Getting Started
Build a project or portfolio website in 10 minutes. No software installation required—everything happens in your browser. By the end, you’ll have a live site and understand how it works well enough to customize it yourself (esp with AI assistance).
What You’ll Need
- A free GitHub account (we’ll create this in Step 1)
- A web browser
- 10-15 minutes
No coding or web experience necessary. You’ll be editing text files and clicking buttons. If you can use Google Docs, you can do this.
Step 1: Choose Your Template
First, decide what kind of site you’re building. Pick the template that matches your project—you can always add features or switch templates later.
Tip: Click “View Demo” to see each template in action before choosing.
Step 2: Create a GitHub Account
What is GitHub? Think of it like Google Drive for websites. GitHub stores your site files and hosts your website for free. No ads, no subscription fees. It hosts millions of open-source projects and websites and facilitates collaboration.
- Go to GitHub and create a free account
- Choose a username (this will be part of your website address for now)
- Verify your email address
- You’ll land on your GitHub homepage at
http://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME
Step 3: Start with a Template
Rather than start from scratch, you’ll copy a complete starter template with example content.
- Go to the template repository
- Click the green “Use this Template” button (upper right)
- Select “Create a new repository” from the dropdown
Step 4: Name Your Repository
For your portfolio, we recommend using your GitHub username for the cleanest URL.
Name your repository exactly: YOUR-USERNAME.github.io
For example, if your GitHub username is sarah-martinez, name your repository:
Why? This gives you a clean, professional URL at the root level:
- ✅
https://sarah-martinez.github.io/ (clean!)
- ❌
https://sarah-martinez.github.io/my-portfolio/ (less clean)
Important: Replace YOUR-USERNAME with your actual GitHub username, using the exact capitalization.
Your repository name will become part of your website address, so choose something simple and descriptive.
Naming rules:
- All lowercase letters
- Use hyphens instead of spaces:
medieval-maps not medieval maps
Examples:
medieval-maps-monsterscivil-war-hospitalsenglish-101-spring-2026
Don’t stress—you can rename it later or start over if needed.
When ready, click the green “Create Repository” button.
If you named your repository YOUR-USERNAME.github.io, you need to make one quick edit:
- Click the “Code” tab (top left)
- Find and click
_config.yml in the file list
- Click the pencil icon (✏️) to edit
- Make sure the
baseurl: line is empty (nothing after the colon):
- Click “Commit changes” (green button, top right)
- Click “Commit changes” again in the popup
Why empty? Since your site lives at the root (username.github.io/), you don’t need a subdirectory path.
If you named your repository something other than the template name, you need to make one quick edit to get your site running.
- Click the “Code” tab (top left)
- Find and click
_config.yml in the file list
- Click the pencil icon (✏️) to edit
- Change the
baseurl: line to match your repository name exactly:
baseurl: /your-repository-name/
- Click “Commit changes” (green button, top right)
- Click “Commit changes” again in the popup
Important: Capitalization matters! My-Site is different from my-site.
Step 6: Publish Your Site
Now tell GitHub to turn your files into a live website.
- Click the “Settings” tab (top right)
- Click “Pages” in the left sidebar
- Under “Build and deployment”:
- Source: Make sure “Deploy from a branch” is selected
- Branch: Change from “None” to “main”
- Click “Save”
Your site is now building! This takes about 1-2 minutes.
To see your live site:
- Click the “Actions” tab (top of page) to watch the build
- When the yellow dot turns green, your site is live
- Go back to Settings → Pages and you’ll see your website URL
Two Important URLs to Bookmark in your browser
- Repository (where you edit):
http://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-USERNAME.github.io
- Website (what the world sees):
https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/
🎉 Congratulations! Your Site is Live
You just built and deployed a professional website using GitHub Pages. Here’s what you accomplished:
✅ Created a GitHub account and repository
✅ Configured your site settings
✅ Published your first website to the open web
What You’ve Learned
By completing this walkthrough, you now understand:
- How websites get hosted: GitHub Pages turns text files into a live site
- How version control works: Every change you make is saved (you can undo mistakes)
- How configuration files work:
_config.yml controls site-wide settings
- The relationship between files and URLs: Your repository structure becomes your website structure
Why this matters: This foundational knowledge lets you work productively with AI assistants. When you ask Claude or ChatGPT to “add a new page” or “change the color scheme,” you’ll understand what it’s doing and be able to evaluate the suggestions.
What’s Next? Choose Your Own Adventure
🗂️ Understand Your Site Structure
Understanding Folders explains how your site is organized and where to find things. Start here if you want to know what each folder does before making changes.
✏️ Make a Quick Edit
Editing Your Site walks you through changing text, adding pages, and uploading images—all in your browser.
🎨 Customize the Design
Colors, Fonts, and Themes shows you how to change your site’s visual appearance to match your project’s character.
🤖 Get AI Help
Using AI Assistance teaches you how to work with Claude or ChatGPT to customize faster and solve problems.
💻 Edit Locally (Recommended for longer-term editing)
Editing Locally shows you how to get all your website files on your own computer (that’s the local part) and edit offline to avoid internet glitches.
💻 Work Locally (Recommended for power users)
Previewing Locally shows you how to set up a local development environment so you can preview changes before publishing.