Build a static website with an AI tool and publish it over FTP

An AI assistant such as Claude can write a complete small website in plain HTML and CSS: a home page, a services page, a contact page and the styles that tie them together. A site like that needs no database and no plugins, so there is nothing to update and very little to attack. This guide takes you from a prompt to a live site on your own domain: build the files, check them on your computer, upload them to Noiz hosting over encrypted FTP, and switch on the free certificate. sLegacy is made for exactly this.

Last reviewed: 19 October 2026, against the current Plesk Obsidian and FileZilla Client releases. This guide is written for Noiz hosting. It complements, and does not replace, the official documentation linked below.

Official Documentation Reference

• Plesk Customer Guide: Adding FTP accounts: FTP accounts and their home folders.
• FileZilla: Site Manager: saving an encrypted connection.
• MDN: Sending form data: why a form needs something on the server to receive it.
• Let's Encrypt: How it works: the free certificates Plesk issues and renews.

Before you start

• A Noiz shared hosting plan with your domain on it. Every plan works; sLegacy is the natural home for a static site. If your domain is new to Noiz, see How to point your domain to Noiz hosting and allow time for DNS to update.
• An AI assistant that can create files. Claude in the desktop or web app can produce the files for you to download; a coding tool such as Claude Code writes them straight into a folder on your computer.
• FileZilla Client on your computer: How to install FileZilla on Windows or on macOS.
• The words and pictures you want on the site. The assistant can draft the text, but only you know your prices, opening hours and contact details.

Step 1: Ask for the site

Give the assistant one clear brief. Name the pages, the content, the look and the rules the files must follow. For example:

Build a static website for a small plumbing business in Pretoria called
Example Plumbing. Pages: home, services, about and contact. Plain HTML5 and
one CSS file, no JavaScript frameworks, no build step, no external fonts or
scripts. Mobile first, readable at 16px, good contrast. Every page has a
title, a meta description and the same header and footer. Use relative links
so the site works from any folder. Put all files in one folder with
index.html at the top. On the contact page, show the phone number and email
address as links and leave a clearly marked place for a contact form.

Read what comes back. Ask for changes one page at a time: "make the services page a list with a short paragraph each" works better than "make it nicer". Replace every invented detail with your own.

Step 2: Check it on your computer

1. Save all the files in one folder, with index.html at the top.
2. Open index.html in your web browser by double-clicking it.
3. Click every link and check every page on your phone-sized window as well: in most browsers, narrow the window until it is about as wide as a phone.
4. Fix anything wrong by asking the assistant, then save the new files over the old ones.

Nothing is public yet. Take your time here; it is the cheapest place to find a mistake.

Step 3: Create an FTP account for the site

Upload with an FTP account that can reach the website folder and nothing else. Your plan's main FTP login can reach the whole subscription, and a separate account limits the damage if its password leaks or if an AI tool uploads to the wrong place.

1. In Plesk, go to Websites & Domains and open FTP for the domain.
2. Click Add an FTP Account.
3. In FTP account name, name it for the job, for example webupload.
4. Set the Home directory to httpdocs, the folder Plesk serves to visitors.
5. Set a long FTP password and save it in your password manager.
6. Click OK.

sLegacy-1 includes one additional FTP account and the larger tiers include more; each tier's number is on the shared hosting page. The full steps are in How to create an FTP account in Plesk.

Step 4: Upload the site over encrypted FTP

Noiz FTP accounts connect over FTPS, which encrypts both your password and your files on the way.

1. In FileZilla, open File > Site Manager and click New site.
2. Set Protocol to FTP and Encryption to Require explicit FTP over TLS.
3. Enter your domain as the Host, the FTP account name as the User, and choose Ask for password as the Logon Type.
4. Click Connect and accept the server's certificate when FileZilla shows it.
5. In the left pane, open the folder with your site. In the right pane you are already in httpdocs.
6. If httpdocs holds a Plesk placeholder page, delete only that placeholder file, then select all your site files on the left and drag them across.

Open your domain in a browser. Your home page should appear. If you see the old placeholder, refresh the page with the cache cleared.

The full FileZilla walkthrough is in How to connect to your FTP account using FileZilla. The Plesk file manager works too for a handful of files: How to upload files via the Plesk file manager.

If your AI tool offers to upload for you

Some coding tools can run an FTP upload themselves. If you let one, give it the restricted FTP account from Step 3, never your main login, and keep its approval prompts on so that it shows you what it will upload and where. On sLegacy there is no SSH, so an upload is all the tool can do on the server. Do not let it delete files on the server; replace them instead.

Step 5: Switch on the free certificate

Every Noiz plan includes a free Let's Encrypt certificate, issued and renewed for you. On a new site, check that it is in place:

1. In Plesk, under the domain, open SSL/TLS Certificates.
2. If no certificate is shown, click Install, then Get it free for a Let's Encrypt certificate. Tick Secure the main domain name and Include a "www" subdomain, and finish.
3. Visit https:// followed by your domain and check that the browser shows the padlock.

Plesk renews the certificate automatically before it expires.

See How to install a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate in Plesk.

Step 6: Add a contact form that works

A static page can show a form, but something on the server has to receive what a visitor types and send it to you. You have three choices.

If you choose the PHP script, ask the assistant for it with the safety rules spelt out:

Write contact.php for my static site. It receives a POST from the form on
contact.html with name, email and message. Validate and length-limit every
field, reject anything that is not a valid email address, and never put
user input into email headers. Add a hidden honeypot field to stop bots.
Send the message to [email protected], with my
own address as the sender and the visitor's address only as Reply-To. Show
a thank-you page afterwards. No database, no external libraries.

Replace the address with your own mailbox at Noiz, upload the file next to contact.html, and send yourself a test message. If it does not arrive, check your spam folder and open a ticket.

Changing the site later

Ask the assistant for the change, check it on your computer, then upload only the changed files with the same FTP account. Keep the folder on your computer as the master copy of the site, and back it up. A download of httpdocs before a big change costs a minute; see our guide to backing up before you let an AI change anything.

Troubleshooting

• FileZilla says the login failed. Check the FTP account name and password in Plesk, and that you chose FTP with Require explicit FTP over TLS, as in Step 4.
• The site shows the old placeholder page. The placeholder file is still in httpdocs, or your browser is showing a cached copy. Delete the placeholder and refresh.
• Pages load without their styles or images. The assistant used links that start with / or point at your computer's folders. Ask it to make every link relative and upload again.
• The browser says "Not secure". The certificate is missing or does not include www. Repeat Step 5.
• The contact form sends nothing. The form's action does not point at contact.php, or the message is in your spam folder. Test the form with your own address first.

Why sLegacy suits this

A static site needs disk and a fast connection, not processing power. sLegacy gives you disk space, mailboxes for the address on your contact page, a free certificate and a free .co.za domain registration with sLegacy and sPremium plans. See the sLegacy tiers, or ask us which one fits.