# BUILDING A COMPANY WEBSITE: WHAT I LEARNED AND MY EXPERIENCE

**Introduction**
The process of building a working website entails choosing a domain name, obtaining web hosting, designing the layout, producing content, and putting it online. In essence, this enables users to interact with your brand and access information via a unique web address. Building a company website using only HTML and CSS can be a bit tricky but with the right codes and styling, it can be achieved. For this article, I will be explaining some of the steps I used in building a company website with only HTML and CSS and what I learned in the process.

**What is a company website?**
A company website refers to an online platform that businesses use to engage with potential consumers and market their brand(s). It displays information about the firm, such as its products, services, contact information, and corporate culture.
It is essential for organizations to build their website for the following reasons:
- [ ] Website adds to your company’s credibility and visibilty: this is because, people are more likely to research your company online before transacting a business with you; so having an online presence gives more credibility to your business. By making your company easily searchable online, a website increases your visibility and expands your consumer base through online marketing and search engines.

- [ ] Having a company website provides a central location for all your information. You can stop depending on disorganized files and emails. Additionally, a website makes it easier to distribute information.

- [ ] Having a website lets you compete with other industry leaders. A website makes it possible for businesses to grow and thrive in the current competitive environment by leveling the playing field.
- [ ] Brand Building: A well-designed website improves client impression and trust by solidifying your brand identity and projecting a professional image.

- [ ] Marketing Platform:  your company website serves as the focal point of your digital marketing plans, allowing you to incorporate email marketing, social media, and other online advertising campaigns.

As an aspiring web developer it is imprtant for me to learn to build a company website, because Web developers provide businesses with the unique, engaging websites they need to connect with customers. Building a corporate website gives developers the chance to improve their skills, work on practical projects, and establish a portfolio that could bring in future businesses or clients.

**The Learning Process**

In the course of building this website, I learnt that when coding (using your HTML) it is very important to group my elements into divs `<div></div>`. The div acts as a container in which content on a webpage can be grouped and arranged. It helps organize the page and apply styles using CSS, but it lacks any intrinsic meaning or styling.
The major problem I encountered while working on this project, was placing the images in their rightful places which majorly had to do with the styling elements I used in my CSS. I noticed that when a wrong style is implemented, the structure of the webpage will look distorted.
I was able to overcome this challenge by carrying out more research to know how certain elements work and how best to style ceratin divs so that they appear the way they are supposed to appear on the web page. I also had to consult with some of my collegues to clarify certain aspects of the task.
* The HTML element that was most useful to me in building this website was the navigation element (`<nav></nav>`). The `<nav>` element is used to define a navigation section on a webpage. That is, it contains links to important sections of the website, such as the about page, the homepage, services, contact, and other such links.
* The division element also referred to as `<div></div>`in HTML is a generic container used to group and organize content on the website.The div made it easier for me to style different aspects of the webpage because it helped divide the page into sections. Also, different elements such as text, image and links can be grouped together.
* The Unordered-list (`<ul>`) is used to display a list of items in a bulleted format. Each item in the list is defined using the <li> (list item) element. The unordered list helps to structure and organize information in a clear and readable form.
* The `<img>` tag/element is used to display images in a HTML document. It is a self-closing element, which means that it does not need a closing tag. The image tag (`<img>`) makes it easy for me to import logos and images into the web page.

For the Cascading Style Sheet (CSS), the useful elements employed for building the current webpage was the display: flex. The display-flex helps in designing responsive and efficient layouts by arranging elements either horizontally, or vertically. That is, it adjust layouts based on available space.

Another important CSS property I used for styling the web page was the width and height property. This defines the size of an element, controlling how much space it takes up on the web page.

There is also the justify-content property, which is used to control horizontal alignment of elements inside a flex container or grid container.

The background-color properties are used to set color for an elements background only. Other important CSS properties used were margins, color, font-family, padding and align-items among others.

**Features of the Company Website**
The task was to build a landing page of an automechanic website. Some of the structures of the home page include:
* Nav-Items such as the About, Vehicle Owner, Mechanic, Support and login and sign-up buttons. The page also contains a logo for the company and other images that describes/demonstrates some activities of the company.
* It also contained different divs for different items that made up the overall structure of the web page. These divs were styled according to specifications. I also used the paragraph element (`<p></p>`) to describe certain services/expectations from the company.
* There was also the use of the color and background properties of the CSS to enhance readability, aesthetics, and user experience.

This company is unique because it deals in automobiles repairs and services. It understands that the customer has needs and it cannot always be where they are at all times, hence the need for the website which makes it easier for the customer to get in touch with their mechanic anytime, any day.

**Reflection and Improvement**
I observed that through constant practice, I am becoming more profiicent in coding with HTML and I am also beginning to get the hang of CSS. Overall, I believe my HTML codes were good but I still need to work more on my styling skills in order to hone my skills and become more proficient in using the CSS.

The next step in web development for me is continue to put in the work and the effort by ensuring that I practicalize with many projects as possible so as to master the art of coding without difficulty while I aspire for the next level in my journey to becoming a good web developer.

**Conclusion**

In summary, this project has been a good and educative one. It has exposed me to certain aspects of coding which was previously overlooked and it has broaden my understanding on various concepts. The overall concept of HTML and CSS is still a learning process for me and one I am eager to grasp and hope to master in the nearest future. Learning HTML and CSS is crucial for any number of job roles, given that taken together, HTML and CSS are the building blocks for web development.

In future, I hope to broaden the scope of my knowledge to encompass JavaScript and other advanced features with the help of my abled mentors at the Blockfuse Labs.