Preface
For years, the phrase “build a website from scratch” has been synonymous with a steep learning curve, technical headaches, and countless hours of coding. What if you could keep the creative freedom of a custom build but slash the effort and complexity by 90%? That is the promise of vibe coding, and in this guide, we are going to make that promise a reality. This is not a theoretical discussion; this is a roll-up-your-sleeves, hands-on masterclass. Together, we will build a complete, professional, and beautiful website from a completely blank canvas.
Introduction
Welcome to the most practical guide you’ll ever read on building a modern website. We are going to embark on a project to construct a stunning online portfolio for a fictional landscape photographer. We’ll start with nothing but an idea and end with a fully functional, live website ready to attract clients. Every step of the way, we will use AI as our co-pilot, our strategist, our designer, and our developer. You will act as the director, providing the vision and making the critical decisions, while your AI partner handles the heavy lifting.
This guide is designed for everyone. If you’re a beginner, this will be your roadmap to creating something you thought was beyond your reach. If you’re an experienced developer, this will reveal a new workflow that will make you faster and more creative than ever before.
We will progress through five distinct phases:
- The Blueprint: Planning your website with an AI strategist.
- The Foundation: Setting up your professional-grade environment.
- The Build: Vibe coding the website, page by page.
- The Details: Adding the professional finishing touches with AI.
- The Launch: Going live and planning for future success.
Let’s begin. It’s time to stop dreaming and start making.
Chapter 1: The Blueprint – Planning Your Website with an AI Strategist
Before you lay a single brick, you need an architect’s blueprint. Rushing into the build is the #1 mistake new creators make. Our first step is to use a conversational AI (like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini) as our free, world-class project strategist.
Step 1: Define the Persona and Goal
First, we give our AI context. We need to tell it who we’re building the site for and what the site’s purpose is.
Your Prompt (to a Conversational AI):
Act as a brand strategist and web consultant. I am building a new website for a fictional freelance photographer named Jane Doe. Her specialty is high-end landscape photography. The primary goal of the website is to showcase her portfolio to attract corporate clients for art licensing and private collectors for print sales. The brand vibe should be elegant, minimalist, and professional, letting the photography speak for itself.
This initial prompt sets the stage for every subsequent question. The AI now understands the entire project’s context.
Step 2: Create the Site Map
Now that the AI understands the goal, we can ask it to create a logical structure for our website.
Your Prompt:
Based on the persona for Jane Doe, propose a clear and effective sitemap for her new website. List the essential pages she will need.
Expected AI Output:
- Home: A powerful landing page with a stunning hero image, a brief intro, and links to her best work.
- Portfolio: The core of the site. This should be a gallery of her work, ideally filterable by category.
- About: A page to tell her story, talk about her process, and build a personal connection.
- Fine Art Prints: A page with information on how to purchase prints, detailing quality, sizing, and pricing.
- Contact: A simple page with a contact form and professional contact details for licensing inquiries.
This gives us a clear list of pages we need to build.
Info: A well-structured website isn’t just good for users; it’s crucial for search engines. For a deeper dive into how to structure your site for Google, check out our quickstart guide to WordPress SEO.
Chapter 2: The Foundation – Setting Up Your Vibe Coding Environment
With our blueprint in hand, it’s time to acquire our land and tools. This phase involves setting up the technical foundation of our website.
Step 1: Domain Name and Web Hosting
This is the one step that requires a purchase. Your website needs an address (domain name) and a plot of land on the internet to live (web hosting).
- Domain Name: We’d choose something like `janedoephoto.com`.
- Web Hosting: For a WordPress site, you want a reliable host that makes setup easy.
Hint: Choosing a host can be daunting. We recommend beginner-friendly options with “one-click WordPress install” features. Check out our preferred partners like Bluehost, Hostgator, or Dreamhost to get started quickly.
Once you’ve purchased hosting, follow their instructions to install WordPress on your domain.
Step 2: Install Your Core Tools
With a blank WordPress site ready, we need to install our primary creation tools. Navigate to your WordPress dashboard to get started.
- Install a Flexible Theme: A theme controls the overall look and feel. We recommend a lightweight, highly customizable theme like Astra. Go to `Appearance > Themes > Add New` and search for “Astra.” For a head start, you can learn how to install Astra Starter Templates.
- Install a Page Builder: A page builder gives you drag-and-drop control over your page layouts. We’ll use the industry leader, Elementor. Go to `Plugins > Add New` and search for “Elementor.” To unlock its full potential, we strongly recommend Elementor Pro. If you’re new to the tool, our complete guide to getting started with Elementor is a must-read.
- Set Up Your AI Tools: Make sure you have your conversational AI (like ChatGPT) open in a browser tab and, if you use one, an AI assistant like GitHub Copilot installed in your code editor.
Your workshop is now ready. Let the build begin.
Chapter 3: The Build – Vibe Coding Your Website, Page by Page
This is where our vision becomes reality. We will build the key pages of our site using a fluid workflow between visual building with Elementor and vibe coding for custom elements.
Building the Homepage
The homepage is our digital storefront. We’ll create it with Elementor, but use AI to craft a custom, unique hero section.
Step 1: Prompt for the Hero Section Structure
Your Prompt (to a Conversational AI):
Act as a front-end developer using HTML and CSS. I need the code for a minimalist and elegant hero section for a photographer's website. It should have:
1. A full-screen background image.
2. A semi-transparent black overlay to make text readable.
3. A main heading with the text "Jane Doe Photography".
4. A subheading with the text "Capturing the Soul of the Landscape".
5. A single "ghost button" that says "Explore Portfolio" and links to the /portfolio page.
The AI will generate the complete HTML and CSS for this section.
Step 2: Implement in Elementor
- Create a new page called “Home” and edit it with Elementor.
- Add a new section and drag an “HTML” widget into it.
- Copy the AI-generated HTML into the HTML widget.
- Go to the section’s “Advanced” tab, open “Custom CSS,” and paste the AI-generated CSS. (Note: Custom CSS is an Elementor Pro feature).
You have just created a custom-coded hero section in minutes!
Building the Portfolio Page
This is the most important page. We want a beautiful, filterable gallery. This requires a more complex, multi-step vibe coding workflow.
Step 1: Create the ‘Portfolio’ Custom Post Type
Just like in our previous tutorial, we’ll ask our AI to generate the PHP code to create a CPT for “Portfolio Items.” This will let us easily add and manage each photograph as a separate item in WordPress.
Your Prompt:
Act as a senior WordPress developer. Generate the PHP code to register a Custom Post Type named 'Portfolio'. It should support a title, editor, and featured image. Also, create a custom taxonomy for it called 'Category' (slug: 'portfolio_category') so I can categorize items by 'Mountains', 'Oceans', 'Forests', etc.
Action: Paste the generated PHP into your theme’s `functions.php` file.
Step 2: Vibe Code the Filterable Gallery
This is an advanced task, perfect for AI. We need HTML for the filters and the grid, and JavaScript to make it work.
Your Prompt:
I need to build a filterable gallery for my portfolio. Generate the complete code (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript) for this.
- The HTML should have a list of filter buttons (for 'All', 'Mountains', 'Oceans', 'Forests') and a grid container for the portfolio items.
- The CSS should make the grid responsive and style the buttons.
- The JavaScript should handle the filtering logic. When a button is clicked, it should hide the grid items that don't have the corresponding category. Use vanilla JavaScript.
Action: You will need to create a new page template file in your theme (e.g., `template-portfolio.php`) and combine this AI-generated code with a custom WordPress Loop that pulls in your “Portfolio” CPTs. This is a complex but incredibly powerful workflow that combines AI generation with your own integration skills.
Chapter 4: The Details – AI-Assisted Finishing Touches
A great website is in the details. Now we’ll use AI for the rapid-fire tasks that add that final layer of professionalism.
Task 1: Generate a Privacy Policy
Prompt: `Act as a legal tech consultant. Generate a basic privacy policy page for a freelance photographer’s portfolio website. It should include standard clauses about data collection from the contact form and the use of cookies.`
Task 2: Write “About Me” Content
Prompt: `Act as a professional copywriter. Write a compelling 300-word ‘About Me’ bio for Jane Doe, a landscape photographer. Emphasize her passion for nature, her artistic process, and her goal of connecting people to the beauty of the wild.`
Task 3: Suggest Font Pairings
Prompt: `Act as a typographer. Suggest a Google Font pairing for an elegant photography website. I need one font for headings and one for body text. Explain why the pairing works.` For more ideas, check out our list of the top 10 free Google Fonts.
Task 4: Create a Custom Favicon
A favicon is the little icon in the browser tab. While an AI can’t generate the image directly (yet!), it can give you the code. Learn how to add it in our guide on adding a favicon to WordPress.
Prompt: `Generate the HTML code needed to add a favicon to a website. Include tags for various devices like Apple Touch Icons.`
Chapter 5: The Launch – Going Live and Beyond
You’ve built your masterpiece. The final phase is to share it with the world and ensure its long-term health.
The Pre-Launch AI Audit
Before going live, let’s use our AI as a final quality assurance check.
Your Prompt:
Act as a UX/UI expert and SEO analyst. I am about to launch a new photography portfolio website. Please provide a final pre-launch checklist. Include things to check for responsive design, SEO best practices, performance, and user experience.
The AI will generate a comprehensive checklist, prompting you to double-check things like image alt text, mobile navigation, page load speed, and broken links. This is an incredibly valuable final pass to catch any mistakes.
Launch!
This is it! If you’ve been building on a live server, your site is already public. If you were using a temporary or staging URL provided by your host, follow their instructions to “go live.” Announce it to the world!
A Note on Maintenance: A website is a living entity. Your work isn’t over. You’ll need to keep WordPress, your themes, and plugins updated. Thankfully, AI can help here too. You can prompt: `Provide a monthly WordPress maintenance checklist.`
Conclusion
Take a moment and look back. You started with absolutely nothing. Now, you have a complete, professional, custom-built website. You didn’t just copy a template; you directed a creative process, using your vision to guide one of the most powerful technologies ever created. You have learned how to make a website from scratch not by memorizing thousands of lines of syntax, but by mastering the art of communication.
This is the power you now hold. The barrier between your ideas and a finished digital product has been all but eliminated. Every project, every business idea, every portfolio you’ve ever dreamed of building is now within your reach.
The age of the AI-powered creator is here. Welcome.
