Starting a website from the homepage

The fastest way in is the box on the homepage. Type what you need in everyday words, such as "A website for my dental practice in Boulder called Smile Co", and press Enter. You are now talking with Max, and nothing is built until you say it looks right. All of it takes about two minutes, and you do not need an account until the very end.

Pressed Create Account or Start free instead, or arrived at the sign-up page? You start in the same place with an empty chat. Type a sentence about your website there.

The chat with Max

Max wants to know four things. For a business, who the website is for, what kind of business it is, what it specializes in when that matters (cosmetic dentistry inside dentists, say), and the name. For you as a person, your name and what you do.

• Max asks one question at a time. Answer in your own words, or tap one of the suggested answers under the question.
• Max asks only what it needs. It will not ask for your phone number, your email or your street address here. Those come later, in the builder. If you offer a phone number, Max keeps it.
• A chat has six messages, of up to 600 characters each. A counter appears when you are close to the limit.
• Rather talk than type? Press the microphone in the box and say it. Press the tick when you're done, and what you said appears in the box for you to check and send. A recording can be up to a minute long. Your browser asks for the microphone the first time.
• Want a different way in? Open Other ways to start under the box at any time.
• Changed your mind? Start over, above the chat, clears the conversation and gives you an empty one. Nothing has been created yet, so nothing is lost.

When Max has what it needs, it shows what it understood, in one line such as "A website for Smile Co, a dental practice in Boulder". Press Looks right to go on. If it is not quite right, type what to change in the box and Max reads it again.

If Max cannot work out the kind of website after a couple of questions, or you say you already have a website or a design, it shows the five ways to start below instead.

Sometimes Max answers with a plain, fixed question instead of its own words. It asks the same things and the chat ends the same way, so keep answering. Once the chat has started you may be asked to tick a quick check that you are a person, and until you do, Max asks its fixed questions instead of answering in its own words.

The five ways to start

Pick the way that suits you. Choosing one only notes your choice: nothing is copied, read or uploaded until your website exists.

1. Start from a template. Choose a professionally designed template, already filled in with your details.
2. Clone an existing website. Enter the address of a website you own, such as smileco.com. It must be a public website, so an address that only works inside a network will not be accepted. Once your website exists, the builder opens on that address and you decide how to rebuild it.
3. Start from an image. Your website is created empty, and the builder points you to the button for adding the mockup or screenshot you want it built from.
4. Describe it with AI. Write 20 to 2,000 characters about the website you want. Max builds from your description.
5. Blank canvas. Start from an empty page and tell Max what to build, one message at a time.

You can change your mind and pick a different one, until you finish.

A starting design

For a business, Looks right shows the designs made for your industry, each one in a browser window that already carries your name, your details and the address your website will have. The pill above the row names the industry. Click it to change the industry or add a specialty such as cosmetic dentistry or emergency plumbing, which tells Max which words to use. If you change it and then go Back to the chat, your choice stays.

The design you select holds on its first screen for a few seconds and then scrolls slowly on its own so you can see the whole page. Use the arrows or the arrow keys to move between designs and Enter to choose one, or choose Let Max design it instead and Max builds from what you told it alone.

A website for yourself

A portfolio, a personal brand, a freelancer, a creator: tell Max your name and what you do. There is no design to choose. Looks right goes straight to the email and code, and your website starts from a ready-made design with your name on it.

Your email and the code

After you pick a design, or press Looks right as an individual, or pick a way to start, Max asks where to send your code. Type your email address and press Email me a code. We email a 6-digit code to it, and the box shows that address back so you can check it. Type or paste the code in the same browser. The code expires after 10 minutes, and a quick person check may appear after several tries. If it has not arrived, check your spam folder, then ask for a new one after a minute. Use a different email lets you change the address.

Already have an account with that email? The same code signs you in, and you arrive at the same place. If you use two-factor authentication, you enter its code next.

The email you sign in with is for your account only. It is not put on your website. See Creating your account.

What happens next

Your website is created and the builder opens. Max starts on its own. It takes what you said in the chat as the first message and rewrites the design's words for your business, in your industry and specialty. While that runs the page you can see is the design with your details already on it, and a note at the foot of it, "Making it yours", says what Max is doing. Scroll around in the meantime. The note turns blue the moment Max is done and the page updates with the new words, usually within a minute or two.

Max does not make anything up. If you did not give a name, the website is called "My website" and the design keeps its example name until you give yours. A phone number, email or address you did not give stays as the design has it, and a city on its own is not turned into an address. When Max finishes, it tells you what it changed and what it left as the design's examples. Ask for anything from there.

The clone, image and blank canvas ways to start open the builder without a design. Max waits for you there, with the address filled in, the image button ready, or the message box ready.

Coming back

Left halfway through? The homepage remembers. A Continue where you left off link above the box takes you back to the step you were on, in the same browser, until you finish or start something new. The box itself stays empty: a new sentence typed there starts a new conversation. If your chat ended, Max says so and gives you a Reload this page link. If you see "Max is still answering your last message", wait a moment and send it again.

This walk is for your first website. If you are already signed in, the homepage sentence takes you to your dashboard instead, where every new website starts.

The other tab

I already have a website is for a business whose site exists elsewhere. Enter its domain and Max carries it into setup; nothing changes at your registrar until you connect it inside your account. See Starting from an existing website.