dotNet-

ASP dotNet Core Empty template

July 03, 2026

Creating Static Website in dotNet 

 If you start with the ASP.NET Core Empty template, you can easily turn it into a simple static website by enabling static files and creating HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.

Step 1: Create a new ASP.NET Core Empty project

dotnet new web -n StaticWebsite
cd StaticWebsite

The project structure looks like:

StaticWebsite

|---Program.cs
|--- appsettings.json
|--- StaticWebsite.csproj


Step 2: Create a wwwroot folder

Create this folder in the project root.

StaticWebsite

|--- wwwroot
|--- index.html
|---- css
      |--- style.css
|--- js
      |--- script.js
|---Program.cs


Step 3: Modify Program.cs

Replace it with:

var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);

var app = builder.Build();

// Enable serving static files

app.UseDefaultFiles();

app.UseStaticFiles();

app.Run();


What these do

UseDefaultFiles() looks for index.html.

UseStaticFiles() serves files from wwwroot.

Step 4: Create index.html

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html>

<head>

    <meta charset="utf-8">

    <title>My Static Website</title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/style.css">

</head>

<body>

    <h1>Welcome!</h1>

    <p>This is a static website hosted by ASP.NET Core.</p>

    <button onclick="sayHello()">Click Me</button>

    <script src="js/script.js"></script>

</body>

</html>


Step 5: Create css/style.css

body {

    font-family: Arial, sans-serif;

    margin: 40px;

    background: #f4f4f4;

}

h1 {

    color: steelblue;

}

button {

    padding: 10px 20px;

}

 

Step 6: Create js/script.js

function sayHello() {

    alert("Hello from JavaScript!");

}

Step 7: Run the project

dotnet run

or

dotnet watch run


Open:

https://localhost:5001

or

http://localhost:5000



This approach is ideal for simple landing pages, documentation sites, or portfolios where you only need to serve static HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and other assets without using Razor Pages or MVC.