured on the site, I used Font Awesome, a popular icon library and toolkit trusted by millions of designers, developers, and content creators.
Before the development, I looked up some tutorials and examples for inspiration. I chose to keep the website simple, aiming for a clean, modern, and aesthetically pleasing look with a minimal color palette. While I didn’t experiment much with animations or effects, I did implement smooth hover effects on buttons and card elements to enhance the user experience. This website isn’t just a one-time project—I plan to continue updating it, adding new features and content, and making ongoing improvements in the months and years ahead.
The final step was to host my website, for which I chose Combell. With access to academic software, I was able to register my own custom domain at no cost and proudly launch my very first website on the Internet. To ensure its safety, I also enabled additional security settings to help protect my site.
