I don’t know how to create a website

The web has been part of my career since the beginning. I’ve created several sites, including apps and games, hell, I’ve even created web development tools, yet I have to admit I no longer know how to create a website. If I sat down right now to create a new site, I’d be even more boggled by the tools and tech than before. I feel like there’s some lesson in programming hiding here.

Complexity

Creating a website has become an involved and complex task. I can’t just throw a few pages together an upload them. Okay, fine, I could do this rather easily, but I’ve already got a blog, I’d want dynamic elements, perhaps some kind of application functionality. This opens up a myriad of options, from frameworks to templates, to hosts.

I’ve done this before, so I could choose what I know. Alas, here is where things become tricky. The web is a trendy place, and what was cool yesterday isn’t cool tomorrow. The tech I know may no longer be suited to do the things I want, or it may require a circus of hoop jumping to get it to work.

Perhaps the framework, or the language itself, has fallen out of favour. If it’s just a small site managed by me, it’s not a big deal, but if you’re a company, well, dinosaur tech won’t exactly attract an eager set of programmers.