Build Website

Modified on: Mon, 31 Jul, 2023 at 3:11 PM

Your domain may have an IPFS hash already assigned when it is created. This redirects to your ud.me profile. You will need to remove this before redirecting your domain to a Web2 domain.


To start, click Manage' next to your domain from the 'My Domains' page.



Now click website.



On this page click remove. You will need to sign a transaction with your wallet and wait for the transaction to go through.





Building a site from scratch


There are several website builders that allow you to export your HTML files and assets ready to upload to IPFS. We recommend pazly.dev which is a drag-and-drop builder optimised for Web3 sites. You can also use a HTML template from a site like html5up to download a template to work from. If you use a HTML template you will need to edit the HTML code to personalize the site using an app like Brackets which is available on Windows and Mac. You can also create a site on WordPress and export it to a static HTML page ready for IPFS by following our guide here.


When you create a site you must make sure your homepage is named "index.html" (without the quotes). This is case-sensitive. If your homepage is not named index.html your domain will not automatically go to your homepage, instead it will display a list of the files.


Please read our IPFS limitations and considerations section if you are planning on building a site yourself or if a developer is creating one for you.


Create a website using templates


We provide easy-to-use templates if you are looking for a quick and easy website with no coding.


Head over to 'My Domains', click Manage next to your domain and then click on Website on the left-have side of the page. Now click on Create Website under Create Website using templates. You can now choose which type of site you are looking to create.



When you select an option you will have a choice of templates. Click on the one you like and then proceed to fill in your information and images using the menu on the right-hand side.

 


When you're ready click Publish to IPFS.



Custom website linking


If you already have a site on IPFS you can link the existing IPFS hash (CID) to your domain. Our site supports both v0 and v1 IPFS hashes so it doesn't matter if your IPFS hash starts with Qm or baf. Simply head over to your 'Domains' page, click Manage next to your domain and then click on Website on the left-have side of the page. Now click on Link Website under Custom website linking, enter your IPFS hash and click Launch Website.



Our site has a limit of 20mb for uploaded files. You can still upload a site that is more than 20mb and link it to your domain but you will need to upload the site to an external service like, Filebase or web3.storage. Each site has free plans so you won't need to pay anything. Once you create an account and upload your site you will be given an IPFS hash (it may be referred to as a CID) and you can then add that hash to your domain using the instructions above.


Pro tip: upload your site to multiple platforms to improve the speed, stability and decentralization of your site.


IPFS limitations and considerations


IPFS is different from traditional Web2 hosting in a few ways. IPFS is a decentralised storage network and it does not run on a web server like a Web2 site would. IPFS can't perform any server-side processing because there is no server to process anything so static websites work best, you can use client-side processing like javascript. A general rule is, if the website will load and work from your local machine it will work on IPFS.


Upload website files to IPFS


When you have your website files you can upload them to our site which will publish the files to the IPFS network and link them to your domain.


Head over to your 'Domains' page, click Manage next to your domain and then click on Website on the left-have side of the page. Now click on Upload Website Files under Upload website files to IPFS. Drag your files into the window or click on Upload to navigate to the files. Once you are done click on Launch Website.



If you have multiple files like images or asset folders you need to have all of these files in their own folder and upload the folder itself and not the individual files within the folder.

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