How To Create a Website in a Weekend! (Project-Centered Course) (Coursera)

How To Create a Website in a Weekend! (Project-Centered Course) (Coursera)

In this project-centered course*, you’ll design, build, and publish a basic website that incorporates text, sound, images, hyperlinks, plug-ins, and social media interactivity. We’ll provide you with step-by-step instructions, exercises, tips, and tools that enable you to set up a domain name, create an attractive layout for your pages, organize your content properly, ensure that your site functions well across different operating systems and on mobile devices, keep your site safe, and finally, let people know your site is online. We’ll even show you how to track your visitors.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

Throughout the course, you'll engage in collaboration and discussion with other learners through course forums and peer review.
Once you complete your first website project using Wordpress, you can move on to our optional, extended module that covers more advanced techniques such as using a simple text editor, coding in HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and more.

What you’ll need to get started:
This project-centered course is designed for learners who have little or no prior experience developing a web site. You will need a computer with a stable Internet connection. We’ll use Wordpress to get you started, provide lots of downloadable examples, and guide you through the process of giving and receiving constructive peer-to-peer feedback.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Prepping Your Site
In Module 1 you will learn the mechanics of the internet, and start planning your own site. You'll articulate a purpose for your design and pick fonts and a color scheme to match. We won't use Wordpress yet; next module you will learn how to create your vision on the web.

WEEK 2
Starting to work with Wordpress
Module 2 contains the bulk of the work for this course. In this module you'll create an outline for your site, set up Wordpress, choose a theme and publish your first page. Then we'll show you how to add links to other pages on the internet.

WEEK 3
Add Media, Social Media and Launch
In Module 3 you'll add media such as images, videos and sound to your site. You'll also learn how to incorporate social media. Once you're happy with your site, you'll test it on mobile platforms and multiple browsers before you go public and start counting the visitors to your site.
Module 4: Go Deeper with Further Customization
Module 4 contains more resources for you to customize your site, with some information about backend programming such as CSS and HTML. We will be adding more resources as we (and some Coursera web developers) create them.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Programming and Application Foundations (Coursera) Coursera
Illinois Tech

Programming and Application Foundations (Coursera)

This course introduces the students to the creation and deployment of modern, standards-compliant web pages written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in the context of the client-server architecture of the web. The course also covers the fundamentals of programming in a modern programming language, basic data modeling, database design, implementation, and administration of single-user and shared multi-user database applications using a contemporary relational database management system.

Sep 14th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Using Databases with Python (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Using Databases with Python (Coursera)

This course will introduce students to the basics of the Structured Query Language (SQL) as well as basic database design for storing data as part of a multi-step data gathering, analysis, and processing effort. The course will use SQLite3 as its database. We will also build web crawlers and multi-step data gathering and visualization processes. We will use the D3.js library to do basic data visualization.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Computational Social Science Methods (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Davis

Computational Social Science Methods (Coursera)

This course gives you an overview of the current opportunities and the omnipresent reach of computational social science. The results are all around us, every day, reaching from the services provided by the world’s most valuable companies, over the hidden influence of governmental agencies, to the power of social and political movements. All of them study human behavior in order to shape it. In short, all of them do social science by computational means.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Learn JavaScript (Coursera) Coursera
Scrimba

Learn JavaScript (Coursera)

This is perhaps the most interactive JavaScript course ever recorded. It contains 140+ coding challenges, meaning that you will finally build that ever-so-important JavaScript muscle memory. You will solve the challenges directly in the browser thanks to Scrimba's interactive video technology, so there's not setup needed. Say goodbye to "tutorial hell" and get ready to start feeling your JavaScript superpowers grow exponentially.

Sep 14th 2026
4 Weeks
Principles of Computing (Part 2) (Coursera) Coursera
Rice University

Principles of Computing (Part 2) (Coursera)

This two-part course introduces the basic mathematical and programming principles that underlie much of Computer Science. Understanding these principles is crucial to the process of creating efficient and well-structured solutions for computational problems. To get hands-on experience working with these concepts, we will use the Python programming language. The main focus of the class will be weekly mini-projects that build upon the mathematical and programming principles that are taught in the class.

Sep 7th 2026
4 Weeks
Programming Fundamentals (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Programming Fundamentals (Coursera)

Programming is an increasingly important skill, whether you aspire to a career in software development, or in other fields. This course is the first in the specialization Introduction to Programming in C, but its lessons extend to any language you might want to learn. This is because programming is fundamentally about figuring out how to solve a class of problems and writing the algorithm, a clear set of steps to solve any problem in its class.

Sep 7th 2026
4 Weeks
Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Programming for Everybody (Getting Started with Python) (Coursera)

This course aims to teach everyone the basics of programming computers using Python. We cover the basics of how one constructs a program from a series of simple instructions in Python. The course has no pre-requisites and avoids all but the simplest mathematics. Anyone with moderate computer experience should be able to master the materials in this course.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Introducción a la programación en Python I: Aprendiendo a programar con Python (Coursera) Coursera
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Introducción a la programación en Python I: Aprendiendo a programar con Python (Coursera)

Decía Steve Jobs que “todo el mundo debería aprender a programar un ordenador porque esto te ayuda a pensar”. Hoy en día la programación es una herramienta fundamental para el desarrollo de la tecnología moderna. Este curso te introduce en el mundo de la programación en el lenguaje Python.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks
Programming Languages, Part A (Coursera) Coursera
University of Washington

Programming Languages, Part A (Coursera)

This course is an introduction to the basic concepts of programming languages, with a strong emphasis on functional programming. The course uses the languages ML, Racket, and Ruby as vehicles for teaching the concepts, but the real intent is to teach enough about how any language “fits together” to make you more effective programming in any language -- and in learning new ones.

Sep 7th 2026
5-12 Weeks