Today, I’m going to break down everything about websites: everything you need to know to actually understand how the web works, how websites operate, and how you can control them yourself. Honestly, the world of web development is one of the most gatekept areas out there. Gatekeeping, if you’re not familiar, is when people deliberately withhold or limit access to knowledge, often to protect their own position. In Vietnamese, we call it "giấu nghề," meaning people hide the craft. The web is full of that behavior because people think websites are a big money-making secret, but in reality, it’s not hard at all once you see the full picture.
Today, I'm giving you everything: the full map, from beginning to end. Once you see it, you’ll realize there’s no magic, no mystery, just steps. Especially for people working with WordPress, there’s a very real pain point. You can spend years working inside WordPress, building websites, but still not actually understand how a website works under the hood. That’s because nobody explained the fundamentals properly.
Let's start from the basics. A website is, at its core, just a file, like a Word file or a PDF. If you open Word on your computer, you can read your document offline. Similarly, a basic web page is just a file you can open. It doesn't even need the internet. I can write a file, create a folder on my computer, save it with the right structure, and then open it using a browser like Chrome or Firefox, even with the Wi-Fi completely off. It’s no different from opening a document in Word; it just happens inside a browser.
If that’s the case, you might wonder how other people can see my web page. If the file lives on my computer but someone across the world wants to see it, how do we make that happen? Well, you could, in theory, send them the file, but that’s not how the web works. The web means people can access your site anytime they want, without you having to send anything manually. You would need a way for your computer to stay on 24/7, serving that file to whoever asks. You could buy a cheap PC, leave it running 24 hours a day, but that would be expensive and wasteful.
This is why hosting services exist. Hosting companies like DigitalOcean rent out servers: computers that stay on 24/7, and you can upload your website there. You rent a little piece of a computer, called a VPS (Virtual Private Server), and you put your website files on it. The server has an IP address, a string of numbers, and when people visit that address, they see your website. It’s as simple as that.
Nobody wants to remember an ugly IP address like 178.128.41.146, so that’s where domain names come in. A domain is just a pretty name, like example.com, that points people to your server’s IP address. You buy a domain through services like Google Domains or Squarespace. Then you configure it so that when someone types in your domain, they get sent to your server. Hosting and domains are two different things: hosting is the server, domain is the name.
Now let’s talk about the site itself. Once you understand this structure — app (website), server (hosting), domain (address) — you realize websites themselves can take many forms. Some websites are coded apps, like the one I built, where you write every line by hand. Others are no-code apps, where you drag and drop elements onto a page, like with WordPress or Squarespace. Back in the day, before 2021, when JavaScript wasn’t so dominant and flexible, drag-and-drop builders were more acceptable. Today, code-driven sites are much more powerful, flexible, and easier to automate with AI tools.
When you build with code, you have full control. You can change layouts, animations, spacing, interactions, colors, responsiveness, and anything else you imagine. It’s fast and lightweight. Drag-and-drop builders like WordPress or Card, on the other hand, limit you to their templates and restrictions. You can make things look decent, but real customization is slow and limited. If you want professional features like sticky headers, dynamic layouts, or complex animations, you’ll quickly run into their limits.
Modern web development has evolved dramatically, especially with the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT, making it unnecessary for beginners to spend years learning outdated platforms such as WordPress. Instead of relying on slow, rigid drag-and-drop systems or cumbersome plugins, it is far smarter today to jump straight into coding, using modern frameworks like Next.js, Astro, or SvelteKit.
These tools are designed to be lightweight, modular, and scalable, allowing even solo developers to create professional-grade websites faster than ever before. You do not have to become a hardcore programmer buried in thousands of lines of code. Instead, you simply need to understand the basic logic behind how the web works — concepts like what a server is, how routing happens, or how HTML and CSS structure a page — and then use AI as your partner to fill in the technical gaps. For instance, if you get stuck setting up a navigation menu or configuring a deployment, you can instantly ask ChatGPT to generate the solution for you, saving hours of trial and error.
In this new workflow, AI acts as a real-time coding assistant: helping you build, debug, and even optimize your work. Below is a simple comparison between outdated web-building methods and modern approaches using AI and current frameworks:
| Aspect | Outdated Method (e.g., WordPress) | Modern Method (e.g., Next.js + AI) |
|---|---|---|
| Learning curve | High: requires navigating bloated interfaces | Low: basic concepts first, AI handles syntax details |
| Speed of development | Slow: drag-drop, theme tweaking | Fast: scaffold projects, live coding with AI help |
| Customization | Limited by themes and plugins | Unlimited: full design control from codebase |
| Cost over time | High: premium plugins, theme licenses, agency fees | Low: free frameworks, minor server costs |
| Scalability and maintenance | Difficult: plugin conflicts, security patches | Easy: code-controlled updates and AI auto-debugging |
There is a key difference between designing a website visually and actually building it. When you design purely visually, like with Figma, someone else still has to translate that design into real, working code. That process costs time, money, and often leads to misunderstandings between the designer and the developer. If you design and code directly, you bypass all that confusion. You build a real, functioning website immediately instead of creating just a pretty picture.
Today’s workflow looks very different from even five years ago. You can upload your project to GitHub and then pull it directly to your server. You do not need fancy or complicated infrastructure unless you are running a massive app. For a personal website or a business site, it is just a few clean steps: build the files, upload the files, point your domain, and you are live.
That’s the full picture:
- A website is just a file.
- Hosting is a 24/7 computer for your files.
- A domain is a pretty name for your server’s address.
- Coding your site gives you true control.
- Drag-and-drop builders limit you and are becoming less practical in the AI era.
Once you understand this, you are already ahead of 90% of people working in the web industry. They do not teach this properly because it benefits them to keep it sounding complicated. In reality, once you see the whole map, you realize there’s no magic, no mystery, just steps.