 Creating a website using Canva. Canva is an online graphic design tool. It can be used for creating many different multimedia projects, including one-page websites. Canva is a freemium tool, which means it includes both free-to-use and paid-to-use content. Using Canva for free means that you'll be limited to using the platform's free graphics, templates, and features. Canva is known for a large collection of templates that you can easily customize with design elements and tools. Then you can publish your site within their free domain, or an existing one you already own. Creating websites in Canva is relatively simple, no matter your previous experience with the tool. In this video, we'll cover the basics of using Canva to create a beautiful website. The first step to creating a compelling website is to write the content and collect any supplementary images or logos you'll be using. Canva has a great multimedia library, but you won't always be able to find the perfect image for free, so it's better to be prepared. Once your content is nailed down, it's time to begin creating in Canva. The first step is to log in to your account. Go to www.canva.com and press Login if you already have an account. If not, you'll need to create one. To do this, click the Sign Up button. Now that you have access to the site, it's time to begin crafting your webpage. Search for or click on Websites on the homepage. Then you need to decide whether you want to start your project from scratch or if you would like to use a pre-populated template. Starting from scratch will give you more freedom with the design, but as mentioned previously, Canva is well known for their templates. You can find templates in various themes, styles, and purposes, such as a business website, portfolio website, event website, or education website. Make sure the template you choose is labeled as free. Pay-to-use content can be identified by a crown or dollar sign icon beside the resource or feature of the site. If you're not sure whether a picture, graphic, or template is free to use, bring it into your website and then tap on the Publish Website button. If you have used any paid content, you will see a cost to download your project. Some templates may not have a paid resource icon, but may still have paid for images embedded within the design. Once you've chosen a template, you're free to begin customizing it. Canva sites are made of multiple sections of pages, combined into a one-page scrollable website. When you click on any page, a small menu will appear on the left. This has options to add notes, which is the text that only you can see, lock page to prevent any more edits, duplicate page, which simplifies creating multiple sections in the same style, delete page and add page, which will add a blank page under your current page. To change the order of the website sections, click on the square with a number in the bottom menu bar. It should be beside the Zoom slider. Here, you can drag your pages around to change the order, add new blank pages, hide pages, as well as change the title of each page. Creating page titles will come in handy later if you want your site to have a navigation bar. You can change your template at any time by clicking on the Design tab in the left menu bar and searching for a new template. You can choose to replace all your current content by clicking Apply All Pages, just one page by dragging the chosen template design onto your site, or to just replace this style by clicking Template Style, then Apply Style to All Pages. To explore just the different style options that Canva has to offer, navigate back to the Design tab and click Styles, right under the search bar. Here, you can explore different font and color combinations and even shuffle how the colors are used on your site. The key to making your website look professional and cohesive is consistency. Be sure to maintain the same colors, logos, and fonts across all the pages of your website. You can preview what your website will look like to the public at any time by clicking Preview in the top menu bar. Everything on your page is editable. If you want to edit a specific text entry, you can double-click on the text block and use the Edit menu that appears above your page to edit the specific text size, color, alignment, font, and more. Choose from the fonts and colors included in your theme or something entirely different. You are also able to modify your page background. Look for the Background button on the left-hand side of the screen. Here, you can decide if you want a solid color, a pattern, or image as a background. Because your website is scrollable, you'll also be able to resize the individual sections by clicking on a page and dragging the little bubble that appears on the bottom. The media possibilities on Canva are almost endless. You can use photos, videos, audio, graphics, charts, graphs, or tables. It can, at times, be difficult to find the perfect, free picture or resource for your website. If you're not able to find something within Canva, an alternative is to create your own or find a Creative Commons resource online. Canva accepts both PNG and JPEG image files. To upload an image or graphic into Canva, tap Uploads, Upload an image or video. Now locate the media you wish to upload on your computer. Do not forget to cite any content that is not yours. To add elements directly from Canva, tap on the elements button to add lines, shapes, graphics, photos, and more. Use the search feature to help narrow your options. Once you find a resource you would like to use, click on the resource to import it into your website or simply drag it onto the page. If you use any frames or grids, you can place these on your page, then drag any media into the placeholder. If you want to visualize any data, find the format you would like to use, such as a chart or graph, then you will be able to input the appropriate information. Play around with the layout and design of your website's presentation until you have something you're happy with. Once the content is settled, you can make the site itself more dynamic by adding animations. To animate an element, first right-click on it, then choose Animate from the menu bar, then Preview and select your preferred animation. There are different animations available depending on what kind of element you can click on. You can animate text and graphics individually, or if you click on a whole page, there are animation combinations that apply to everything on each specific section of your site. Another way to make your site more dynamic is to add to hyperlinks. These will allow you to link internally to other pages of your site. Say if you want to have a next button, or externally to any other site on the web. Simply right-click on the element and click Link. Here you can choose to link to other Canva websites or a page within your site or paste a URL. Once you've completed your website's presentation and have carefully reviewed it, it's time to publish. Click Publish Website in the top menu bar. Here you'll be able to make some selections. First, whether or not you want your website to resize on mobile devices. This will just change the layout to optimize for a smaller screen size. Then you can choose to add navigation. This is a handy feature that we recommend you include. Make sure to name all your pages. Then once your site is published, your users will be able to easily access the content they want without having to scroll through your whole site. Then you can choose to publish to a free domain. You can also purchase a new domain or publish using an existing domain. But both of these options either require a Canva Pro subscription or a yearly domain payment. Canva will allow each user to have up to five free domains published at one time. Under this, you may see a price listed. As we mentioned earlier, this is probably because your template came with premium images. Simply go back to edit your page and remove the images listed here or replace them with something free. Once you're satisfied, click Continue. Now you'll be able to type in your chosen domain or subdomain name. The only difference with free domains is that they will include My Canva site in the URL. Type in your chosen domain and Canva will tell you if it's available. You're able to edit your domain name at any time through your Canva account setting. Click on Continue again and here you will preview your URL, your browser tab, and write a website description. You'll be able to make changes to your URL if desired and change how the name and icon of your site will appear on a browser tab. You're also given the chance to create a website description up to 160 characters. This is what will appear below the page title and URL in search results. Finally, there are two checkboxes. One to make your site password protected. This will only allow access to those who you're given a password to and one to hide your site from coming up in search engine results. The last thing to do is click Publish and your site will be published to the world. You can share your finished website using the link with the domain you just created. You now have a fully functioning website that you can continue to edit and improve on.