HTML projects for beginners: 10 easy starter ideas

Written by: Danielle Richardson Ellis
Presentation of the cover and pages of an ebook on HTML projects for beginners, including common HTML elements and building a personal profile card.

25 HTML PROJECTS FOR BEGINNERS

25 complete, step-by-step HTML & CSS projects to help you build a coding portfolio.

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HTML projects for beginners turn syntax lessons into working webpages. Building a sequence of HTML and CSS projects helps beginners practice semantic structure, layout, typography, and responsive design while creating portfolio-ready work.

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This guide organizes 10 HTML project ideas from a one-page tribute to a multi-page responsive site. Each project includes a difficulty level, estimated time, skills, build requirements, key learning points, implementation tips, and a publishing step. The final section explains how to publish with GitHub Pages or HubSpot’s free CMS tools.

Why I recommend this 10-project progression: I started learning to code through The Odin Project’s free curriculum, then completed an EY-sponsored coding bootcamp. EY hired me as one of five students from that cohort, and I spent the next 3.5 years there as a technical consultant specializing in software engineering. The projects below follow the same progressive approach that helped me build confidence as a beginner.

Table of Contents

How to Get Started With HTML and CSS Projects

Beginner web developers can start HTML and CSS projects using a code editor, a modern browser, and a single project folder. The same basic setup works on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

What to Install Before Starting

A basic HTML and CSS setup includes three tools:

  • Code editor: Visual Studio Code supports HTML and CSS and is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
  • Modern browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari can open local HTML files and include developer tools for inspecting markup and styles.
  • Live preview extension: Live Server is an optional VS Code extension that reloads the local page when project files change.

Create one folder for each project. Add these items inside it:

  • index.html: The page’s HTML structure and content.
  • styles.css: The page’s CSS rules.
  • images: A folder for photographs, illustrations, icons, and other visual assets.

Git and a GitHub account become useful when the project is ready for version control or publication, but neither tool is necessary for the first local build.

For a fuller setup guide, use The Odin Project’s Foundations course. It covers installations, editors, command-line basics, Git, HTML, and CSS in one project-based curriculum.

From my experience: I still remember completing the Installations lesson because it gave me a repeatable sequence for setting up a development environment. That sequence removed one source of uncertainty before I started writing code.

25 HTML Projects for Beginners

25 complete, step-by-step HTML & CSS projects to help you build a coding portfolio, including:

  • Create a Landing Page
  • Build a Contact Form
  • Build a Profile Card
  • And More!

    Download Free

    All fields are required.

    Form not available

    You're all set!

    Click this link to access this resource at any time.

    A Progression Path That Prevents Tutorial Paralysis

    Project-based progression prevents tutorial paralysis by limiting each build to a manageable set of new skills. Instead of learning every tag, property, and framework first, beginners can complete one small project, review the result, and add one new technique to the next build.

    The 10 projects below use a progression-based approach, each introducing one set of new skills. Project 1 introduces semantic HTML and typography. Projects 2 through 4 add links, spacing, color, Flexbox, and multi-section layouts. Projects 5 and 6 introduce CSS Grid. Project 7 focuses on forms. Projects 8 through 10 combine those foundations into animation, a personal brand site, and a multi-page responsive website. HubSpot’s HTML guide provides a reference for the elements and document structure used throughout the sequence.

    From my experience: The Odin Project’s project structure helped me move past tutorial paralysis. By my third or fourth build, I was reusing patterns from earlier projects without having to look up every step.

    10 HTML Projects for Beginners: Your Journey Starts Here

    The following 10 HTML and CSS projects progress from a single-page tribute to a multi-page responsive site. Each entry outlines the difficulty, estimated time, required skills, build requirements, key learning points, implementation tips, and a publishing step so that beginners can follow a single, consistent roadmap from practice to portfolio-ready work.

    Project 1: Tribute Page

    html css projects example: Hedy Lamarr tribute page with a portrait, biography, facts, and timeline

    A tribute page is a single-page HTML document that profiles a person, place, event, or subject. This first project teaches semantic HTML structure, heading hierarchy, image handling, and basic CSS typography while producing a shareable first portfolio entry.

    Quick Spec

    • Difficulty: Beginner
    • Estimated time: 1 to 2 hours
    • Skills: Semantic HTML, heading hierarchy, image embedding, alt text, and basic CSS typography
    • Best for: First-time HTML writers completing their first page

    What You’ll Build

    • A hero section with the subject’s name and a featured image
    • Two or three biographical sections and a quotation
    • A source list or footer that credits the reference material

    Key Learning Points

    • Semantic page structure with HTML, head, body, header, main, section, and footer elements
    • A single H1 for the page title, followed by H2s and H3s in a logical hierarchy
    • Descriptive alt text for meaningful images and empty alt attributes for decorative images

    Implementation Tips

    • Write the complete HTML structure before adding visual styles.
    • Place the main content in a centered wrapper with a readable line length, such as max-width: 65ch.
    • Inspect the finished page without CSS to confirm that the headings and content still follow a logical order.
    • Check every image to ensure its alt text conveys information the surrounding copy already provides.

    Pro tip: freeCodeCamp’s tribute page project includes automated tests for several required page elements. Use the tests as one checkpoint, then complete a separate accessibility and visual review before publishing.

    Visual inspiration: Elena Moral’s Hedy Lamarr tribute page shows how a beginner project can combine a portrait, a biography, and historical facts into a single clear layout.

    Publish it: Push the finished files to a public GitHub repository and deploy the page with GitHub Pages.

    Project 2: Now Page

    html css projects example: Derek Sivers’ now page with an updated date and sections about current workA now page is a single-page HTML document that explains what someone is currently working on, learning, reading, or exploring. Derek Sivers popularized the format, and the nownownow directory collects public examples. The project teaches anchor links, contact links, typographic scale, and mobile-first styling in a personal context.

    Quick Spec

    • Difficulty: Beginner
    • Estimated time: 2 to 3 hours
    • Skills: Email and phone links, external links, typographic scale, CSS custom properties, and mobile-first layout
    • Best for: Developers who want a personal project that feels less formal than a résumé

    What You’ll Build

    • A header with the author’s name and a last-updated date
    • Three to five sections covering current work, reading, learning, or interests
    • A contact section with email, phone, portfolio, or social links

    Key Learning Points

    • Email links that use mailto: and telephone links that use tel:
    • Descriptive link text that explains each destination without relying on “click here”
    • A mobile-first single-column layout that adds a wider-screen breakpoint only when the content needs one
    • A consistent typographic scale for page, section, and subsection headings

    Implementation Tips

    • Define the accent color as a CSS custom property and reuse it for dates, headings, links, and focus states.
    • Place the content inside a wrapper such as max-width: 40rem; margin-inline: auto; padding: 2rem 1rem.
    • Add rel=”noopener noreferrer” to external links that open in a new tab.
    • Include the page’s last-updated date in visible text so visitors can tell whether the information remains current.

    Pro tip: Add the finished page to the nownownow directory after it has a public URL. Directory inclusion gives the project a reason to remain current, but the page should still work as a complete standalone portfolio piece.

    Visual inspiration: Derek Sivers’s now page demonstrates the format with a visible update date and short sections about current activities.

    Publish it: Deploy the page with GitHub Pages and update the date whenever the content changes.

    Project 3: Restaurant Menu Page

    restaurant menu page example

    A restaurant menu page is a single-page HTML document that presents food and drink items for a real or fictional business. The project introduces repeated-content patterns, Flexbox alignment, visual hierarchy, color contrast, and optional location information.

    Quick Spec

    • Difficulty: Beginner

    • Estimated time: 2 to 4 hours

    • Skills: Semantic sectioning, repeated menu-item markup, Flexbox, spacing, color, and responsive layout

    • Best for: Developers ready to build a page for a realistic business use case

    What You’ll Build

    • A header with the restaurant name, tagline, hours, and location

    • Three menu sections with item names, descriptions, dietary information, and prices

    • A contact or location section and a print-friendly version of the menu

    Key Learning Points

    • Repeated menu entries marked up with list items or article elements

    • Flexbox alignment that keeps item names and prices readable at different widths

    • Text contrast of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text

    • Reusable CSS custom properties for brand colors and spacing

    Implementation Tips

    • Sketch the menu hierarchy before writing the HTML.

    • Use one repeated markup pattern for every menu item so the CSS remains predictable.

    • Place item names and prices in the same Flexbox row, and allow the description to wrap below them.

    • Add a print stylesheet that removes navigation and decorative backgrounds.

    • For a location section, follow HubSpot’s guide to embedding a Google Map in HTML.

    Pro tip: Schema.org’s Menu type represents a structured food or drink menu, while MenuItem represents an individual item. Using those two concepts as a planning model can help keep the project’s content fields consistent, even when the beginner version does not include structured-data markup.

    Visual inspiration: The screenshot above uses dot leaders to connect dish names with prices while preserving a clear reading order.

    Publish it: Deploy the finished menu at a public URL and test both the screen layout and printed version.

    Project 4: Single-Page Business Site

    single-page business site example

    A single-page business site presents a complete offering in a single scrolling HTML document. The project teaches developers how to combine a navigation bar, hero, feature cards, social proof, calls to action, and a footer into a cohesive page.

    Quick Spec

    • Difficulty: Advanced beginner
    • Estimated time: 4 to 6 hours
    • Skills: Multi-section architecture, anchor navigation, Flexbox, reusable buttons, responsive sections, and CSS custom properties
    • Best for: Developers building a first complete page for a real or fictional business

    What You’ll Build

    • A header with the business name and links to page sections
    • A hero with one primary call-to-action
    • A feature or service section with three or four cards
    • A testimonial, proof, or trust section
    • A secondary call-to-action and footer

    Key Learning Points

    • Semantic page landmarks with header, nav, main, section, and footer elements
    • In-page links that connect navigation items to section IDs
    • Reusable button classes and card styles
    • A consistent color, spacing, and typography system defined with CSS custom properties

    Implementation Tips

    • Build and review one section at a time.
    • Define the neutral background, text color, accent color, and spacing values before styling individual components.
    • Add scroll-margin-top to linked sections so a sticky header does not cover their headings.
    • Test the navigation, buttons, form links, and footer links before publishing.

    Pro tip: Marketing and nontechnical teams can use HubSpot’s free CMS tools to build pages with drag-and-drop editing. Teams can also create, edit, and attach CSS files when a page needs custom styling. HubSpot’s HTML website examples offer additional layout references.

    Visual inspiration: Wing Magic is an early fictional chicken-wing site I built with a hero and four feature cards.

    From my experience: Wing Magic was the first complete page I built. Its navigation links do not work; the footer says “The Oding Project” because I mistyped “Odin”; and the typography is inconsistent. It still taught me a durable page model: the hero introduces, the features prove, the testimonial reassures, and the call-to-action converts.

    Publish it: Deploy the page, test every in-page link, and review the full scroll on both a phone and a larger screen.

    25 HTML Projects for Beginners

    25 complete, step-by-step HTML & CSS projects to help you build a coding portfolio, including:

    • Create a Landing Page
    • Build a Contact Form
    • Build a Profile Card
    • And More!

      Download Free

      All fields are required.

      Form not available

      You're all set!

      Click this link to access this resource at any time.

      Project 5: Bookstore Catalog Page

      A bookstore catalog page displays repeated book cards in a responsive two-dimensional layout. The project introduces CSS Grid, automatic column sizing, consistent image proportions, and reusable product-card styles.

      Quick Spec

      • Difficulty: Advanced beginner
      • Estimated time: 3 to 5 hours
      • Skills: CSS Grid, repeat(), minmax(), responsive card layouts, aspect-ratio, and object-fit
      • Best for: Developers building their first two-dimensional layout

      What You’ll Build

      • A header with the bookstore name and category links
      • A responsive catalog of 12 to 20 book cards
      • Book-cover images, titles, authors, and prices
      • A footer with contact or social links

      Key Learning Points

      • A Grid container created with display: grid
      • Responsive columns created with repeat() and minmax()
      • Consistent image frames created with aspect-ratio and object-fit
      • Reusable card spacing, borders, typography, and hover states

      Implementation Tips

      • Use a 2:3 aspect ratio for the book-cover frame, then apply object-fit: cover to the image.
      • Start with grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fit, minmax(220px, 1fr)).
      • Use gap on the Grid container rather than adding separate margins to every card.
      • Source sample covers through the Open Library Covers API, and include meaningful alt text for each book cover.

      Pro tip: For this catalog, auto-fit is the better default because it collapses empty tracks and lets the existing cards expand. Auto-fill preserves empty tracks, which can leave unused columns when the catalog contains only a few books.

      What we like: A catalog makes responsive behavior easy to evaluate because the cards should stay aligned and readable as the viewport grows or shrinks.

      Publish it: Deploy the catalog and test it with fewer cards, more cards, unusually long titles, and missing cover images.

      Project 6: Vision Board

      html css projects example: Pinterest-style vision board with photos and text cards in an asymmetric grid

      A vision board is a single-page HTML document that arranges images, quotations, and goals in an asymmetric grid. The project extends CSS Grid beyond uniform cards by introducing named grid areas, item spanning, layered text, and responsive reordering.

      Quick Spec

      • Difficulty: Intermediate
      • Estimated time: 4 to 6 hours
      • Skills: grid-template-areas, item spanning, object-fit, positioned overlays, and responsive grid changes
      • Best for: Developers ready to create a more expressive CSS Grid composition

      What You’ll Build

      • A heading and short statement explaining the board’s theme
      • Six to 10 image, quotation, and goal cards
      • At least two cards that span multiple rows or columns
      • Text overlays on selected image cards

      Key Learning Points

      • Named areas created with grid-template-areas
      • Item placement with grid-area and grid-column
      • Layered text created with positioned elements and contrast treatments
      • A desktop grid that becomes a simpler reading order on smaller screens

      Implementation Tips

      • Sketch the grid before writing CSS.
      • Write the mobile document order first, then rearrange cards visually at wider breakpoints.
      • Place a dark overlay or solid text panel behind words that sit over a photograph.
      • Test the board with images that have different focal points and aspect ratios.

      Pro tip: place-items controls how items align inside their individual grid areas. place-content controls how the entire grid fits inside its container when extra space remains. Use place-items: center when a text overlay needs both vertical and horizontal centering within a single card.

      Visual inspiration: The screenshot above demonstrates how varied card sizes create rhythm without changing the underlying reading order. For a step-by-step example, watch Building a Pinterest Clone Using CSS Grid.

      Publish it: Deploy the board and test the mobile version with CSS Grid disabled to confirm that the source order still makes sense.

      Project 7: Survey Form

      html css projects example: How Did You Hear About Us survey with six option cards and an Additional Comments field

      A survey form is a single-page interface that organizes structured input through labeled controls. An HTML and CSS version can present fields and use browser validation, but it needs a form service or back-end endpoint to store submitted responses. This project practices form elements, programmatic labels, grouped controls, validation attributes, and keyboard-visible focus.

      Quick Spec

      • Difficulty: Intermediate
      • Estimated time: 3 to 5 hours
      • Skills: HTML form controls, labels, fieldsets and legends, validation attributes, keyboard navigation, and focus styles
      • Best for: Developers ready to build an accessible interface for structured input

      What You’ll Build

      • A heading and short instructions that explain the survey’s purpose
      • Text and email fields
      • A radio-button group, checkbox group, select menu, and text area
      • A primary Submit button
      • Required-field indicators and browser validation states

      Key Learning Points

      • Labels connected to individual controls through matching for and id values
      • Related radio buttons and checkboxes grouped with fieldset and legend
      • Email-format checks created with type=”email”
      • Mandatory fields identified with the required attribute
      • Visible focus indicators for keyboard users

      Implementation Tips

      • Use a fieldset and legend for each related radio-button or checkbox group.
      • Apply required only to fields that someone must complete, and identify required fields with text rather than color alone.
      • Keep each control’s visible label consistent with its programmatic label.
      • Preserve the browser’s default focus outline unless the custom replacement remains clearly visible.
      • Test the form without a mouse and confirm that focus moves through every control in a logical order.
      • Submit the form with missing required information and an incorrectly formatted email address to test the browser’s validation behavior.

      Pro tip: Native HTML validation can catch missing or incorrectly formatted values in the browser, but it does not store responses or replace server-side validation. Use freeCodeCamp’s survey form project for additional practice, then review HubSpot’s HTML form templates for examples of survey, contact, sign-up, and feedback forms.

      Visual inspiration: Bogdan Sandu’s Feedback widget survey uses six card-style radio options, an optional “Other” field, a comments area, and a Submit button. The example uses JavaScript for its conditional field, custom validation, and submission feedback, so use its layout as visual inspiration rather than treating it as an HTML-and-CSS-only implementation.

      Publish it: Deploy the form as a static page and test its keyboard order, focus indicators, required fields, and email validation. Add a visible note explaining that the demonstration does not submit or store responses unless the project connects to a form service or back end.

      Project 8: Animated Hero Section

      html css projects example: animated hero with the headline Ready to Elevate Your Experience? and a Get Started Now button
      An animated hero section combines a single-page focused introduction with CSS transitions and keyframe animations. The project teaches entrance motion, interactive hover and focus states, transform and opacity, and a reduced-motion alternative.

      Quick Spec

      • Difficulty: Intermediate
      • Estimated time: 3 to 5 hours
      • Skills: CSS transitions, @keyframes, animation timing, transform, opacity, and prefers-reduced-motion
      • Best for: Developers adding purposeful motion without JavaScript

      What You’ll Build

      • A full-height hero with a background image or gradient
      • A headline and supporting copy with staggered entrance motion
      • A primary call-to-action with hover and focus transitions
      • A reduced-motion version that removes or minimizes nonessential animation

      Key Learning Points

      • Keyframes defined with @keyframes and applied with the animation property
      • Transitions applied to interactive states rather than every property
      • Transform and opacity used for motion that does not change the document’s layout
      • User preferences detected with prefers-reduced-motion

      Implementation Tips

      • Use motion to direct attention rather than animate every element.
      • Keep the resting state readable when animations do not run.
      • Test transform and opacity animations across several devices rather than assuming identical performance.
      • Limit continuous background movement when it competes with the page’s text.
      • In the reduced-motion media query, remove decorative movement while preserving necessary state changes.

      Pro tip: Animista lets developers preview CSS animation patterns and copy generated CSS. Review and simplify the generated rules before adding them to a project.

      Visual inspiration: Responsive Landing Hero with Zoom & Fade CTA uses CSS for staggered text entrances, a button transition, and a continuously scaling background.

      Publish it: Deploy the hero, turn on the operating system’s reduced-motion setting, and confirm that the page remains readable and complete.


      Project 9: Personal Brand Site

      html css projects example: Darrielle Evans hero with a portrait and Software Engineer Turned Founder headline

      A personal brand site provides a developer, founder, freelancer, or consultant with a single public destination for professional work. The project combines an introduction, selected work, experience, speaking or community activity, and contact information in a responsive page.

      Quick Spec

      • Difficulty: Intermediate
      • Estimated time: 6 to 10 hours
      • Skills: Multi-section architecture, sticky navigation, anchor links, reusable cards, responsive images, and CSS custom properties
      • Best for: Professionals building a public home for their work

      What You’ll Build

      • A sticky header with navigation and a contact call-to-action
      • A hero and About section
      • Work, experience, speaking, writing, or community sections
      • A tools or skills section
      • A contact section and footer

      Key Learning Points

      • Sticky positioning and appropriate stacking order
      • In-page navigation linked to section IDs
      • Reusable card patterns built with Flexbox or Grid
      • A consistent visual system for colors, type, spacing, borders, and buttons
      • Responsive images with explicit dimensions and descriptive alt text

      Implementation Tips

      • Outline the site’s sections before writing the HTML.
      • Define colors, spacing, type sizes, and layout widths as custom properties in :root.
      • Compress images, choose appropriate dimensions, and avoid uploading a source file much larger than its displayed size.
      • Give below-the-fold images width and height attributes and consider lazy loading.
      • Write a unique page title and meta description that clearly state the owner’s name and work.

      25 HTML Projects for Beginners

      25 complete, step-by-step HTML & CSS projects to help you build a coding portfolio, including:

      • Create a Landing Page
      • Build a Contact Form
      • Build a Profile Card
      • And More!

        Download Free

        All fields are required.

        Form not available

        You're all set!

        Click this link to access this resource at any time.

        Pro tip: Registering a matching personal domain early can preserve the preferred name, but compare first-year price, renewal price, privacy options, transfer policies, and support before choosing a registrar.

        Visual inspiration: darrielleevans.com organizes a multi-chapter career into clear sections and uses a single accent color throughout the page.

        From my experience: I bought darrielleevans.com years before I had content for it. It now gives recruiters, podcast hosts, and conference organizers a consistent destination when they Google me. My experience has taught me that a personal domain becomes more useful as the body of work grows.

        Publish it: Connect the site to its final domain, test every navigation link, and review the page’s title, description, social preview, and contact information.

        Project 10: Multi-Page Responsive Site

        html css projects example: Books Galore login page with username and password fields

        html css projects example: Books Galore inventory page with book details, prices, quantities, and action buttons

        A multi-page responsive site distributes related content across two or more HTML files that share one design system. This project combines page architecture, relative links, reusable navigation, responsive layouts, file organization, and page-level metadata into a single, complete website.

        Quick Spec

        • Difficulty: Intermediate to advanced
        • Estimated time: 8 to 15 hours
        • Skills: Multi-page architecture, relative links, shared design patterns, responsive layouts, file organization, and page-level metadata
        • Best for: Developers ready to publish a complete website rather than one isolated page

        What You’ll Build

        • A homepage with a hero, introductory content, and links to interior pages
        • Two to four interior pages, such as About, Products, Contact, Sign-In, or Dashboard
        • A consistent header, navigation, and footer on every page
        • A unique title and meta description for each page

        Key Learning Points

        • Relative links between HTML files in the same project
        • One shared stylesheet and organized image and asset folders
        • Consistent navigation and current-page states
        • Unique page titles, meta descriptions, and social-preview information
        • Responsive components reused across several pages

        Implementation Tips

        • Build and test the homepage structure before adapting it for the interior pages.
        • Keep a reference copy of the shared header and footer markup so each page uses the same version.
        • Use lowercase file names without spaces to reduce deployment errors.
        • Give each navigation link descriptive text and show which page is currently active.
        • Open each page directly via its own URL and test every relative link from that page.
        • Check the site with missing images, long titles, empty content states, and narrow screens before publishing.

        Pro tip: Maintaining repeated headers, footers, and metadata by hand becomes more difficult as a website grows. For multi-page sites, when repeated updates become error-prone, consider a static site generator or content management system based on your project’s maintenance needs rather than an arbitrary page count.

        Visual inspiration: Books Galore is a bookstore inventory project with an inventory list and interfaces for adding and updating book information. Its page structure and visual layout can serve as an HTML and CSS exercise, while its data-management controls demonstrate where JavaScript can extend a static site.

        From my experience: Books Galore was the project where I moved from static HTML and CSS into JavaScript. HTML and CSS create the page layouts and book-information interfaces. JavaScript and localStorage power actions such as adding, updating, and deleting books, as well as preserving data across page reloads. The earlier projects gave me the layout foundation; JavaScript added the interactions.

        Publish it: Deploy every page, open each one from its public URL, and test all navigation paths, images, stylesheets, titles, descriptions, and interactive controls.

        How to Publish HTML and CSS Projects to a Live URL

        A finished HTML and CSS project becomes shareable when it has a public URL. GitHub Pages suits static developer projects, while HubSpot’s CMS tools give marketing and nontechnical teams a visual publishing workflow.

        GitHub Pages for Developer Portfolios

        GitHub Pages publishes static files from a GitHub repository. GitHub Free supports Pages for public repositories, and GitHub Pages can use a custom domain.

        1. Create a public GitHub repository for the project.
        2. Add index.html, styles.css, and the project’s asset folders.
        3. Open the repository’s Settings, select Pages, and choose the publishing source.
        4. Open the generated URL after GitHub finishes the deployment.
        5. Test every page, link, image, and stylesheet from the public site.

        Pro tip: Keep file names lowercase and make the capitalization in every relative link match the file name exactly.

        HubSpot CMS Tools for Marketing and Nontechnical Teams

        html projects for beginners, HubSpot free CMS tools

        HubSpot’s free CMS tools let teams build, host, and publish pages through a visual editing interface. Teams that need broader content marketing capabilities can explore Content Hub, HubSpot’s content marketing software.

        Developers can create, edit, and attach CSS files when a site requires custom styling beyond its theme and page-editor options.

        Key Features

        • Drag-and-drop page building: Teams can arrange page sections and modules in a visual editor.
        • Custom CSS: Developers can create stylesheets and attach them at the template, page, blog, or domain level when the account and asset type support that option.
        • AI-assisted drafting: AI Content Writer can generate and revise website, blog, and other marketing copy.

        Best for: Marketing and nontechnical teams that need a managed publishing workflow, with developer access available for custom styling.

        Pricing

        • Free: $0 per month
        • Starter: Currently starts at $7 per month per seat
        • Professional: Starts at $450 per month and includes three seats
        • Enterprise: Starts at $1,500 per month and includes five seats

        What we like: The visual page-building workflow and custom CSS options let marketers manage routine page work without removing developers from more advanced design and styling decisions.

        FAQs About HTML and CSS Projects for Beginners

        What is the difference between HTML and CSS?

        HTML defines a page’s content and structure through elements such as headings, paragraphs, links, images, lists, and forms. CSS controls how those elements look and fit together through color, type, spacing, sizing, and layout.

        A browser reads the HTML document and applies the CSS rules associated with it. HubSpot’s marketer’s guide to HTML5 provides another introduction to HTML’s role in websites.

        Do I need prior coding experience to start?

        No. These projects begin with basic document structure and add one skill set at a time. A code editor, modern browser, and project folder provide the minimum setup.

        HubSpot’s introduction to web development explains how front-end and back-end technologies fit into the broader website development process.

        Should I learn HTML or CSS first?

        Start with HTML to give the page content and structure, then add CSS to style it. Beginners do not need to master all of HTML before writing CSS; the two technologies make more sense when practiced together in small projects.

        The Odin Project, freeCodeCamp, and HubSpot’s guide to coding a website all offer beginner-friendly ways to practice both together.

        What tools do I need for these projects?

        The minimum setup includes a code editor, a modern browser, and a folder containing the project’s HTML, CSS, and images. Live preview, Git, GitHub Desktop, and an image editor can help, but beginners can add those tools as the projects become more complex.

        A GitHub account is useful when a project is ready for version control or publication via GitHub Pages.

        What are some good first projects using only HTML and CSS?

        A tribute page, now page, and restaurant menu page work well as first projects because each has a clear scope and can produce a complete result without JavaScript. The tribute page focuses on semantic structure, the now page adds links and personal content, and the menu introduces repeated items and layout.

        The full sequence in this guide adds one group of skills at a time, so the later HTML/CSS portfolio projects reuse patterns from earlier builds.

        How do I make my projects look professional and responsive?

        Use a limited color palette, a consistent spacing system, a clear heading hierarchy, and readable line lengths. Reuse the same button, card, link, and section styles instead of restyling every element separately.

        Start with a narrow-screen layout, then add a breakpoint when the content needs more room, rather than automatically choosing a device width. Test the page at several widths and check for horizontal scrolling, overlapping text, inaccessible controls, and images that exceed their containers.

        HTML and CSS: Taking the First Step

        HTML and CSS projects help beginners connect individual syntax lessons to complete, portfolio-ready pages. The 10-project sequence covers semantic structure, typography, Flexbox, CSS Grid, forms, animation, responsive sections, and multi-page organization.

        Start with the tribute page and treat each project as a focused build with a clear finish line. JavaScript can add interactions after the HTML and CSS foundation is stable, while HubSpot’s back-end project ideas provide a roadmap for practicing server-side skills.

        Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

        25 HTML Projects for Beginners

        25 complete, step-by-step HTML & CSS projects to help you build a coding portfolio, including:

        • Create a Landing Page
        • Build a Contact Form
        • Build a Profile Card
        • And More!

          Download Free

          All fields are required.

          Form not available

          You're all set!

          Click this link to access this resource at any time.

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