Simplified Guide to Building a Minimalist Website in 2025

Creating a straightforward, easy-to-manage website can seem daunting, especially with the myriad of tools and platforms available today. If your goal is to develop a basic site with simple text content, images, and a few pages—without wrestling with complex templates or unnecessary features—there are modern solutions designed to keep things simple and user-friendly. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you get started in 2025.

Understanding Your Needs

Your ideal website includes:
– Basic paragraphs of text with flexible formatting (bold, underline, different font sizes)
– Inline images within the text
– Multiple pages: About Me, Menu, Blog/Updates
– A scrolling updates page with optional pagination after a certain number of posts
– Minimal fuss and a clean, responsive design that adapts to various devices

Why Not Just HTML?

While creating static pages with HTML in Notepad was once the go-to method, modern devices and browsers favor responsive, mobile-friendly designs. Building static pages manually is possible but can be time-consuming and less adaptable to device variations.

Modern Solutions for Simple Websites

1. WordPress with a Minimal Theme
2. Ease of Use: WordPress remains one of the most user-friendly CMS platforms.
3. Customization: Choose a lightweight, simple theme that emphasizes readability and simplicity.
4. Functionality: Use built-in editors or basic page builders to add text, images, and format content easily.
5. Pages & Blog: Create multiple static pages (About, Menu) and a blog page that automatically lists your updates.

6. Pagination: The blog feature handles pagination for you after a set number of posts.

7. Static Site Generators (SSGs)

8. Tools like Hugo or Jekyll: If you prefer a static site, SSGs generate simple HTML pages based on templates.
9. Advantages: Fast, lightweight, and customizable with minimal fuss.

10. Ease of Deployment: Host on platforms like Netlify, GitHub Pages, or Vercel with minimal setup.

11. Website Builders with No Frills

12. Simpler Platforms: Services like WordPress.com (free tier), Neve, or Astra themes with a page builder plugin.
13. Features: Drag-and-drop editing, responsive design, and simple content management.

14. Limitations: Avoid overly complex templates; stick to minimal, clean options.

15. Going