Best Web Design in New Orleans, LA (2026)

Web Design for New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is the cultural crown of the Gulf Coast, the birthplace of jazz and the home of Mardi Gras, where French, Spanish, West African, Creole, and Caribbean influences blend into a city unlike any other in America. Founded by the French in 1718 on a crescent bend of the Mississippi, it is a major port and a tourism magnet built on music, food, and a defiantly easygoing spirit. Much of the city sits at or below sea level, a geography that shaped both its beauty and its tragedy during Hurricane Katrina.

AppWT works with New Orleans, LA businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About New Orleans

Also known as. The Crescent City (from the bend of the Mississippi River around the original settlement). The Big Easy. The City That Care Forgot. NOLA.

History. Founded in the spring of 1718 by the French Mississippi Company under Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, on land inhabited by the Chitimacha people Named for Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, then-regent of France Passed from French to Spanish rule and back before the 1803 Louisiana Purchase brought it into the United States Site of the 1891 lynching of 11 Italian immigrants, one of the largest mass lynchings in U.S. history Homer Plessy's 1896 case, Plessy v. Ferguson, originated here and enshrined the "separate but equal" doctrine Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 flooded more than 80% of the city and killed more than 1,800 people across the region

Local economy. The Port of New Orleans is Louisiana's sole international container port and a major Gulf hub; the broader lower-Mississippi port complex (South Louisiana, New Orleans, Plaquemines) ranks among the busiest in the U.S. by tonnage Port business spans cargo, rail, cruise (a major embarkation point), and industrial real estate Tourism is a cornerstone industry, driven by Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest, and the French Quarter Oil, gas, and maritime/shipbuilding tied to the Gulf round out the regional economy

Culture and community. Widely recognized as the birthplace of jazz, home to Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, and Louis Armstrong (born here in 1901) Mardi Gras (Carnival) runs from Epiphany on January 6 to Fat Tuesday, culminating in parades where an estimated 1.4 million people costume and celebrate New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest) is a signature spring music-and-food event Creole and Cajun cuisine define the table: gumbo (whose name traces to a West African word for okra), po' boys (created during the 1929 streetcar strike), beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde The "second line" parade tradition has been called a jazz funeral without a body

What makes New Orleans distinct. Roughly half the city sits at or below local mean sea level, protected by levees and pumps New Orleans is home to the NFL's Saints and the NBA's Pelicans, both of which returned after Hurricane Katrina displaced the city The po' boy sandwich was reportedly invented to feed striking streetcar workers (the "poor boys") in 1929 Its street grid fans out to follow the river's crescent, giving rise to local directions like "lakeside," "riverside," "uptown," and "downtown" instead of compass points

New Orleans Landmarks and Local Life

• The French Quarter (Vieux Carre) - the 85-block original footprint founded in 1718, anchored by Jackson Square
• St. Louis Cathedral - the oldest cathedral in continuous use in the United States (present structure largely 1789-1850s)
• Caesars Superdome (opened 1975) - which has hosted more Super Bowls than any other stadium
• The historic streetcar lines - including the St. Charles Avenue line
• Cafe du Monde and the Mississippi riverfront