This lesson applies everything covered so far to the simplest real case: a plain HTML/CSS/JS project — exactly what this site's HTML, CSS, and JavaScript courses build.
Per the what-going-live-actually-requires lesson, a static site needs almost the shortest list in this category: hosting (static hosting fits perfectly, per the hosting-types lessons), and optionally a domain — a platform's free subdomain is a completely reasonable starting point.
This is the fastest path, requires no FTP client, and is very often entirely free — the realistic default for a portfolio project.
public_html folder (or your host's equivalent).index.html at the root, plus your CSS, JS, and any assets.This route makes sense mainly if you already have shared hosting for another reason (a WordPress or PHP site, for instance) and want to add a static project alongside it.
index.html, in the right folder
The homepage file must be named exactly index.html and sit in the root of the folder your host actually serves. A file named anything else, or nested inside an extra subfolder, will not load automatically when someone visits your bare domain — this single detail causes a large share of "I uploaded my site and it shows a blank page or an error" confusion.
Visit the live URL in an incognito/private browser window, to rule out your own browser cache showing you something stale. Check that CSS and images load — a common secondary mistake is linking to assets with a path that worked locally but breaks once deployed, because the folder structure or the base URL is different in production.