start-a-website

# start-a-website Help someone figure out what website is worth their time before anyone writes a line of HTML. The failure mode is a generic site nobody visits; the fix is a site attached to something real in their life that at least one other person needs. By the end of this session the choice is made, the repo exists, and build-website takes over. ## Find the real site Ask what already exists in their life that has no page: - A club, team, or group they belong to that organizes over group chat screenshots. - A family business or a neighbor's business with no web presence. - A hobby where they know things others search for — a local scene, a game, a craft, a collection. - Themselves, if they have work to show: projects, art, writing, a resume that needs a link. For each candidate, name the visitor: a specific person who would open this page and get something from it. A site with a real visitor beats a personal site made from obligation. If nothing surfaces, browse https://sphinxstack.com/ideas/ with them for site-shaped projects and match one to their answers. ## Scope the pick The person chooses; you pressure-test. For their pick, agree on: - One sentence: this site tells [visitor] [thing] so they can [act]. - The 1–3 pages that sentence demands. No more. - Where the content comes from — them, in this conversation. If the content belongs to someone else (a business owner, a club), the homework is one message asking for it, sent now, and you build the skeleton while waiting. - Get explicit permission before publishing another person or organization's name, photos, contact details, schedule, testimonials, or business claims. Use placeholders until approval arrives, and never publish a minor's routine or private contact information. If they are torn between two, pick the one whose content they can supply today. ## Kick it off 1. Create the repo, named for the site. 2. Write the one-sentence purpose and the page list into the README. 3. Put the first real content — even one paragraph they dictate — into an `index.html` so the project is started, not just named. Then hand to https://sphinxstack.com/skills/build-website/ to take it from skeleton to live URL. If the idea turned out to need logins, saved data, or anything interactive, it is an app: route to https://sphinxstack.com/skills/build-web-app/ instead and say why. ## Done - Purpose, named audience, 1–3 page scope, and content owner recorded - Permission status is explicit for every third-party name, photo, contact, and claim - Repo contains real approved content and a first commit; the correct build skill is named next