Our Mission & Team (/about/)

About Websites Made Simple: Todd Pettee, Masa, Taka & Runway Domains

Our one and only goal is this: to make website creation instruction so simple that anyone can follow along and build a functional, professional website on their own.

"So Easy A Child Can Do It"

When Todd Pettee founded Websites Made Simple in August 2011 under his digital publishing company Runway Domains, most online tutorials assumed beginners already understood HTML, CSS, FTP clients, and MySQL database permissions. Beginners who simply wanted to launch a small business site or family blog were overwhelmed before they ever published their first page.

To prove that building a modern website does not require a computer science degree, Todd introduced our signature benchmark: "So Easy A Child Can Do It." Instead of lecturing from slides, Todd sat beside his young sons and had them follow his written and spoken instructions step by step to build complete websites on their own. Watching a 9-year-old register domains, configure templates, and publish pages forced every lesson to stay clear, concrete, and jargon-free.

Meet Our Team

  • Todd Pettee (Founder, Author & Lead Instructor): Creator of Websites Made Simple and Runway Domains ([email protected], @SitesMadeSimple / @WSMadeSimple). Author of the 107-page How To Make A Website With WordPress and Learn How To Build A Small Business Website ebooks, and producer of the 7-part WordPress screencast curriculum.
  • Masa (Age 9 - Student Builder & Video Co-Host): Featured in our over-the-shoulder video series where 9-year-old Masa builds live websites from scratch using Squarespace and WordPress while following Todd's instructions in real time.
  • Taka (Age 7 - Junior Tester & Co-Host): Masa's younger brother who joined the family web-building sessions to test beginner usability and inspire students of all ages.
  • Cid Carver (Guest Design Contributor): Author of our in-depth visual web design features, including Parallax: The Future of Web Design.

The Three Learning Pillars We Built

  1. Free Over-The-Shoulder Videos: Screencasts that let you look over our shoulder and follow each click in real time as we register a domain at Namecheap, set up hosting at HostGator or SiteGround, and configure WordPress.
  2. Free 107-Page Screenshot Ebooks: Self-paced PDF manuals with high-resolution screenshots and numbered callouts for learners who prefer reading step by step at their own speed.
  3. Objective Comparison Matrices: Side-by-side TablePress benchmarks comparing 10 web hosting providers (#tablepress-1) and 6 website builders (#tablepress-14) so you never overpay for hosting or get locked into the wrong platform.