It all started around 2005 when I tried to create my website but reached a dead-end due to zero knowledge in HTML coding at the time. After reading Dr. Ibraheem Dooba’s article on 3 April 2020 with the caption, “I will teach your child web development” I enrolled in his WhatsApp group class called HTML for Kids 2 days later, i.e. 5 April 2020, where our kids from 9 years and above are expected to learn the basics of HTML coding for web design. I saw this as an opportunity to learn web design from one of the very best, even though the class was not meant for parents like me – with 3 eligible kids – I did not feel too big to be in the same classroom with my children’s age mates. I actively gave the lessons the attention they deserved. I decided not to enroll my 3 eligible kids now but to enroll myself first and then teach my kids from what I learned in the class weekly. That way I will be forced to master the coding because I will stand before my kids and teach them the same material later. Moreso, the classroom was a flipped classroom, hence, my kids will still need my guidance nonetheless.

On Friday, 24 April 2020 after I visited Dr. Farooq Kperogi’s blog, read his new articles, then I saw ‘Powered By Blogger’ at the bottom of the page. I clicked on the link, and there I was, a website where I can create my first website for free. I immediately seized the opportunity to create my 1^st website or blog and within a few minutes, hurray, I was done. You can visit the website here.

Although HTML coding is not a pre-requisite to designing a website using Blogger, I chose to use the little knowledge I got from the HTML for Kids class to design all my posts on my blog. This is coming in just 19 days after I started taking lessons in HTML coding.

After I informed my HTML teacher, Dr. Dooba, on the development of my 1^st website, he told me that he will send me some videos that will guide on how to create a free web site without HTML coding using WordPress – 36 % of the web is built using WordPress. He also answered my question on how to buy a domain and host it. he told me that I can use HostGator to buy and host a domain at a very low price.

Just 2 days ago (Monday, 27 April 2020), I got my free domain (salihulukman.com) from HostGator and paid for hosting only. The site is currently running a promo whereby one gets a free 1-year domain. This promo saved me about $18, i.e. N8,370 @ N465/$ based on today’s exchange rate. I watched videos and read articles on how to use WordPress to design a website using WordPress and I am happy to invite you today to visit my website at salihulukman.com, browse all the web pages and feel free to send me your observations on what I can do to make it better.

The website is more beautiful when viewed on a laptop or PC than on a mobile phone. I named the website Zazzau Inspirations because that was where it all began, that was where I received my first inspiration on web design. I developed this website in just one day, I am sure someone else can do it in a shorter duration and come up with something more sophisticated than my simple website. Let me reiterate one important point here, you don’t need to know HTML coding before you can build your web site. However, it goes without saying that knowing how to code using HTML will certainly accord you some benefits in web development but don’t use your lack of HTML knowledge to conclude that you cannot design a web site. No! Based on my short experience in web design, you can be an excellent web developer without any coding knowledge. I stand to be corrected by the experts.

I have already moved Diabetic Monitoring Forum (DMF) – which until now had been hosted on WhatsApp and Telegram only – to the website. Now, you can directly ask me on the website and I will respond to all your questions without necessarily belonging to any of the DMF groups on WhatsApp or Telegram. In addition, I created a new section where I will be posting all upcoming presentations so that you can follow-up on all future presentations. I will add many other features to the DMF webpage as time progresses, remember that I am just learning the web design now. I have already uploaded all the success stories and some of my presentations on the DMF webpage.

With this web design experience, I have successfully demystified what had mystified me for a long time now about web development. I used to think that web design was a herculean task, now, I can successfully build a web site in just about 1 – 2 hrs and you don’t need to spend a dime before your website is up and running. It then begs the question, why is it that many of our organizations and schools do not have any functional website? If you don’t want to spend a dime, fine, use websites that offer free domains and hosting services such as WordPress (yourwebsitename.wordpress.com) and Blogger (yourwebsitename.blogspot.com, powered by Google) and design your website. To me, every agency, business, and school should have a functional website, no matter what. Nowadays, online presence plays a critical role in marketing your goods and services to a larger audience.