# Build Your Own Website With AI — Starter Kit

*From Carter Smith, who built diamondsdiscovered.com this way. Steal all of it.*

You don't need to know how to code. You need a clear idea of what you want to say and show, and the patience to give feedback until it looks right. Below are two things: a prompt you can paste into an AI tool to get started, and a "master requirements" template that saves your project when a chat gets too long.

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## STEP 1 — Paste this into an AI tool to start

Copy everything between the lines into a new chat with an AI assistant (like Claude). Fill in the brackets with your own details.

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I want to build a simple website, and I don't know how to code. I need you
to guide me and write the actual files.

WHAT IT'S ABOUT:
[One or two sentences. Example: "A site documenting a road trip I took to
Negro Leagues baseball landmarks for a school award project."]

WHO IT'S FOR:
[Example: "Teachers, students, family, and press who want to learn about the
project."]

PAGES I THINK I WANT (we can change these):
- A home page that introduces the project
- An about page
- [add any others]

WHAT I HAVE ALREADY:
- Notes: [where they are — phone, doc, etc.]
- Photos: [how many, roughly]
- [anything else — a map, a list of stops, links]

STYLE I LIKE:
[Example: "Clean, magazine-like, not flashy. Serif headlines." Or paste a
link to a site whose look you like.]

WHAT I NEED FROM YOU:
1. Ask me any questions you need before starting.
2. Build a first draft of the home page as a single HTML file I can open in
   a browser.
3. Explain, in plain language, how to view it and how to change it.
4. When I give feedback, update the file and tell me what changed.
5. When I'm happy with it, recommend a free way to get it online and walk me
   through it step by step (for example, hosting it on Netlify).
6. Once I like a first version, create a master requirements document that
   captures the whole project, and keep updating it as we make changes — so I
   can paste it into a new chat if this one gets too long.

Start by asking me your questions.
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## STEP 2 — Work in a feedback loop

The AI gives you a draft. You look at it, say what's wrong or what you want next, and it revises. Repeat. That's the whole job. Real examples from building this site:

- "I want to add photos." → then feedback until they displayed the way I liked.
- "I want a map." → I gave it my list of stops, rebuilt the route in Google Maps, and gave lots of feedback until it looked right.
- People had questions after seeing it — What's the Congressional Award? Who is Carter? — so I asked the AI to add pages. That's how one web page turned into a website.

Be specific. "Make the photos bigger and put two side by side" beats "make it look better."

## STEP 3 — Put it online

When you're happy with the files, you need hosting so other people can see it. This site uses **Netlify**, which has a free tier. You can drag your files onto Netlify to publish, or connect it to GitHub so it updates automatically. Ask your AI tool: "How do I put these files online with Netlify, step by step?"

## STEP 4 — Keep a master requirements document (this is the big one)

AI chats break when they get too long, or when they're stuffed with images. When that happens you lose your momentum. The fix: keep one document that explains everything about your project — what it is, the pages, the style, the decisions you've made, where the files and photos live. Update it every time you make a change so it never goes stale. When a chat dies, start a fresh one, paste in this document, and you're back where you were.

Use this template:

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# [PROJECT NAME] — Master Requirements

## What this is
[Short description and goal.]

## Audience
[Who it's for.]

## Pages
- Home — [what's on it]
- [page] — [what's on it]

## Style / design
- Colors: [list]
- Fonts: [list]
- Overall feel: [description]

## What's built so far
[List each page and its status.]

## Assets
- Photos: [where they live]
- Other: [maps, logos, links]

## Hosting
[Where it's hosted and how it updates.]

## Decisions & things to remember
[Anything you figured out the hard way so you don't repeat it.]

## What's next
[Your to-do list.]
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That's it. An idea, a feedback loop, a place to host it, and a document that keeps your project alive. Everything on diamondsdiscovered.com started exactly here.