Lanlan.docs

Your first site

From an email address to a published website, in one conversation with Lanlan.

What you need

  • An email address. There's no password.
  • About fifteen minutes.
  • A rough idea of what the site is for — one sentence is enough.

No installs, no command line, no code editor. Everything happens in your browser.

Step 1: Sign in

Go to app.lanlan.site and enter your email. Lanlan emails you a 6-digit code from noreply@lanlan.site. Type it into the page you left open. The code works for 10 minutes.

If this is your first time, your account is created as soon as the code is accepted. It's free.

Step 2: Create a site

You land on Your sites. Press Create new site. Lanlan sets up an empty site and opens the Tell Lanlan screen: a conversation on the left, your site on the right.

Your site starts with a temporary address like site-k3x9q.lanlan.site. Lanlan gives it a proper name, like rosie-bakes.lanlan.site, once you've said what it's for.

Step 3: Tell Lanlan what the site is for

Lanlan asks: "Let's make your site. What's it for?" Answer in your own words. Name the business, who it's for, and the feeling you want:

  • "A website for my bakery in Leeds. Warm and friendly, with our opening hours and a menu."
  • "A one-page site for my dog-walking business. Easy to read on a phone, with a way to get in touch."
  • "A portfolio for my landscape photography. Quiet and dark, with lots of space around the pictures."

You're briefing a designer, not filling in a form. Anything you leave out, Lanlan asks about, one question at a time.

Before it builds, Lanlan often shows you concept pictures: a few pictures of how the top of your home page could look, each with its colours and fonts. Press Use this on the one you like, or More like this… to steer it ("warmer", "more modern type"). Want a deeper start? Ask for a design session.

Step 4: Watch it build, then change anything

Lanlan builds the site while you watch. The preview on the right updates as it goes, and moves to the page Lanlan last changed.

Then keep going. Tell Lanlan what to change:

  • "Make the headline shorter and the photos bigger."
  • "Add a page for the menu."
  • "Try a warmer cream background."

For small fixes, you can also click words or pictures on the page and change them yourself. Change words and pictures yourself.

Step 5: Publish

Your changes are saved as a draft. Until you publish, your address shows a "Coming soon" page to visitors, and only people working on the site can see the draft.

When you're happy, press Publish at the top right of the screen. Your site is live at its .lanlan.site address a few seconds later. After that, keep changing things whenever you like; each change waits as a draft until you press Publish again. More about publishing.

Where everything else lives

The sidebar on the left of your dashboard has everything else: Forms for messages people send you, Analytics for visitors, Pages & SEO, Media, and Domain for your own web address. Pages you'll need less often — Collections, Live Data, Links, Team, Redirects, Snapshots and Refer & earn — are under More at the bottom of the sidebar.

To get anywhere quickly, use the search at the top of the screen, or press ⌘K (Ctrl K on Windows). You can also ask Lanlan about any of it.

What to try next

If you get stuck

Ask Lanlan. In Tell Lanlan, "I can't figure out how to…" almost always gets you unstuck. For anything Lanlan can't help with, email support.