Intro to GitHub

Create a GitHub account

Go here and create account before class.

What is GitHub?

GitHub is a web-based coding platform that uses version control for creating code and projects. Version control simply means that every change you make to a GitHub repository is tracked for your reference. This is important because as you work on a website you can see every change and easily revert back to a previous version of a project if necessary.

How are we going to use it?

In this course we will be using it to collectively build a website. The process of doing this will involve “forking” a main repository, working within this repository, and then doing a “pull request” in order to update the main repository with your changes.

Once you fork the main repository you will create a post, upload images, and then work within the post to create your essay. Posts are created using Markdown langauge, which is a lightweight language to help convert text into HTML.

The main repository

Our main repository creates a Jekyll-based website. All this really means is that we have a very simple and straightforward website that we can develop and build together.

You will be creating your essays in a “post” that can display text and images. In addition, each post can be placed on a map. The site has a space for an interactive map and a corresponding area where each post displays your essay.

Take a look at the website here.