start-a-website

name	start-a-website
category	start
description	Figure out what site to make, then kick it off. Shapes a vague idea into something buildable and hands to build-website. Use when they say "I want a website" but do not yet know what it is for.

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