How AI changed the way I build websites

I used to build most websites in tools like Webflow and Framer.

The Messcat website, for example, was built in Framer. These tools are useful, but they are still another thing to learn and manage. For a simple website that mostly needs to explain what a business does, a lot of the extra features are not always needed.

I also never really enjoyed working in Webflow. I often found myself spending too much time fixing small layout issues or trying to make something behave the way I wanted.

Because of that, I probably built fewer websites than I wanted to.

Over the last six months, that has changed quite a bit.

I’ve started building more websites directly with AI coding agents. Most of them are simple HTML, CSS and a little JavaScript.

I keep the code in GitHub and usually host the site on Cloudflare Pages. Once the repo is connected, I can push a change and the live site updates automatically.

I’ve used this setup for my own website, a website for Satish Kumar & Co, and another site I’m making for my dad. I also plan to rebuild the Elite Securitas website this way.

The Elite Securitas site is currently on Webflow. One issue we’ve had is that the company card sometimes fails on the international payment. If the Webflow plan ends, the website can go down and the custom domain gets disconnected too.

With a simple static site, there is much less to worry about. The code stays with us, the site can be hosted very cheaply or free, and we are not tied to one website builder.

How I build them now

I usually start by understanding what the business actually needs the website to do.

What does it need to say? What pages are really needed? What images, copy or other material already exist? Is the site mainly there to explain the business, collect leads, show work, or help people get in touch?

Once that is clear, I plan the structure, create a repo, and use an agent to build the first version.

The first version still needs a lot of work. I spend time fixing spacing, typography, images, copy, and removing things the agent added that I do not want. Sometimes I use a stronger model for a visual pass and a cheaper one for smaller fixes.

I also use Figma less for these projects now. For a simple website, I often find it faster to work directly on the actual site and keep changing it until it looks right.

The biggest difference for me is confidence.

With AI agents, I feel much more comfortable building websites that I would have thought were too ambitious before. I can try things, break them, fix them, and keep moving without needing someone more technical to step in every time.

A website that might have taken me a month before can now often be done in a week or two. I can keep the code simple, make changes quickly, and still end up with something that feels properly designed.

For these kinds of websites, I care most about keeping them clear, fast, easy to maintain, and good enough that the business does not need to keep thinking about the website after it is live.

Want me to build one?

If you need a simple website for your business, feel free to reach out.

You can use the links below to get in touch, tell me what you need, and we can see if it makes sense to work together.