What is HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website?

Hand-build a clean, mobile-friendly, accessible site from an empty folder, then put it online for free. You hand-build a clean, mobile-friendly site and put it online.

Open the HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website course page

Complete beginners who want a personal or small-business website they understand and control, without a website-builder or any coding background. You only need to be able to create folders and files on a computer.

These are the prerequisites the course lists:

• You can create a folder, save a file and open it on a Windows, Mac or Linux computer
• You can use a web browser
• No coding experience is needed

These are the tools and materials the course lists:

• A laptop or desktop computer (a phone or tablet is not enough for building)
• A free code editor: Visual Studio Code is one free example, and any plain text editor works (check its current version and features)
• The Chrome or Edge browser, which is free and includes the developer tools used in this course
• A few of your own photos, or free images whose licence allows your use
• A free account with a static-site host for the last lesson, which you create yourself (free plans exist; check current terms, because some free plans do not allow business use)
• Optional and not needed for the course: your own domain name, which costs a yearly fee that varies

Your live website. Launch a real three-page website about you or your business: hand-written HTML and CSS, laid out with flexbox and grid, mobile first, accessible, tested and published on a free host. The site grows module by module, so the capstone is the finished stage, plus the evidence that you checked it. The finished deliverables are:

• A live address that opens your three-page site on a phone and on a laptop
• Your site folder (index.html and other pages, styles.css, favicon and images) backed up in a second place
• Your completed final checklist with a note against each item
• Your palette and contrast list, with every text pair at 4.5 to 1 or better (3 to 1 for large text)
• Your accessibility fix list, with each item finished or given a written reason
• Your update routine, written in three or more steps
• A short note on which free host you chose and why its current terms fit your site

HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website has 24 lessons in 6 modules, a workbook of 10 items and a capstone project. It is planned at about 6 hours in total. The lesson text runs to roughly 14,700 words.

HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website has 6 modules:

• Module 1: Your First Web Page. Set up a free workspace, learn what a web page really is, and write a first page with a proper skeleton, headings, lists and an image with useful alt text.
• Module 2: Links, Landmarks and a Real Multi-Page Site. Connect pages with links, give every page clear regions such as header, main and footer, build the other pages with one shared navigation, and add contact details that work.
• Module 3: Make It Look Like You: CSS Basics. Link a stylesheet, choose colours and fonts, target elements with classes, understand which rule wins, and check that your text has enough contrast to read.
• Module 4: Layout: Boxes, Spacing, Flexbox and Grid. Understand the box every element lives in, centre your content at a readable width with steady spacing, then use flexbox for rows and grid for cards.
• Module 5: Mobile First, Responsive and Easy to Use. Build for the phone first, add layout for wider screens with media queries, make images fit every screen, and make the whole site usable with a keyboard.
• Module 6: Finish, Check and Launch Your Site. Add the finishing details visitors and search engines see, test the site the way a visitor would, run an accessibility check, and publish it for free.

All 24 lesson titles, module by module:

• Module 1: Your First Web Page. 1.1 What a web page is, and the workspace you need; 1.2 The skeleton every page needs; 1.3 Headings, paragraphs and lists; 1.4 Images and alt text.
• Module 2: Links, Landmarks and a Real Multi-Page Site. 2.1 Links: connect your pages and reach the world; 2.2 Landmarks: header, nav, main and footer; 2.3 More pages and one shared navigation; 2.4 Contact details that work.
• Module 3: Make It Look Like You: CSS Basics. 3.1 Your first stylesheet; 3.2 Colours, fonts and readable text; 3.3 Classes and the cascade; 3.4 Contrast: make your text easy to read.
• Module 4: Layout: Boxes, Spacing, Flexbox and Grid. 4.1 The box model; 4.2 A readable width and steady spacing; 4.3 Flexbox: put things in a row; 4.4 Grid: cards that line up.
• Module 5: Mobile First, Responsive and Easy to Use. 5.1 Mobile first: start with the phone; 5.2 Media queries: add layout for wider screens; 5.3 Images that fit every screen; 5.4 Keyboard focus and a skip link.
• Module 6: Finish, Check and Launch Your Site. 6.1 Finishing details: titles, descriptions and a favicon; 6.2 Test like a visitor: widths, links and the HTML checker; 6.3 Accessibility check: an automatic scan plus a keyboard pass; 6.4 Publish for free, and keep your site alive.

The course is listed at beginner level and planned at about 6 hours in total. It has 24 lessons, each with objectives you can check yourself against.

Lesson 1 is "What a web page is, and the workspace you need" (Module 1, Your First Web Page). By the end of it the course says you will be able to:

• Explain in one sentence what a web page is and what a browser does with it
• Set up a project folder and a free text editor
• Create a first page, open it in a browser and change it

HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website defines 28 terms in plain words: Web page, HTML, CSS, Browser, Element, Attribute, Relative path, Absolute URL, Alt text, Landmark, Viewport, Custom property, Class, Cascade, Contrast ratio, Box model, Padding, Margin, Flexbox, Grid, Media query, Breakpoint, Mobile first, Focus ring, Skip link, Favicon, Static site and Host.

Web pageHTMLCSSBrowserElementAttributeRelative pathAbsolute URLAlt textLandmarkViewportCustom propertyClassCascadeContrast ratioBox modelPaddingMarginFlexboxGridMedia queryBreakpointMobile firstFocus ringSkip linkFaviconStatic siteHost

HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website lists 23 official sources that were opened and checked while it was written, from 12 websites.

• code.visualstudio.com
• developer.mozilla.org
• w3.org
• validator.w3.org
• jigsaw.w3.org
• developer.chrome.com
• developers.google.com
• docs.github.com
• developers.cloudflare.com
• netlify.com
• docs.netlify.com
• vercel.com

HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website costs $39 (USD) as The Codex, the full written course with its workbook and templates. Studio (narrated video lessons) and the Full Operator path are not on sale yet.

How much do courses cost?

HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website was prepared by Apex Flow Labs with AI assistance and checked before it was published. Every code sample, formula and command the course includes was run before it went in, the course records 22 verification checks, and it lists 23 official sources it checked. Do not take the label on trust: open the sources and run the examples yourself.

How Apex Flow Academy checks its courses

Yes. The course lists this prerequisite: "No coding experience is needed." It is listed at beginner level. It also asks for:

• You can create a folder, save a file and open it on a Windows, Mac or Linux computer
• You can use a web browser

No. HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website teaches and checks a skill, but it cannot promise an outcome. The course's own disclosure reads: "Created by Apex Flow Academy with AI assistance. For education only; not legal, tax, financial or medical advice. Results depend on your effort and circumstances."

Yes. HTML and CSS: Build and Launch Your First Website includes a verifiable Certificate of Completion, issued by Apex Flow Academy when you finish every lesson, resolve every quiz question with at least 50% right on the first try, and tick the capstone checklist. It has a unique ID and a public verification page. It is a completion certificate, not a degree, licence, accreditation or exam result. The Full Operator path, with a final exam and capstone review, opens later with its own separate, stronger credential.

Is there a certificate?