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 "Build me a website for my dental practice in Boulder", and press Enter. Everything after that takes about two minutes and asks for one thing you have to type: the name.

The two steps

1. The basics. Max reads your sentence and guesses whether this is a website for a business or for you personally. Switch if the guess is wrong, then give the name. If you do not have an account yet, your own name and email go here too: they are what the account is made from. Phone and address are optional: they go straight onto your contact page, and you can add them later.
2. A starting design. Max also reads the industry from your sentence and shows the designs made for it, 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. 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 and Max builds from your sentence alone.

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.

If you do not have an account yet, choosing a design asks for one thing more: a password. The name and email you gave on the basics are shown back to you, and the password is all the account needs, so you can come back and edit the website any time. It is encrypted before it is stored and never shared. Already have an account? Log in from the same dialog and you arrive at the same place.

What happens next

Your website is created from the design you chose, with your name and details on every page, and the builder opens. Max starts on its own: your sentence is the first message, and Max 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 green the moment Max is done and the page updates with the new words, usually within a minute or two. When it finishes, it tells you what it changed and what it left as the design's placeholders, such as a phone number you did not give. Ask for anything from there.

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 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.