Getting a Website Online

The Publishing Flow

Deployment is the part of web work where a private project becomes a public service. That sounds grand, but the practical idea is simple: the files must be prepared, placed somewhere a web server can serve them, connected to a name people can use, and checked after real browsers request them from the internet.

Local project
  -> Production-ready files
  -> Hosting server
  -> DNS
  -> Domain name
  -> Visitor's browser

Each step answers a different question. Your editor creates the files. The build or preparation step makes them ready for visitors. Hosting stores and serves them. DNS points a readable domain to the right service. The browser requests the files and reveals whether the system actually works.

A beginner mistake is treating deployment as an upload event. Upload is only one possible transport method. Deployment also includes deciding what should be uploaded, confirming the server is looking in the right folder, checking whether the domain points to that server, enabling HTTPS, and knowing how the next change will be published without guessing.

Five Deployment Questions

If a deployment feels confusing, return to these questions. They turn a vague problem into a system you can inspect.

1. Where are the website files?
2. How do the files reach the server?
3. How does the domain point to the hosting service?
4. How does the browser find and request the files?
5. How are future updates published safely?

Those questions apply whether you use a traditional hosting control panel, SFTP, GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages or a more advanced application platform. The labels change. The system thinking stays useful.

Learning Outcomes and Prerequisites

Allow about 160-210 minutes for the full module. You should already be comfortable editing HTML and CSS, testing a page in a browser, and using basic Git if you choose a Git-connected path.

• Explain deployment as a publishing system, not a single upload action.
• Compare hosting models and choose a sensible path for a project.
• Use traditional hosting concepts such as public web roots, File Manager, SFTP and control panels.
• Build and deploy a Vite project using production output.
• Connect domain, DNS, HTTPS and hosting decisions without inventing record values.
• Troubleshoot live deployment problems using evidence.
• Use a repeatable improvement workflow and checklist.

The module deliberately covers both traditional hosting and modern static hosting. Students still meet cPanel-style accounts, public web roots and SFTP in real client work, while Vite projects usually fit better with build-aware platforms. You do not need to love every workflow. You do need to recognise what problem each workflow solves.

Helpful prerequisites: Git Basics, Working with Vite, and Test and Validate Your Site .

The Ten-Lesson Sequence

Checklist and Project Application