How I Built a Professional Website With AI (Despite Knowing Almost No HTML)

Ever looked at a website and thought, "I could never build that"? Yeah, me too. Until last month.

As a data analyst and Python developer, I've always been comfortable wrangling datasets and building models. Give me a Pandas DataFrame and I'll transform it six ways by lunchtime. But HTML? CSS? JavaScript? That's where my confidence traditionally packed its bags and went on vacation.

But here's the thing - the website you're reading this on? I built it. And I did it with the help of some seriously impressive AI tools that are changing the game for developers like me.

My Starting Point: Python and Prayers

Let me paint you a picture: I'm a financial data analyst with 15+ years of experience crunching numbers. My comfort zone is Python. My happy place is Jupyter notebooks. My idea of design is plt.savefig() with default settings.

My initial plan was simple (and very much in my comfort zone):

1. Build a website with Panel, a Python library I knew well
2. Deploy it on HuggingFace
3. Call it a day

But I quickly realized that for a professional consulting business, I needed something more customizable and polished. I needed a real website. The kind with responsive layouts, elegant navigation, and all those other things I'd admired but never built myself.

Enter the AI dream team.

The AI Development Stack That Changed Everything

Here's my secret sauce:

Claude: The Architect and Designer

First, I turned to Claude, an advanced LLM from Anthropic. I started with a simple prompt:

"I want to build a website for my data consulting business. I know Python but almost no HTML/CSS/JS. Can you help me plan this out?"

What followed was mind-blowing. Claude didn't just give me generic advice - it helped me:

• Define the site structure and user flow
• Design the information architecture
• Plan the content strategy
• Select the tech stack (Flask over Panel - a crucial recommendation)

Here's a snippet from our conversation that shows the level of detail:

Me: What should the homepage contain for a data consulting business?

Claude: Your homepage should immediately communicate your value proposition and build credibility. I recommend:

1. Hero section with a clear statement: "Transform your business with data-driven insights"
2. Services overview with 3-4 key offerings
3. A problem→solution narrative showing how you solve client challenges
4. Social proof section with testimonials or case studies
5. A simple CTA for consultation booking

For the visual design, consider data visualization metaphors - graphs trending upward, clean dashboards, or transformation diagrams. This subtly reinforces your expertise while keeping the design professional.

Cursor: The Coding Partner

With Claude's architectural blueprint in hand, I needed to actually write the code. Enter Cursor, an AI-powered code editor.

Cursor helped me: - Translate Claude's design concepts into actual HTML/CSS - Debug issues in real-time - Learn web development concepts as I went - Implement responsive design (something I would have totally messed up on my own)

The most incredible part? Cursor could understand the context of what I was building. When I needed to create a responsive navigation bar, I didn't have to explain my entire website - I could just ask, and Cursor would suggest code that fit perfectly with what I'd already built.

# My comfort zone - Python Flask routes
@app.route('/')
def index():
    return render_template('index.html')

@app.route('/contact', methods=['GET', 'POST'])
def contact():
    if request.method == 'POST':
        # Process form data
        name = request.form['name']
        email = request.form['email']
        message = request.form['message']

        # Here I'd normally write this myself
        # But for the email sending code? 
        # Cursor wrote that part for me!
        send_contact_email(name, email, message)

        return render_template('contact_success.html')
    return render_template('contact.html')

From Panel to Flask: A Python Developer's Journey

One of the biggest transitions was moving from Panel to Flask. While I loved Panel for its Python-centric approach, Claude convinced me that Flask would offer more flexibility for a professional website.

The transition wasn't without challenges:

1. Mental Model Shift: Panel lets you think in terms of Python objects. Flask forced me to understand the request-response cycle.

2. Template Learning Curve: Jinja2 templates were new to me, but Claude provided examples that made learning intuitive.

3. Static Assets: Managing CSS, JS, and images in Flask required understanding concepts like the static folder that don't exist in Panel.

But the payoff was enormous. My Flask-based site is: - Faster loading - More customizable - Easier to deploy - Better for SEO

Lessons Learned (So Far)

1. LLMs are incredible teachers: They don't just give you answers; they explain concepts in relation to what you already know.

2. AI shines in cross-domain work: When combining Python backend knowledge with frontend requirements, AI tools bridged the gap brilliantly.

3. Verify everything: Not all AI suggestions worked perfectly. I learned to test incremental changes rather than implementing large chunks of code at once.

4. You still need to understand the basics: The more I learned about web fundamentals, the better my prompts became, creating a virtuous learning cycle.

What's Next?

In my next post, I'll dive into how I deployed the site on Google Cloud Platform, including setting up CI/CD pipelines with AI assistance. I'll also share how I'm using Claude to help create an entire knowledge hub section for the website (another area where I have limited expertise).

The most incredible realization? This isn't just about building a website anymore. It's about expanding what I can create as a developer. The line between "I know this technology" and "I don't know this technology" has never been blurrier - and that's incredibly exciting.

Oh, and this blog post? Written with Claude's help too. The future is here, and it's collaborative.