GitHub Pages is a great way to make your own personal site from scratch. It is completely free and only requires a GitHub account. Note, though, that GitHub Pages does not offer the most user-friendly design for making websites (unlike Wix or Squarespace), but it is a great way to gain experience with HTML/CSS/JS and all the elements of a website. This wikiHow will show you how to get started.
Using a GitHub Desktop
Download GitHub desktop, if you do not have it already installed.
Installing GitHub desktop is as simple as going to https://desktop.github.com/ and clicking on the big purple “Download” button. Then run the installer. This is needed in order to push changes to your repository.
Install a code editor.
You need one in order to get syntax highlighting on GitHub. Popular choices include Atom, Visual Studio Code, Sublime Text, and Notepad++, given their feature-rich and minimalistic feel. After installing a code editor, you are ready to get started.
Create a file called “index.html”.
You can do so in your code editor or online. You can also go to your repository’s location on your hard drive and create an “index.html” file in the repository’s folder on your drive.
Add your HTML.
You will need to learn HTML in order to be able to code a basic webpage. It will also be useful for you to learn CSS and JavaScript so you can add styling and functionality to your webpage.
- Remember to save the file.
Commit the changes.
Go back to GitHub desktop and click on the blue Commit to master button. Then click on Push Origin. This will upload the changes to GitHub.
- If you plan to make more changes, you will want to pull the origin as well. Click on the button in GitHub desktop to download the latest commit to your machine.
View your webpage.
Go to “[your GitHub username here].github.io” in a web browser. You may need to bypass your browser’s cache by holding Ctrl or ⌘ Command while clicking on the refresh button to view the new webpage.
Using GitHub Online
Create a file called “index.html”.
Click on Add file then click on Create new file. This will open a file editor. Add “index.html” to the “Name your file” field.
Add your HTML.
You will need to learn HTML in order to be able to code a basic webpage. It will also be useful for you to learn CSS and JavaScript so you can add styling and functionality to your webpage.
- Remember to save the file.
Commit the changes.
Click on the green Commit new file button to save the file to GitHub.
View your webpage.
Go to “[your GitHub username here].github.io” in a web browser. You may need to bypass your browser’s cache by holding Ctrl or ⌘ Command while clicking on the refresh button to view the new webpage.
Tips
- To add subpages, simply create a new folder on GitHub and add an “index.html” file into that folder.
- If you register a domain name, you can have GitHub Pages use that domain name instead of the default.
- GitHub pages repositories must be public, unless if you have a premium account.