Build with AI: From Zero to Your First App · Module 8: Finish, publish and present
Publishing, Domains and HTTPS Without Buying
Publishing means strangers can open your files. This lesson explains the three words (hosting, domain, HTTPS), publishes free, and states what free does not buy.
9 min reading
Objectives
- Explain publishing, domains and HTTPS in plain words
- Publish a static page to a free host with honest limits
- Tell a preview link from a production address
- State what remains unpaid and what that implies
Why this matters
"Publish it" sounds like one click and hides three concepts beginners must own: where files live (hosting), what the address is (domain), and why the browser trusts it (HTTPS). Owning the words prevents the two classic traps: paying for hosting a static page does not need, and sharing a preview link as if it were the permanent address.
Concepts
Hosting is a computer serving your files to visitors. Free static hosts exist for course-sized pages; they serve files, nothing more. No server code, no database, no secrets: exactly the browser-only projects this course builds. Limits are honest: quotas, provider branding or sleep on free tiers, addresses you do not choose.
Domain is the address name. Free addresses are long and provider-owned; custom names cost yearly rent (roughly the 10 to 15 USD range from M01L3, checked at a real registrar, never copied from memory). Nothing in this course requires buying one. A free address that works beats a custom address that bills: buy names for businesses, not for homework.
HTTPS is the lock: encrypted transport plus identity, now expected on every address. Good free hosts include it automatically; its absence on a custom setup is a stop-everything problem. Check for the lock before sharing widely; no lock, no launch.
Preview versus production. Builder previews and editor live-links are temporary conveniences, not addresses. Production is the stable link you write in the README and share. Know which one you hold before announcing.
Worked example
Bakery page published free: files uploaded to a static host, free address noted, lock confirmed, limits line updated ("free address, may sleep; order data stays in the visitor's browser"). Custom domain explicitly deferred: "not purchased; revisit when the bakery trades daily." Published means openable by strangers, honestly described, nothing billed.
Expected result: your page published to a free address with lock confirmed and limits stated, or a dated plan for publishing day with the same lines.
The common wrong move
Buying hosting plus domain plus extras on day one "to be serious". Serious is a page strangers can open with limits stated. Purchases follow businesses, not coursework.
Lab and next step
Lab A23 publishes (or dry-runs publishing) with the lock plus limits check. Next, lesson 31 runs the full pre-release checklist on the real project.
Quick check
An optional 4-question self-check. Answers never leave your device, are not stored, and never count toward any assessment.
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Exercise
Publish your page free (or dry-run the steps on paper): record the address, lock state and limits line. If deferring, write the dated publishing plan with the same three lines.
Pass criteria
Address recorded with preview-vs-production labeled; HTTPS lock confirmed or planned; limits line written (quotas, branding, sleep, per-browser data).