Help - Publish a Page with GitHub Pages

What you'll end up with

A live website at https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/YOUR-REPO-NAME/ that anyone can open, made from a single index.html file.

You need: a GitHub account, and GitHub Desktop installed and signed in.

Part 1 — Make the repo (github.com)

  1. Go to github.com and sign in.
  2. Click the + in the top right → New repository.
  3. Fill in:
    • Repository name: lowercase, no spaces — e.g. my-first-site. This becomes part of your URL, so pick something short and sensible
    • Description: optional.
    • Public. Github Pages only works with public repos on a free account, and you want people to see it anyway.
    • Tick Add a README file. (This gives the repo one file to start with, which makes the next step easier.)
  4. Click Create repository.

You now have an empty-ish project living on GitHub. It's not on your computer yet.

Part 2 — Get it onto your computer (GitHub Desktop)

  1. On your new repo's page, click the green Code button → Open with GitHub Desktop. Your browser will ask permission to open the app — allow it. (If that doesn't work: in GitHub Desktop, File → Clone repository → GitHub.com, pick your repo from the list.)
  2. GitHub Desktop shows a Clone dialog with a Local path — this is where the folder will live on your computer. Note it, or change it to somewhere you'll find again. Click Clone.
  3. You now have a real folder on your computer that is connected to GitHub. Clone = make a local copy that stays linked.

Add your index.html

  1. In GitHub Desktop, click Repository → Show in Finder (Mac) or Show in Explorer (Windows) to open the folder.
  2. Create a new file in that folder called exactly index.html — all lowercase, no .txt on the end. Open it in VS Code (or any text editor) and paste:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
	<meta charset="utf-8">
	<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
	<title>Your Name</title>
</head>
<body>
	<h1>Hello, I'm Your Name</h1>
	<p>This page is on the actual internet.</p>
</body>
</html>
  1. Put your real name in it. Save.

index.html is the magic filename — it's the page a web server shows when someone visits the address with nothing after it.

Commit and push

  1. Switch back to GitHub Desktop. Your new file appears in the left column under Changes.
  2. Bottom left, in the Summary box, type what you did: Add index.html.
  3. Click Commit to main. (Commit = save a labelled snapshot. It's still only on your computer.)
  4. Click Push origin at the top. (Push = send those commits up to GitHub.)
  5. Refresh your repo page on github.com — index.html is there.

Part 3 — Turn on GitHub Pages (github.com)

  1. On your repo page, click Settings (top row, far right).
  2. In the left sidebar, click Pages.
  3. Under Build and deployment → Source, choose Deploy from a branch.
  4. Under Branch, choose main and folder / (root). Click Save.
  5. Wait around 2-3 minutes, then refresh that page. A banner appears with your URL: https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/YOUR-REPO-NAME/
  6. Open it on your phone and laptop to test.

Your loop from now on

edit → save → commit → push → live in a minute

Make one small change to index.html, save, commit and push in GitHub Desktop, then refresh your site. Watching that change appear is the whole point — you now have a way to put anything you make in front of anyone.

When it doesn't work

  • 404 on the URL. Usually just slowness — wait a minute or two and refresh. If it persists, check the file is called exactly index.html (not Index.html, not index.html.txt) and that it's in the top level of the repo, not inside another folder.
  • Nothing under Changes in GitHub Desktop. You saved the file somewhere other than the cloned folder. Use Repository → Show in Finder/Explorer to confirm where that folder actually is.
  • Push origin is greyed out. You haven't committed yet — do step 9 first.
  • Site shows the README instead of your page. No index.html at the root; GitHub falls back to the README.
  • Your changes aren't showing up live. Committed but not pushed, or the deploy is still running. Check the Actions tab on github.com for an orange dot (running) or a green tick (done). A hard refresh (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + R) clears a cached old version.

Keep in mind

This page is public and searchable. No phone numbers, no addresses, nothing you wouldn't put on a poster.