Website basics: everyday questions, answered

On iPhone, open the site in Safari, tap Share, then Add to Home Screen, name it and tap Add; turn on Open as Web App to use it like an app. On Android, open the site in Chrome, tap the three-dot menu, then Add to Home screen or Install app. The icon appears only on the device where you add it.

Most browsers can save a website as an app that opens in its own window. On iPhone, use Safari's Add to Home Screen with Open as Web App on. On a Mac, choose File, then Add to Dock in Safari. In Chrome or Edge on Windows, Mac or Android, use the menu's Install option. Site owners make this smoother by building a progressive web app.

The quickest way on Windows or Mac is to drag the website's address from the browser onto the desktop: shrink the browser window, then drag the padlock or site icon at the left of the address bar to the desktop. You can also use Chrome's or Edge's menu to create a shortcut or install the site as an app, which opens it in its own window.

The free, built-in way is your browser. In Chrome on a computer, open the page and use the share icon in the address bar or right-click and choose Create QR code for this page, then download it. Edge has the same feature. A QR code generator website adds colors, logos and dynamic codes you can redirect later. Always test the code with a phone before printing.

In Chrome, go to Settings, then Appearance, turn on Show home button and enter the website; to open it when Chrome starts, go to Settings, On startup, choose Open a specific page or set of pages and add it. Edge, Firefox and Safari have similar settings. Your homepage is what the Home button opens; the startup page is what opens at launch.

Use your browser's print dialog. On a computer, press Ctrl+P (Windows) or Cmd+P (Mac), choose Save as PDF as the destination, adjust layout and margins, then Save. On iPhone, tap Share, then Print, pinch out on the preview and share or save the PDF. On Android, use Chrome's Share, then Print, and choose Save as PDF.

Copy the web address from the browser's address bar, then select the words you want to link and press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on Mac) in Gmail, Outlook, Word or Google Docs, paste the address and confirm. In HTML, a link is an anchor element: <a href="https://example.com">Example</a>. Link descriptive words, not "click here".

A simple site can be live in an hour with an AI builder, or a weekend with a website builder. A small business site with a designer usually takes 4 to 8 weeks; a custom site with a developer takes 2 to 6 months. The build is rarely the slow part: gathering text, photos and decisions usually takes longer than making the pages.