GitHub Pages Tutorial

GitHub Pages

From the definition of GitHub:

GitHub Pages is a static site hosting service designed to host your personal, organization, or project pages directly from a GitHub repository.

GitHub Pages was added when GitHub was at its early stage. They sensed that a well-documented project is very important, so they simplified the process.

Take note, GitHub Pages is not a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress where a user can manage data through a database and all the backend scripts for a dynamic website but GitHub Pages can even be more powerful than that.

For now, even for non-technical projects, GitHub Pages can be used to generate static web pages. Just static? Well, from the definition of GitHub itself, you can't run server-side scripting. But remember, Web 1.0 was all about static web pages and we all know the advantages of static pages against dynamic ones.

Why GitHub Pages?

Ideally, GitHub Pages was intended for a project's documentation. However, GitHub allowed users to use it for other purposes within the boundaries given. For instance, creating a site to promote your business is not allowed. But other than those limitations, you have the option to use GitHub Pages when you want to display information and you want to share it to the rest of the world, just like a blogging site. You can even add an advertisement and donation button to enable financial support.

How To

In the same way you keep your pages and assets in one directory and subdirectories on the server, it is the same thing in GitHub Pages through a GitHub repository.

For a user, <username>.github.io is the pattern by default so that GitHub Pages can build the site. Meaning, you should create a repository named after this pattern, so mine is xdvrx1.github.io. My site will be automatically created. However, you may skip initializing your root directory.

A default document will be displayed when a visitor requested the site's URL. This is the index.htm file (or index.html to make sure other platforms will read it correctly) unless you change this manually for the server to give a different default document. It is the same in GitHub Pages plus the README.md or index.md. So, when you create a repo, in GitHub Pages, you may have one default document from the three options:

• index.htm or index.html
• README.md
• index.md

When you create a subdirectory, they are still the choices for the default document. The big advantage of using pure HTML is the freedom to design your page.

There are three places where GitHub Pages will be building your site from: master, gh-pages or /docs.

• Using the master branch, there is no additional effort, just set the proper configuration in Settings.

• gh-pages is a branch, to create this, go to Branch, type in the box 'gh-pages' then hit Enter.

• /docs is a subfolder of the master branch, just click Create new file then type 'docs/index.htm' or any of the other choices for the default document. GitHub does not allow empty repository, so you must initialize it with a file. In this example, that is index.htm.

Furthermore, as I have observed when using just a regular account and when there is no need to change the domain name, it's just a matter of preference and technique where you will be building your site among the three options.

But there are few considerations:

• First, the master branch can be the source when it's all about building the site.

• Second, the gh-pages can be your choice when your master branch is dedicated for your source codes.

• Third, the /docs folder is a good choice when you want to build your site from scratch where you don't copy the contents of the master branch, as in the case of gh-pages branch.

Changing the default address is another story, where you really want to make sure that you have an existing domain. If you know how to host a site from your computer, this will be very easy for you to do. So, if you don't know the process yet, you find time studying how to host a website from a different source because the idea is the same in GitHub Pages. I provided the link at the bottom.

The themes provided by GitHub Pages can be used for your pages. These themes will always work in Markdown files but when you deal with pure HTML, make sure that you always delete the head section and just include the body so that the theme you selected will be the one to take care of your page/s.

Then tell Jekyll that through

---
layout: default
---

on top of the HTML file.

---

So, the steps are:

1. Create a GitHub account if there is none.

2. Create a repository or use an existing one.

3. Go to Settings and look for GitHub Pages.

4. Select where GitHub Pages should build the pages, either from:

   • master (default)
   • gh-pages
   • /docs

5. And select a theme also if you want.

6. You visit the site provided. You now have your web page.

---

Useful Links

For further details, it is best to visit GitHub Pages and other sites:

https://pages.github.com

https://help.github.com/en/articles/configuring-a-publishing-source-for-github-pages

https://help.github.com/en/articles/user-organization-and-project-pages

And it is important to know how GitHub Pages differs from WordPress:

https://viktorsmari.github.io/2019/07/14/github-pages-vs-wordpress.html

For my very own example, this site

https://xdvrx1.github.io/C-Programming-Tutorial/

was built by GitHub Pages, Jekyll being the static site generator. When you click View on GitHub, that is the repository where all the assets and default documents reside. It's that simple.

And, for those who don't know yet how to host a site using a computer as a server,

https://blog.mindorks.com/how-to-convert-your-laptop-desktop-into-a-server-and-host-internet-accessible-website-on-it-part-1-545940164ab9

About custom domain in GitHub Pages:

https://help.github.com/en/articles/using-a-custom-domain-with-github-pages

https://help.github.com/en/articles/custom-domain-redirects-for-github-pages-sites