How to Get ChatGPT to Write Effective Code & Build Websites

Provide ChatGPT with enough information to write the code you need. ChatGPT relies on a combination of the context you provide and its training data. If you don't specify exactly what you need, ChatGPT won't produce code you can use. Be very specific about what you want your program or website to do, what language you want to write it in, and what the program is for. For example, if you want ChatGPT to build you a website for your pet-sitting business that allows potential customers to view your services and inquire about bookings, try:

• "Build a simple one-page website for my pet-sitting services, which include dog walks and overnight house-sitting stays. Create a table that contains my services and rates, which are $60 per night for overnight stays, and $20 for one-time 30-minute walks. Create a contact form that customers can fill out to request my services. On the form, allow the customers to select their desired dates from a calendar. Send customer responses to me via email at me@myemailaddress.com."
• With this example, ChatGPT will provide the HTML and CSS code for a simple website that you can upload to your web host. You'll just need to make a few minor tweaks to personalize the website, but the code is now yours to play with.

Add more details to get the code you want. Because ChatGPT is conversational, it can reference up to 3000 words from the current conversation, which gives you plenty of room to add to your code request.^[1]

• Before, we asked ChatGPT to code us a website for a pet-sitting business. What if we also want to add our grooming rates to the table on the page? All you'll need to do is say, "Add grooming services for $100 to my rate list," and ChatGPT will regenerate the code to include your changes.
• You can also add other details, like "change the title tag to Affordable Pet Sitting Services in San Francisco," and "display a "thank you" page to the customer after they submit the form."

Ask questions to clear up errors or confusion. If the AI chatbot creates code that's confusing or flat out wrong, tell it so. Ask ChatGPT for clarification, and it will check its own work against its training data and adjust the code accordingly. You can also provide more context to get better answers.

• Remember that ChatGPT is not a software engineer—it does not understand nuance, nor can it determine context that it can't find in its training data. It also relies primarily on data that was available on the internet prior to 2021, and cannot search the web for newer content on demand.^[2]