How to Build Your First Web Application Using ASP.NET Core – A Beginner’s Guide

 Introduction

Are you up for shifting from writing console apps to making real web apps? You’re on the correct page. ASP.NET Core helps develop both modern web apps and useful APIs. You’ll start by creating your first simple web app on your own, even if this is your first time, in this guide.

 What is ASP.NET Core?

ASP.NET Core was built by Microsoft and it is freely available for anyone to use. Exported models give you the option to:

• Web applications
• RESTful APIs
• Microservices
• Apps using SignalR in real time

With how fast it runs and how simple it is to use, engineers today choose it frequently.

Prerequisites

Be sure to have the following things before you begin:

• The .NET SDK has been installed.
• Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code
• A little understanding of C# and HTML

Building Your First Web App in Easy Steps

1. Start a terminal window and type the next command:

dotnet new webApp MyFirstWebApp

cd MyFirstWebApp

dotnet run

It builds a new Razor Pages site and runs it at the same time.

2. Go to https://localhost:5001

Once you have set up your details, you should see a welcome page that says: “Welcome” — great, you are done.

Understanding the Structure

• Pages/ – Razor Pages (HTML + C#)
• wwwroot/ – Static files like CSS/JS/images
• appsettings.json – Configuration file
• Startup.cs / Program.cs – App startup logic
  

Customizing the Homepage

Open Pages/Index.cshtml and change the HTML like below:

<h1>Hello ASP.NET Core!</h1>

<p>This is your first dynamic web page.</p>

Save and refresh your browser. Your custom page is now live!

Final Thoughts

You just created your first real web application using ASP.NET Core! It’s simple, scalable, and production-ready. In future posts, we’ll cover:

• MVC vs Razor Pages

• Adding databases (EF Core)

• Authentication & Authorization

• Building APIs