Help Documents

Github pages is a good solution for someone with a standard HTML site without any special programming needs.

Step 1: Create Account.

Go to github.com and click the "Sign up" link in the top right corner. Enter your email address, set a password for logging in, and choose a username. Your username will be later in the process.

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After creating your account you will be prompted to do some verifications including an email verification.

Step 2: Login to your account

You can login with your email address or the username you chose.

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Step 3: Create your repository

Click the Green "Create Repository" button. 

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Next, create a name for your repository. This step is very important. You will need to name your repo such that it will need to have your username in it.

In this example, my username is stephanie-lynn. I named my repo "stephanie-lynn.github.io."  If you do not name your repo with username.github.io, the files will not be viewable via web browser. 

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Step 4: Choosing your method for uploading files

Here is documentation provided by github if you want to experiment with other ways for adding files. Because this is a 3rd party solution, we are not able to provide support for any of the mechanisms. https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-files/adding-a-file-to-a-repository

You can also just simply go to the “Upload an Existing File” Option and upload straight from your computer where you have saved your web files. Click the link for “upload an existing file”

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Step 5: Choose files to upload

Navigate to your directory where your files are stored and choose the files. Mine is a simple example with just one file but you can upload multiple files. There is a limit to the number and sizes of files that can be uploaded at one time. The limits have changed over time so we do not know the current limits. You may have to do multiple uploads if you have a large site. You can also experiment with other ways of uploading files.

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Once the files are selected, click the “Commit Changes” button. You can add comments if you like that are recorded with your file upload. This is useful as you move forward and make changes on your site. You can keep track of the changes by adding comments about what you were changing with each commit.

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Step 6: Publish your web site

Click the “Settings” Gear image to the right.

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You can change the description if you want but it is not necessary. Make sure to check the box “Use your github pages web site” so that the URL is listed in the web site box. If you want to use a custom domain, that can be setup later. But you can use this URL as you are updating and testing your web site just so you can get to it. You do not need to change any other settings except this. Click Save Changes button

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Finally, you will see your URL listed to the right. Click that to visit your web site. It may take a while for it propogate if you had a large number of files in your site.

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Step 7 (optional): Setting up custom domain

• Create necessary DNS entry as a CNAME and point it to: <user>.github.io

• DNS must fully propagate before GitHub will allow the domain to be added

• In the Git Repo, navigate to Settings → Code and Automation: Pages → Custom Domain

• Enter the domain and save

After the txt record and cname DNS changes are complete there is one more step 

Go to your repo and click "settings", and then choose "pages"

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Enter your custom domain here and save. It will take about 30 minutes to fully provision

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