Use AI for Simple HTML and CSS Generation

save time and tedious work

Published: Nov 21, 2024
Author : Jeff

 

One of the things I personally find tedious and time-consuming is manually writing a quick placeholder HTML page without using page builder software. Whether it’s for a temporary redirect, a “coming soon” page, or just a basic landing page for a new domain, crafting these pages can feel like an unnecessary chore.

But there’s an easy solution to use AI for simple html: you can have ChatGPT generate the page for you! With simple natural language prompts, ChatGPT can create a fully functional and visually appealing webpage, saving you both time and effort. In this guide, I’ll show you exactly how to do it, even if you’re a complete beginner.

Step 1: Understand What You Want to Create

Before diving in, think about the design of your page. Here’s what you should consider:

  • Purpose: Is this page just a placeholder, or should it have additional functionality like a clickable link?
  • Design: Do you want a sleek background, custom text, or buttons?
  • Content: What message or branding do you want to communicate?

For this guide, we’ll create a stylish placeholder page with:

  • A full-screen background image.
  • Centered text for a title or message.
  • A call-to-action button (e.g., a link to another site).
  • A dark overlay to ensure text readability.
  • A simple hover effect for the button to make it interactive.

Step 2: Use AI for Simple HTML with ChatGPT to Generate Code

You can describe your desired web page to ChatGPT in natural language. Here’s an example prompt you can use:

“I want to create a simple webpage with a full-screen background image, centered text, and a button. Add a dark gradient overlay on the background to make the text readable. The button should have a hover effect that changes its color. Please provide the HTML and CSS code.”

Step 3: Review and Customize the Output

When ChatGPT provides the code, review it and see if it matches your vision. You can ask for adjustments if needed. For example:

  • “Can you make the button text larger?”
  • “Add a tooltip above the button when hovered.”
  • “Change the background to a gradient instead of an image.”

Step 4: Test Your Code

Here’s how to test the code ChatGPT provides:

  1. Copy the HTML and CSS into a text editor (e.g., Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac).
  2. Save the file with a .html extension, like index.html.
  3. Open the file in your browser to see the result.

Sample Prompt and Code Output

Prompt:

“Create an HTML page with a centered title and button on a full-screen background image. Add a gradient overlay for readability. The button should have a hover effect to change its color. Include CSS styling in the same file.”

Output:

 

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>Stylish Web Page</title>
    <style>
        body {
            margin: 0;
            height: 100vh;
            background: url('https://example.com/background.jpg') no-repeat center center/cover;
            display: flex;
            justify-content: center;
            align-items: center;
            color: white;
            font-family: sans-serif;
            position: relative;
        }
        
        body::before {
            content: "";
            position: absolute;
            top: 0;
            left: 0;
            width: 100%;
            height: 100%;
            background: linear-gradient(to right, #252C2E, rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5));
            z-index: 1;
        }

        .content {
            position: relative;
            z-index: 2;
            text-align: center;
        }

        h1 {
            margin-bottom: 20px;
        }

        .button {
            display: inline-block;
            margin-top: 40px;
            padding: 10px 20px;
            background-color: black;
            color: white;
            text-transform: uppercase;
            text-decoration: none;
            border: 1px solid white;
            border-radius: 8px;
            font-size: 20px;
            cursor: pointer;
            transition: background-color 0.3s;
        }

        .button:hover {
            background-color: #ED2586;
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <div class="content">
        <h1>Welcome to My Stylish Page</h1>
        <a href="https://example.com" class="button">Click Here</a>
    </div>
</body>
</html>

The prompt I used for my own page was as follows:

“Please build me an html page with a background image named background.jpg and a dark gradient over the background. The background gradient has hex color #4B5B60 on the left and a 50% black on the right side. The heading on the page is “This is AvidForm.com” in white san serif lettering. Below the heading there is a black button with white san serif lettering that reads, “Visit AvidCube”. The text on the button has a font size of 20 pixels. The button has a radius of 8 pixels and a 1 pixel white border. There is 60 pixel padding above the button. On hover the button background color is hex #ED2586. The button links to https://avidCube.com”

This page was necessary for an alternate unused domain that we wanted to point to our main site. You can view the result at https://avidform.com.

Step 5: Enhance and Iterate

Once you have the basic page, you can refine it further. Here are a few ideas:

  • Change the Button Tooltip: Ask ChatGPT to add a tooltip above the button when hovered.
  • Make It Responsive: Ensure the page looks good on mobile devices with additional CSS.
  • Experiment with Fonts: Use Google Fonts for a unique typography style.

Step 6: Share Your Work

Upload your webpage to a hosting platform like GitHub Pages or Netlify to share it with the world!

Conclusion

With ChatGPT as your coding assistant, creating professional-looking web pages has never been easier. Give it a try and watch your ideas come to life!

 

Code Generation with Artificial Intelligence

A free ChatGPT account will let you create and process about 10 prompts using the ChatGPT-4-Mini model every 5 hours. A Plus plan (USD20/month) increases the number of prompts about 5X and uses the more advanced GPT-4 or 4o models. For moderate usage, a free account should suffice.

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