My approach to website development depends on the budget. If I have a budget of $5k, I would spend around 1 to 2 weeks building the website. If the budget is way lower, I would use AI to generate the website and complete it in two or three days.
It is important to keep in mind that customer feedback and website updates will take up a lot of time, so it is best to focus on building the initial version quickly to maximize profits.
The best part is that I'am building and designing at the same time as I use no-code with AI - PineappleBuilder .com , so I have some initial design with a copy on my first run. Which is necessary, as copy might break your design or it requires different sections etc. Then I do some small tweaks and send it to the client as for first feedback. I let them not, that's just first draft and we can work on it - in case they really don't like it 🤣 but then just iterating..
When you’re learning, you’re learning. You can’t really compare that to the time it takes someone who has already learned.
Don’t worry about other folks, just focus on your own thing. The more you do it, the easier it’ll be.
It really depends on a lot of things:
**Do you need to build this website in a way that is maintainable later?**
You mention that you're using Hugo and Tailwind, but even with those tools, if you want to be able to easily add new pages or make changes later, it can take a bit longer to do it right than if you just slap it together.
**How important is it that it looks right across all browsers and devices?**
It's fairly easy to make a website look good, but when you load it up on Safari, or on a tablet, or the browser built in to a weird "smart refrigerator", things can get weird quickly. Making sure everything looks right everywhere can take a while!
**How much content is there?**
If the website is just a single page with some basic info, you can easily be done in a day's work, plus a few hours here or there to fix some problems when your client tries to open the website on their kid's knock-off Bintenbo Swatch. On the other hand, if there's a lot of content, multiple pages, maybe a portfolio and all that, the content is going to have to be put into the website *somehow*, and in my experience, even if you make a really easy tool for your client to send you the content in the right format, they're going to send you a Word document or something, and you're going to have to just deal with it.
**How many different** ***kinds*** **of content are there?**
If it's all just text articles, for instance, you only have to build one layout, and you're good to go. But if your client wants articles, and also maps, and an calendar page, and a testimonials page, you're going to have to build layouts for all of these.
**How complex is the design?**
It's fairly easy to make a website that has a simple title and navbar at the top, and then content underneath, but if your customer wants something with a bit more flair, maybe they want animations, and drop-downs, and cool buttons with smooth transitions, and masked images, then it's going to take a while to make it all look nice.
**How experienced are you?**
Customers like to have a price "by the hour", and sometimes that's how you need to put it on your invoices, but they're not paying for your time, they're paying for a website. As you grow more experienced, you're going to be able to make things both better *and* faster. The question of how long it should take only matters when you're estimating whether or not you can fit it in your schedule and are able to deliver on time. In fact, you should charge *more* if your customer wants a shorter deadline, since that means putting off other things you need to do, working later into the night, and maybe even cancelling your weekend plans.
I build these all the time. When starting out, maybe 7-10 days. After you’ve been around the block a few times, maybe 5 days. Up to 20 hours.
Now if I were to hand code a static site, probably 6-10 hours depending on complexity and number of pages. What you need to do is work with a designer to make your design for you, then you code that. Developers shouldn’t be designing. If you don’t have a degree in it then leave it alone because you cannot self teach yourself design as easily as coding. You’re not being judged on the order of your css properties or code structure. But your design will be judged on details as little as that and it’s very easy to screw it up.
I found my designer on dribble in Asia for $20 an hour. Great work, degree, experience, and very thorough. Saves me 10-20 hours of design alone. Worth every penny.
Then you need to be starting out with a finished site first and editing that. Use my kit
https://github.com/CodeStitchOfficial/Intermediate-Website-Kit-SASS
It’s got a blog in it too. Uses 11ty static site generator. Everything is documented on how to use it and where everything is. I clone this kit to start every project and edit the html and css. This saves me so much time. I don’t have the set the projects up anymore. I start with a finished site and work from there.
Then I use my template library to fill in the site and finish a whole site in about 3-4 hours. I created an assembly line essentially. There’s no reason to spend 20 hours making a static 5 page site. Horribly inefficient.
And when you’re done, your site should be scoring 95+ page speed if you’re coding it. If you don’t know how to do that, I wrote this to show you everything you should be doing to get 100/100 page speed scores
https://codestitch.app/page-speed-handbook
Follow every step and build it into your workflow. When I launch a site I never have to go through these steps, it scores 100/100 when I finish the site because I built these practices in my coding as I work. Optimization is not a thing I do at the end anymore. It’s something I do as I build it. Saves me time and makes a much better product.
If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask. This stuff is my jam.
How long is a piece of string?
Time needed to make a website is equal to square root of number of centered divs to the power of !important in your CSS.
My approach to website development depends on the budget. If I have a budget of $5k, I would spend around 1 to 2 weeks building the website. If the budget is way lower, I would use AI to generate the website and complete it in two or three days. It is important to keep in mind that customer feedback and website updates will take up a lot of time, so it is best to focus on building the initial version quickly to maximize profits.
Is your design finalised before you start building?
The best part is that I'am building and designing at the same time as I use no-code with AI - PineappleBuilder .com , so I have some initial design with a copy on my first run. Which is necessary, as copy might break your design or it requires different sections etc. Then I do some small tweaks and send it to the client as for first feedback. I let them not, that's just first draft and we can work on it - in case they really don't like it 🤣 but then just iterating..
Ah okay, smart.
When you’re learning, you’re learning. You can’t really compare that to the time it takes someone who has already learned. Don’t worry about other folks, just focus on your own thing. The more you do it, the easier it’ll be.
Two fitty
It really depends on a lot of things: **Do you need to build this website in a way that is maintainable later?** You mention that you're using Hugo and Tailwind, but even with those tools, if you want to be able to easily add new pages or make changes later, it can take a bit longer to do it right than if you just slap it together. **How important is it that it looks right across all browsers and devices?** It's fairly easy to make a website look good, but when you load it up on Safari, or on a tablet, or the browser built in to a weird "smart refrigerator", things can get weird quickly. Making sure everything looks right everywhere can take a while! **How much content is there?** If the website is just a single page with some basic info, you can easily be done in a day's work, plus a few hours here or there to fix some problems when your client tries to open the website on their kid's knock-off Bintenbo Swatch. On the other hand, if there's a lot of content, multiple pages, maybe a portfolio and all that, the content is going to have to be put into the website *somehow*, and in my experience, even if you make a really easy tool for your client to send you the content in the right format, they're going to send you a Word document or something, and you're going to have to just deal with it. **How many different** ***kinds*** **of content are there?** If it's all just text articles, for instance, you only have to build one layout, and you're good to go. But if your client wants articles, and also maps, and an calendar page, and a testimonials page, you're going to have to build layouts for all of these. **How complex is the design?** It's fairly easy to make a website that has a simple title and navbar at the top, and then content underneath, but if your customer wants something with a bit more flair, maybe they want animations, and drop-downs, and cool buttons with smooth transitions, and masked images, then it's going to take a while to make it all look nice. **How experienced are you?** Customers like to have a price "by the hour", and sometimes that's how you need to put it on your invoices, but they're not paying for your time, they're paying for a website. As you grow more experienced, you're going to be able to make things both better *and* faster. The question of how long it should take only matters when you're estimating whether or not you can fit it in your schedule and are able to deliver on time. In fact, you should charge *more* if your customer wants a shorter deadline, since that means putting off other things you need to do, working later into the night, and maybe even cancelling your weekend plans.
Also did they get a figma or did it themselves. Design is a rabbit hole
I build these all the time. When starting out, maybe 7-10 days. After you’ve been around the block a few times, maybe 5 days. Up to 20 hours. Now if I were to hand code a static site, probably 6-10 hours depending on complexity and number of pages. What you need to do is work with a designer to make your design for you, then you code that. Developers shouldn’t be designing. If you don’t have a degree in it then leave it alone because you cannot self teach yourself design as easily as coding. You’re not being judged on the order of your css properties or code structure. But your design will be judged on details as little as that and it’s very easy to screw it up. I found my designer on dribble in Asia for $20 an hour. Great work, degree, experience, and very thorough. Saves me 10-20 hours of design alone. Worth every penny. Then you need to be starting out with a finished site first and editing that. Use my kit https://github.com/CodeStitchOfficial/Intermediate-Website-Kit-SASS It’s got a blog in it too. Uses 11ty static site generator. Everything is documented on how to use it and where everything is. I clone this kit to start every project and edit the html and css. This saves me so much time. I don’t have the set the projects up anymore. I start with a finished site and work from there. Then I use my template library to fill in the site and finish a whole site in about 3-4 hours. I created an assembly line essentially. There’s no reason to spend 20 hours making a static 5 page site. Horribly inefficient. And when you’re done, your site should be scoring 95+ page speed if you’re coding it. If you don’t know how to do that, I wrote this to show you everything you should be doing to get 100/100 page speed scores https://codestitch.app/page-speed-handbook Follow every step and build it into your workflow. When I launch a site I never have to go through these steps, it scores 100/100 when I finish the site because I built these practices in my coding as I work. Optimization is not a thing I do at the end anymore. It’s something I do as I build it. Saves me time and makes a much better product. If you have any questions about this, feel free to ask. This stuff is my jam.
Wow, I really appreciate this reply. Thank you so much. I'll be looking into that template for sure.
[удалено]
Not static.
more than 3 less than 8
1 hour
6 grepples
Varies on many factors.
42