As a student from one of the rural areas of Nigeria — a country in Africa, owning a smartphone is a luxury not all parents can afford to give their children not to speak of a personal computer. However, I was lucky enough to be one of the University Scholars, a scholarship program for students with highest grades in every department. I enjoyed free hostel and $200 yearly for upkeep from which I was able to buy my first smartphone, Tecno Q1.
Before gaining admission into the university, I have always wondered how phones and computers were made, how browser were built and how Web pages were developed and what makes up Google and its ability to search other websites?
So having my first smartphone and a free WiFi in the library gave me the resources I needed to answer my questions. Google and YouTube became my best friends whom I visited every time I was in the Library.
Though, I was studying Biology, I made it upon myself to design my website too.
But how will I do this with just a phone?
So I started finding ways to build a website using my Tecno Q1. I will be sharing the resources available to phone users to build a complete website and learn Web development.
Note, a website can either be built from scratch by coding your way through or using a content management system like WordPress, Wix or Google's Blogger.
Know the basics of Web Development
Through Google searches, I came to know about HTML, CSS and Javascript which are the building blocks of every website on the World Wide Web (WWW).
HTML is HyperText Markup Language, the skeleton of every Web page which holds the content you see and read on the Web pages. The Cascading Style Sheet shortened as CSS on the other hand is similar to the outer part of the body which gives it shape and beautify the body. CSS as it called is use for styling Web pages while Javacript gives the website its functionality.
Google is your assistance for those who needs to know more about the three building blocks of a website.
How To Learn HTML, CSS and Javascript using your Phone
There are several ways to learn the basics of Web development using your phone when you have a good Internet.
W3schools is a great site to learn any programming language of your choice and Web Development with a platform to test your codes. There are also several Youtube tutorials on Web development and FreeCodeCamp is also an amazing website to learn to be a Web developer.
Android Apps to Learn Web Development/Programming
Sololearn: I personally love this app. The interface is superb and the course structures are intuitive. You get to test your knowledge after every lessons. It's also has discussion forums to help out when yiu encounter issues.
Grasshopper: developed by the tech giant, Google. It is also an amazing app that teaches users Web Development.
Android App Integrated Development Environment IDE and Code Editor on your Phone
Code editors makes your Code neater, well structured and readable. Below are samples of good Code editors to make it all easier for you. You can get the apps on your android PlayStore or Apple's Appstore.
AIDE Web
QuickEdit
DroidEdit
Get Your Website Online Using Your Phone
There are other things apart from building a website you need to know. Before your beautiful website can be seen by others around the world just like you can access Google which was built abroad from your location, you need to host your website on a server and get a domain name for your website.
What's a domain name and a Hosting Plan?
First, your website is like a beautiful house on a piece of land whose location can be determined using latitude and longitudinal measurements. The land or space your house is built on is the server or host (hostinger.com, whogohost.com are good place to buy your hosting plan) while the latitude and longitude numbers is the IP address of your website. The IP address is long numbers which can be difficult to recall by your visitors which is why we map the numbers on the domain name (address). So people know your location using the address (domain name).
A domain name can have different extensions like .com .org .net for example code.ng is my country's specific domain extension. You can get your domain name from domain brokers or registrars like namecheap or goDaddy
Most of the domain registers offer hosting service. Just make sure do your search to check which of the registrars has the cheapest domain and hosting plans and how good their service is.
Serving and Testing Your Website On Your Phone
You don't have enough fund to buy a hosting plan to serve your website or just want to test your newly developed website on your phone?
You need not worry, I've got you covered.
PAW Server is an amazing app to serve your website, with several features and guide that makes it easy to use.
Using No Code Website Builders
There some other ways to build a website without necessarily knowing how to code. These are through content management system CMS like WordPress, Blogger, Wix etc.
Most of your favorite blogs and popular news website are built using CMS. For example, TED.com was built with WordPress. You can check this out by adding /wp-admin to the Web url i.e. TED.com/wp-admin
Read more from me here:
Thank you for reading. Kindly drop your comments below.
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