Guide

Free website builder that exports HTML

Most website builders keep your site on their servers: stop paying and it goes away, and there is no file to take with you. ScrollCraft works the other way round. You build in the browser without signing up, then download the site as plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript that you can host anywhere, for free, and keep for good.

What "HTML export" means here

When you export, you get a ZIP file. Inside is a static website: files a web server hands to the browser exactly as they are. There is no framework to install, no build command, no database and nothing that phones home to ScrollCraft. If ScrollCraft disappeared tomorrow, your site would keep working.

Build a site and download it, step by step

  1. Start from something finished. Pick one of 23 templates. Each is a complete site with a scroll-animated background, sections and a closing call to action, not a blank page.
  2. Or have it written. On Describe, write a paragraph about your business and the AI writer (Claude, made by Anthropic) drafts every section, picks a style and a palette, and opens it in the editor.
  3. Edit it. Change the text, the colours of each section and the order of sections. Swap the background for your own video if you have one.
  4. Point the button somewhere real. Templates ship their main button with a placeholder link, because only you know whether it should open a booking form, a shop or your inbox. A mailto: or tel: link works too.
  5. Export. Press Export in the editor and the ZIP downloads. Your text and settings are sent to the server once to build the HTML and are not stored there.

What is in the ZIP

FileWhat it is
index.htmlThe whole site: markup, styles and the scroll script in one file
frames/The background images, only when the background came from a video
frames-mobile/A portrait set for phones, if you made one
404.htmlA not-found page in the site's own colours
favicon.svgThe browser tab icon, drawn from your site's name and palette
apple-touch-icon.pngThe icon when someone saves the site to a phone's home screen
og-image.jpgThe preview card when the link is shared
robots.txtLets search engines index the site
netlify.toml, vercel.jsonHost settings, already filled in, including caching for the frames
.nojekyllStops GitHub Pages from hiding files that start with an underscore
README.mdHow to put it online and how to edit it, written for a non-developer

Unzip the whole thing before opening anything. Opening index.html straight from inside the ZIP copies just that one file somewhere temporary, so it cannot find its frames.

Where to host it for free

A site this size fits comfortably within what any of these host for nothing.

Netlify Drop

The easiest if you have never deployed anything. Make a free Netlify account, open app.netlify.com/drop while signed in, and drag the unzipped folder onto the page. You get a live address in under a minute. Without an account, Netlify keeps the site private and deletes it unless you claim it.

Vercel

If you have Node installed, run npx vercel deploy --prod inside the folder. The included vercel.json is already set up.

GitHub Pages

Create a repository, push the folder to it, then in Settings, Pages, choose to deploy from your branch at the root. The .nojekyll file is already there.

Cloudflare Pages

Create a project, connect the repository, and leave the build command empty with the output directory set to /.

Any other web host

Upload the contents of the folder to the web root over FTP or the host's file manager. There is nothing to compile.

Editing the downloaded HTML

Open index.htmlin any text editor. Search for a sentence to change it. The site's colours are CSS custom properties starting with --sc- near the top of the <style> block. Replace og-image.jpg with your own 1200 by 630 image for a custom share card, and favicon.svg for your own icon. To preview changes locally, run npx serve . in the folder and open the address it prints.

When this is not the right tool

A static export suits a business site, a launch page, a portfolio, an event or a product story. It is not a shop, a blog engine or a members area. If you need to take payments or let customers log in, link out to a service that does that, or use a hosted platform built for it.

Everything ScrollCraft runs on, from the editor to the exporter, is open source on GitHub, so you can check exactly what goes into your files.

Questions

Do I need an account?
Not to build or export. Open a template or the builder and start. Signing in with GitHub is only used to keep a bought pack of AI-written sites with you across browsers.
Is it really free?
The builder, every template and the export are free, and the project is open source under the MIT licence. The AI writer is the one paid part: the first two written sites are free, then five more cost $20. See pricing.
Can I put the site on my own domain?
Yes. Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages and Cloudflare Pages all let you connect a domain you own without paying them anything. You buy the domain from any registrar and point it at the host.
Can I edit the HTML afterwards?
Yes, in any text editor. The words are plain text in index.html and the colours are CSS custom properties near the top of the style block. There is no build step to rerun.
Can I come back and keep editing in ScrollCraft?
Your work stays in your browser between visits. You can also save a project file (name.scrollcraft.json) from the editor and open it later on another machine. A background made from your own video is too large for that file, so the editor warns you to keep the video.
Does it work for a shop or a booking system?
Not on its own. The export is a static site, so there is no checkout, login or database. Link your button to a shop, booking page, form or email address you already use.

Try it onyour own business

Describe what you do in a paragraph and get a finished scroll site to edit and export, or start from a template.

Write my site Browse templates