Serving HTML files using Node.js on Ubuntu
Tags: javascript, css, html, node
Published: 2021-01-07 15:07:57


In this article, We'll going to host a **Node.js Application** on **Ubuntu**.

Node.js is an open source, **javascript runtime environment** used to create of **backend** of any application.

## To get started
1. Install Node.js 
```
sudo apt-get install nodejs
```
2. Install NPM (**NPM** is a package manager for Node.js packages)
```
sudo apt-get install npm
```
3. Create new project directory
```
mkdir node_application && cd node_application
```
4. Initialize NPM in your project directory
```
npm init
```
It will ask some details related to your application.

5. Install Express.js
It is a standard server framework for node to create single-page, multi-page & hybrid applications
```
npm install express --save
```
6. Create "app.js" file inside in your project directory and add some code in it
```
var express = require('express');
var app = express();
var path = require('path');
app.get('/', function(req, res) {
    res.sendFile(path.join(__dirname + '/views/index.html'));
});
app.listen(80);
```
7.  Create a new folder inside your root project directory.
```
mkdir views && cd views
```
8. Create a new file "index.html" inside "views" folder and add some code in it.
```
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
   <head>
      <!-- Required meta tags -->
      <meta charset="utf-8">
      <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
      <!-- Bootstrap CSS -->
      <link href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.0-beta1/dist/css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" integrity="sha384-giJF6kkoqNQ00vy+HMDP7azOuL0xtbfIcaT9wjKHr8RbDVddVHyTfAAsrekwKmP1" crossorigin="anonymous">
      <title>Hello, world!</title>
   </head>
   <body>
      <nav class="navbar navbar-expand-lg navbar-light bg-light">
         <div class="container-fluid">
            <a class="navbar-brand" href="#">Navbar</a>
            <button class="navbar-toggler" type="button" data-bs-toggle="collapse" data-bs-target="#navbarSupportedContent" aria-controls="navbarSupportedContent" aria-expanded="false" aria-label="Toggle navigation">
            <span class="navbar-toggler-icon"></span>
            </button>
            <div class="collapse navbar-collapse" id="navbarSupportedContent">
               <ul class="navbar-nav me-auto mb-2 mb-lg-0">
                  <li class="nav-item">
                     <a class="nav-link active" aria-current="page" href="#">Home</a>
                  </li>
                  <li class="nav-item">
                     <a class="nav-link" href="#">Link</a>
                  </li>
                  <li class="nav-item dropdown">
                     <a class="nav-link dropdown-toggle" href="#" id="navbarDropdown" role="button" data-bs-toggle="dropdown" aria-expanded="false">
                     Dropdown
                     </a>
                     <ul class="dropdown-menu" aria-labelledby="navbarDropdown">
                        <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Action</a></li>
                        <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Another action</a></li>
                        <li>
                           <hr class="dropdown-divider">
                        </li>
                        <li><a class="dropdown-item" href="#">Something else here</a></li>
                     </ul>
                  </li>
                  <li class="nav-item">
                     <a class="nav-link disabled" href="#" tabindex="-1" aria-disabled="true">Disabled</a>
                  </li>
               </ul>
               <form class="d-flex">
                  <input class="form-control me-2" type="search" placeholder="Search" aria-label="Search">
                  <button class="btn btn-outline-success" type="submit">Search</button>
               </form>
            </div>
         </div>
      </nav>
      <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
      <script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bootstrap@5.0.0-beta1/dist/js/bootstrap.bundle.min.js" integrity="sha384-ygbV9kiqUc6oa4msXn9868pTtWMgiQaeYH7/t7LECLbyPA2x65Kgf80OJFdroafW" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
   </body>
</html>
```
9. Now run this command in your root project directory
```
//if you are inside views folder
cd ..
//else simply run
node app.js
```
10. We can see our website in our browser :)
![k.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1609341506193/M_2KIkRVT.png)

11. Our project directory will look like this
```
app.js
node_modules
package.json
package-lock.json
views -> index.html
```

## Concusion
**Express** is a minimal and flexible Node.js web application framework that provides a robust set of features to develop web and mobile applications. It facilitates the rapid development of Node based Web applications.

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