02 — Getting started in Visual Studio: a practice Razor project

Create a website from a template, run it and practise creating another one

We will create a Razor Pages website through the Visual Studio interface in Windows and run it. You can return to this guide and create another experiment with a new name.

02 — Back to the development environment: run and change a website

1. Install the development tools

  1. Install a version of Visual Studio Community that supports .NET 10. If Visual Studio is already installed, open Visual Studio Installer and check whether an update is needed.
  2. In the installer, select ASP.NET and web development and click Install. For an existing installation, click Modify, select the component and complete the change.
  3. Make sure the .NET 10 SDK is installed. If it is missing, install it and reopen Visual Studio.

A project contains the website’s code. A solution is a container Visual Studio uses to open and manage projects. Ours will contain one project.

2. Choose a location and names

Visual Studio will create the project folders for you. Start on the application’s start screen.

Open the project creation window

Open Visual Studio 2026. On the right side of its start screen, click Create a new project, as marked in the screenshot.

If a workspace is already open, choose File → New → Project to reach the same window.

Visual Studio 2026 start screen with Create a new project marked

Find and select the website template

In the search box at the top, type raz. In the results, click ASP.NET Core Web App (Razor Pages), as marked in the screenshot, then Next at the bottom.

Make sure you selected the C# website template. The Razor Class Library result below it is not the template we will use. Do not choose Blazor, Web API or a template with MVC in its name.

Searching for raz and selecting ASP.NET Core Web App (Razor Pages) in the new project window

You can click any screenshot to open it at full size.

Name the project and choose a folder

The screenshot uses GuysRazor; you can choose another practice name.

In Configure your new project, choose an English name without spaces, such as RazorPractice or AnimalsTry2. This is a practice project; the required personal name will be set in the Git lesson after Bootstrap.

  • Project name: enter your chosen name.
  • Location: keep Visual Studio’s suggested default, usually source\repos inside your user folder. Do not copy the 3stra username from the screenshot.
  • Solution name: keep the same name as the project.
  • Place solution and project in the same directory: leave unchecked.

At the bottom, you can see where the project will be created. Click Next. You do not need to create a folder in File Explorer first.

Configure your new project with an example name and the default source repos location

Visual Studio will create an outer solution folder and an inner project folder, both with your chosen name. In our example, both are called RazorPractice.

If you already created the project, open it through Open a project or solution and choose RazorPractice.sln or RazorPractice.slnx in the existing folder. You do not need another project to continue existing work. To practise creating again, choose a new name and a new folder. Leave first-page from the previous lesson as it is.

3. Create the Razor Pages project

In Additional information, choose the following settings. Note the stated difference concerning top-level statements in the older screenshot:

  • Framework: .NET 10.0 (Long Term Support).
  • Authentication type: None.
  • Configure for HTTPS is checked.
  • Enable container support is unchecked.
  • Do not use top-level statements is unchecked: keep the template’s normal startup code. The older screenshot shows it checked; uncheck it in your project.
  • Enlist in Aspire orchestration is unchecked.

The greyed-out fields need no action. Click Create at the bottom and wait for the project to be created.

Razor Pages Additional information settings with NET 10 and Do not use top-level statements checked in the older screenshot

If Razor Pages or .NET 10 is not listed, return to installation and updating. Do not choose another template just to get past this screen; show the teacher what is missing.

4. First check: press Play and see a website

Immediately after Create, wait for the project window to open and loading to finish. Before changing code, check that the generated project runs:

  1. Click the green triangle ▶ (Play) on Visual Studio’s top toolbar.
  2. Wait for the build to finish and the browser to open. The first run may take a little while.
  3. Check that the browser displays the website’s opening page with the Welcome heading and that its address bar shows localhost with a port number. This is your website, running on your computer right now.

Check successful: you pressed Play and the Welcome page opened in the browser. The project was created successfully and you can continue working on it and trying changes.

If the website does not open or a build error appears, stop here and show the message to the teacher. Continue editing only after the website runs.

Asked to approve an HTTPS certificate on the first run?

Visual Studio may ask you to approve a local development certificate for HTTPS. Ask the teacher if you are unsure what to approve. You can also stop the run, select http in the list beside the green triangle and press Play again.

Stop, get to know the files and change a heading

Return to Visual Studio and click the red Stop square on the top toolbar to stop the run.

Open View → Solution Explorer. Expand the RazorPractice project and the Pages folder. You can see this structure in the file tree:

source/repos/
└── RazorPractice/
    ├── RazorPractice.slnx (או RazorPractice.sln)
    └── RazorPractice/
        ├── RazorPractice.csproj
        ├── Program.cs
        ├── Pages/
        │   └── Index.cshtml
        └── wwwroot/

Pages contains website pages, and wwwroot contains styles, images and JavaScript. Below, the path RazorPractice/Pages/Index.cshtml starts at the RazorPractice folder; in Solution Explorer, open the project and then Pages.

  1. In Solution Explorer, open your project by its chosen name, then Pages → Index.cshtml.
  2. On the heading line, replace only Welcome with החיות שלי (“My animals”) and save with Ctrl+S.
  3. Click the green Play triangle again and check that the new heading appears in the browser.
  4. Return to Visual Studio and stop using Stop before continuing to edit.

Your change now appears on the website too. Save the files and continue to the shared lesson.

How do you use your own names in later lessons?

In the course examples, the project is called RazorTaba. Use your own chosen name: for example, RazorTaba/Pages/Index.cshtml means RazorPractice/Pages/Index.cshtml inside the solution folder. Do not rename your project to match the example. In Solution Explorer, open your project and then Pages.

Leave Program.cs and Properties/launchSettings.json as generated. At this stage, edit content and styles only. You do not need to create a Git repository or publish to GitHub.

Next steps

Return to the shared lesson