Register for a Github account

If you haven’t got an Github account, please register here.

Creat a new repository

In you repository page, press the “New Repository” button on the top-right to create a new repository to run your website.

Input the repo name as “USERNAME.github.io”, where the “USERNAME” is your github account name. Make sure you repo is set to be public and “Initialize with a README”.

Creating a Github repo

Create a new branch

Since the Github page is deployed through the master branch, we need a new branch to run the source code for building the website. In the branch button, input sources and press the “Create new sources branch”. Then you can switch between your two branches master and sources.

Change the default branch to sources

Next to the 1 commit in your repository, there is a 2 branches button. Press it and you can see master branch is set to be your default branch. Then change the default branch to be your newly built sources. There will be windows for you to confirm your change. Please make sure I understand. Now if you go back to your 2 branches page, you will see your default branch is set as sources.

By doing this, you will later be able to create a new website in your default sources branch and deploy it to the master branch such that your Github page can be built through the master branch. ## Clone your repository Now you need a local copy of your Github repo.

First, install Git in your computer. (TODO)

Second, generate and add SSH key to your Git agent. Open the terminal and generate the SSH key using

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "YOUREMAIL@gmail.com"

During the process, you will be asked to choose a file name for your key, and ENTER three times would be fine. Then the key is saved as /Users/USERNAME/.ssh/id_rsa.

Next, add the key you just generated to your Git agent using

eval "$(ssh-agent-s)"
ssh-add -K ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Finally, copy the key to your Github settings. You can open the public key /Users/USERNAME/.ssh/id_rsa.pub with an editor and copy it, or use the command line

pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

After that, go to your Github settings - SSH and GPG keys - New SSH key, and paste the key with a name you like.

If you have already finished with the SSH key, you can clone the repo in your terminal using git clone "https://github.com/USERNAME/USERNAME.github.io.git". Now your have a local copy of the Github repo like this.

Local Ccpy of the Github repo

If the whole process goes well, then you are all set with Github now.

Open a new project