A WESTGATE School pupil has launched his own website to help individuals and small businesses build an online presence.

Connor Jarrett, aged 15, saw a gap in the market for a free and simple-to-use website builder that anyone can access.

The avid computer programmer spent over three weeks developing the site cade.dev, devoting hours after school and his weekends ahead of the December launch.

The student, from Kings Worthy, has paid for the development out of his own pocket, paying £5 a month to keep it running and £15 per annum for the domain. Users don’t have to pay a penny but can choose to donate to help cover the costs.

Hampshire Chronicle:

The 15-year-old said: “I noticed that a lot of existing website providers had monthly or yearly fees with very high costs but none of them offered the services that I was happy with.

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“I decided to make a website builder that was simple to use and had no monthly fees, that would make the web accessible to anyone.

“My target audience is people without technological experience or knowledge. It’s becoming increasingly important for small businesses to get online.

“I’m extremely proud of what I have made. I usually make things for fun but this I’ve actually launched into the world. It consumed my whole life while I was making it but I’m able to relax now and play games.”

Hampshire Chronicle:

The young website builder has been a keen programmer for as long as he can remember, inspired by his father Ian Jarrett who works in computing.

Connor’s mum, Joan Jarrett, said: “We’re immensely proud. His dad, who works in the industry, is amazed at Connor’s level of coding skills. He did this all on his own and figured it all out.

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“Computing at school isn’t a challenge for him so he needed to be stretched and have a project to get his teeth sunk into. He’s been an entrepreneur since about two years old but this has just stepped it up.

“It’s incredible to see him make it real- it’s not play time anymore. Connor doesn’t just have the tech skills, he’s got the design skills and the business skills too and we can’t wait to see him flourish.”

Connor was initially stuck on the name for the site but settled on the name Cade, inspired by the word cascade, as suggested by his aunty.

Moving forward, Connor hopes to add new features and offer a more advanced version. Mr and Mrs Jarrett have no doubt that their son has a bright career ahead with Connor’s site already being used by six different countries.