Questions:

How can I create a project website?

Objectives:

Differentiate between git, Github and Github pages
Use Github pages and html to create a very simple website
Use Github pages and markdown to create a very simple website
Customise the website using the _config.yml file
Use Github pages, markdown and Jekyll to create a multipage website

Keypoints:

Github pages is a static site hosting service that takes HTML files from a Github repository and publishes a website.
We can create a simple website in three short steps.
Github pages can be combined with a variety of static site generators to create a customised website.
A single page project site can be created using an README.md file on the gh-pages branch.
Github pages combined with Jekyll front matter can be used to create quick multipage sites.
Github has a range of Jekyll themes to choose from.
To access a wider range of themes and customisation options you can add a _config.yml file.
Other static site generators can be combined with Github actions for more flexibility.

Github pages takes HTML files from a Github repository and publishes a website.

First we should differentiate between three similar sounding tools:
- Git is an open-source version control system that can be used online or locally.
- Github is a website (owned by Microsoft) that is built on top of git. It can be used to store and share files in project repositories.
- Github pages is a service provided by Github. Github pages takes HTML from a repository and publishes it as a website.

Note: Github is not the only option for hosting your code. Other services include Gitlab (which is an open source project) and Bitbucket.

We can create a simple website in three short steps

To see the most simple example of how Github pages works we can create 1) create a repository 2) create a gh-pages branch and 3) add a html file.
Step 1: Create a repository
- Register for a Github account (if you do not already have one) and login
- Create a new repository by clicking the plus sign at the top-right hand corner
- Give your repository a name e.g. website-example
- Give your repository a description e.g. A simple example of a website generated using gh-pages
- Select Add a README file
- Select Choose a license and select a license
- Click Create repository

Important: You don’t need to select a license at this stage but it’s recommended that you do. The MIT License is a popular choice as it is simple and permissive (people do almost anything they want with your project). If you are not clear which license to use you can visit https://choosealicense.com/.

Step 2: Create a gh-pages branch
- Click main towards the top-left hand corner
- Type gh-pages into the text box (Find or create a branch)
- Select `Create branch: gh-pages from ‘main’

A branch in Git is similar to the branch of a tree. A tree branch is attached to the main part of the tree. While branches can generate and fall off, the main central part of the tree continues. Similarly, a branch in Git is a way of developing new features or fixing bugs without affecting the main part of the project (the main branch). The main branch is created when we create the git repository.

Important: Github pages will automatically publish any html on the gh-pages branch only.

Step 3:
- Click Add file (make sure you are on the gh-pages branch)
- Click Create new file
- Name the file Hello-world.html
- Paste the following code

    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
        <head>
            <title>Hello World!</title>
        </head>
        <body>
            <p>Soooo nice to meet you.</p>
        </body>
    </html>

Click Commit new file

You can access your project webpages using the address format username.github.io/repository-name/filename.html. If you have followed the suggested naming in this example you can access your Hello-world webpage at https://username.github.io/website-example/Hello-world.html

Github pages can be combined with a variety of static site generators to create a customised website.

It would take a lot of time to write our website using html (unless we want a really, really simple website)
Instead there are several static site generators which will take plain text files (formatted using a markup language such as markdown or reStructuredText) and convert these into html.
Examples of static site generators include:
- Jekyll, which is used by the Software Carpentry organisation: https://swcarpentry.github.io/python-novice-inflammation/
- Mkdocs, which is used to create documentation sites, for example this one for the University of Northumbria research computing community (developed by an undergraduate student in the CIS department): https://rsc-northumbria.github.io/oswald-docs/
- hugo which can be used for developing personal or professional webpages: https://lucydot.github.io
Each type of static site generator comes with a range of templates to use for customising your website.
Any static site generator can be combined with Github pages to create a website. We will use Jekyll as this has extra integration support from Github pages.

A single page project site is created using the `README.md` file on the `gh-pages` branch.

In fact, Github has already used the Jekyll static site generator behind the scenes to convert your repository README.md file to html. You can access this at https://username.github.io/website-example/.

Note: Github will automatically convert a file named README.md on the gh-pages branch only if an index.html does not exist.

We can edit and commit changes to the README.md and our webpage will be updated.
- Click on the pencil icon on your repository landing page
- Edit the file using markdown, e.g. The website can be accessed [here](https://lucydot.github.io/website-example/Hello-world.html).
- Under Commit changes write a commit message title e.g. Include a link the website.
- Click on Commit changes to save (version control) the changes made.
- The changes should be reflected on the webpage: https://username.github.io/website-example/

Github pages combined with Jekyll front matter can be used to create a multipage sites.

Github will not convert any other files on the gh-pages branch to html unless the file containts top-matter in a particular format. The top-matter consists of two sets of three dashes, with variable(s) defined between, as given in the code block below.
- In your repository click on Add file and Create new file
- Name the file Code-of-Conduct.md
- Paste the following front matter and content into the file

---
title: Code of Conduct
---

Welcome to the Build-your-own website page.

The first rule is: Be Nice!

Click Commit new file
You can see your new webpage at https://username.github.io/website-example/Code-of-Conduct.

Important: The three dashes at the top and bottom of your front matter are very important. If your file does not start with front matter in this format Jekyll will not convert the file to html.

The front matter contains predefined global variables or custom variables. In this example, we have specified what the value of the title variable is. We can then access this variable in the main body of the page.
If you don’t want to define any variables you can always leave it empty - but you must include the two sets of triple dashed lines.
At this stage you may also want to update your README.md with links to the Hello-world webpage and the Code of Conduct.

Info: The Code of Conduct we use here is a silly example. However for many projects and initiatives having a Code of Conduct is important. There is more information on this page.

Github has a range of Jekyll themes to choose from.

You can add a theme to your GitHub Pages site to customize your site’s look and feel.
There are a range of Jekyll themes that Github pages has built-in support for. To change the theme you can use the following steps:
- In your repository click on Settings
- Click on Pages in the left navigation bar
- Click on Choose a theme
- Choose a theme to preview
- Click Select theme

Note: The theme will only be applied to the README.md or webpages with the Jekyll front matter.

Note: When you select a new theme the _config.yml file in your repository is automatically updated.

To access a wider range of customisation options you can fork a Jekyll template and edit the `_config.yml` file.

For example, you can follow the steps outlined for the beautiful-jekyll blog template:
- Fork (copy) the beautiful-jekyll template by clicking on the Fork button at the top right corner of the page
- Under the repository Settings rename the project repository e.g. improved-website
- Under the repository Settings->Github Pages choose the main (or master) branch as the source
This will create a website at https://username.github.io/improved-website.
To customise edit the _config.yml file
To add content edit the markdown files (see the beautiful-jekyll docs for more information).

For more flexibility you can combine other static site generators can be combined with Github actions .

Any static site generator can be combined with Github pages to create a website.
For example, the Northumbria Research Computing Community website was built using MkDocs framework, Github Pages and Github Actions to build the webpages.
- The main branch of the corresponding Github repo has a mkdocs.yml file that specifies the theme, plugins used and website navigation
- The main branch has a docs folder containing the website content as markdown files. In the root of the docs folder is the homepage index.md.
- The main branch contains a file .github/workflows/build-docs.yml which specifies how to build and deploy the html using the markdown files
- After commiting a change on the main branch, Github Actions will build the website and copy the html files to the gh-pages branch for publishing.

Note: the gh-pages branch in this example includes a .nojekyll file to tell Github pages not to automatically build it using Jekyll

TASK

Use Github pages and Jekyll to create an academic website. This could include:

A landing page with a short description of your background and interests
Links to code that you have written (during this course or elsewhere)
A picture of yourself or your experimental work

Think of it as an online CV. It is a great way to promote your work to potential employers or supervisors.