This tutorial provides a step-by-step guide for beginners to create a real-time online user counter widget using JavaScript and HTML, without the need for backend experience, by leveraging PubNub's APIs such as Real-Time Messaging and Presence. It explains the concept of user counters, which track active users through session management and unique IDs, and describes the evolution of visitor counters from early total visit displays to modern real-time systems that update dynamically. The tutorial details the process of configuring a free occupancy counter using the PubNub Presence API, which allows for tracking user activity in real-time and provides various configuration options. It includes a JavaScript snippet for setting up the widget's front end and advises on integrating it with reactive frameworks for synchronization. Additionally, the tutorial highlights the benefits of using PubNub's platform, which supports over a billion monthly active users with high reliability, and invites users to start with a free account to explore real-time interactivity for web and mobile apps.