Web development

Static websites

Useful for projects or interest groups, and can often be hosted for free on GitHub Pages.

Many frameworks are available – we recommend:

The native framework for GitHub Pages is Jekyll and another popular tool is Hugo.

For documentation websites, Sphinx is commonly used.

Interactive websites

  • Flask: a Python library for rapidly creating websites. Useful for data ingress/egress pages, for example when working with Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
  • Django: a more substantial batteries-included Python framework for developing entire websites.
Tips
  • If you’re creating an interactive website then it is recommended you think early on about how and where your website will be hosted, and who needs to have access to it. It is possible to host public-facing websites by requesting a virtual machine (VMs) from IT Services, however you will need to go through data protection impact assessment (DPIA) and penetration testing steps before your site can be used outside the University.
  • For more substantial websites, it is worth approaching Research IT at the project costing stage. They develop websites and apps professionally and use similar tools.