I'm new to web development and recently agreed to build a simple website for a nonprofit as a free learning project. I know the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and I'm comfortable using Git and GitHub, but I'm unsure how to organize the work.
Should I begin by planning the page and content structure, setting up the layout and global styles, creating shared components like the navigation and footer, or building the homepage first? I'd appreciate a practical step-by-step workflow for approaching a small Astro project so I can learn a sensible development process instead of coding randomly and fixing things later.
3 Answers
Start by planning the design and content before writing much code. Sketch the pages on paper or in a design tool, then define the overall layout, colors, spacing, and typography. After that, create the shared Astro layout, navigation, and footer, and build the pages one at a time. This helps prevent you from repeatedly redesigning the same pieces.
Another reasonable order is to map out the pages and content first, then create the shared navigation and footer, and style everything afterward. The important part is having a clear structure before polishing the visuals. That makes the project easier to expand if the site grows.
I’d establish the shared structure before tackling the homepage. Set up the main Astro layout with static navigation and footer components, then define your global design tokens for colors, spacing, and typography. Each page can then fill in the main content area without re-solving the site structure every time.
The homepage often changes the most once you understand the rest of the site, so it doesn’t necessarily need to come first. If the nonprofit has recurring content such as programs, news, or events, consider Astro content collections early. They can keep repeated content and card layouts organized even if the site is fairly small.
That makes sense. I’ll focus on the shared layout and design tokens first, then build the individual pages around them. For a small nonprofit site with only a few pages, would content collections still be worthwhile?