How to Create a News Website - Full Guide

In this guide, we will learn how to create a professional news website using Laravel.

1. Requirements

• Domain name (e.g., yournewswebsite.com)
• Web hosting (Laravel-supported server)
• SSL certificate for security
• Laravel framework installed
• MySQL database

2. Install Laravel

Run the following command to install Laravel:

composer create-project --prefer-dist laravel/laravel newswebsite

Navigate to the project folder:

cd newswebsite

Run Laravel development server:

php artisan serve

3. Set Up Database

Edit the .env file and update database settings:

DB_CONNECTION=mysql
DB_HOST=127.0.0.1
DB_PORT=3306
DB_DATABASE=newsdb
DB_USERNAME=root
DB_PASSWORD=

4. Create News Model and Migration

Run this command:

php artisan make:model News -m

Open the generated migration file and add these fields:

Schema::create('news', function (Blueprint $table) {
  $table->id();
  $table->string('title');
  $table->text('content');
  $table->string('image')->nullable();
  $table->timestamps();
});

Run the migration:

php artisan migrate

5. Create News Controller

Run this command:

php artisan make:controller NewsController

Open NewsController.php and add the following code:

use App\Models\News;
use Illuminate\Http\Request;

class NewsController extends Controller {
  public function index() {
    $news = News::latest()->get();
    return view('news.index', compact('news'));
  }

  public function create() {
    return view('news.create');
  }

  public function store(Request $request) {
    $request->validate([
      'title' => 'required',
      'content' => 'required',
      'image' => 'nullable|image'
    ]);

    $news = new News;
    $news->title = $request->title;
    $news->content = $request->content;

    if ($request->hasFile('image')) {
      $imagePath = $request->file('image')->store('news_images', 'public');
      $news->image = $imagePath;
    }

    $news->save();
    return redirect()->route('news.index');
  }
}

6. Define Routes

Update routes/web.php:

use App\Http\Controllers\NewsController;

Route::get('/news', [NewsController::class, 'index'])->name('news.index');
Route::get('/news/create', [NewsController::class, 'create'])->name('news.create');
Route::post('/news', [NewsController::class, 'store'])->name('news.store');

7. Deployment

Upload your Laravel project to the live server and run these commands:

composer install
php artisan migrate --seed
php artisan key:generate
php artisan storage:link

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