Use GitHub Pages to Build Your Blog

In this tutorial, you will:

  • install sublime text and git bash (for Windows user only) to build your IDE

  • install ruby

  • create a GitHub account to host your website

  • install Bundler and Jekyll; they are static site generator

  • git clone my jekyll theme

  • use markdown language to write your first post

1. Download Sublime Text

Sublime Text is the greatest text editor ever. However, when working through sftp, I prefer to use NotePad++. Because I can’t find a good sftp plugin for sublime text.

You can download a cracked version of sublime text (not working in my Mac) following this link:

http://sublimetext.iaixue.com/dl/

2. Install Git

  What is Git ?

Git is a version control command. In plain English, Git allows you to undo every editing. In other words, you can go back to every version that you have commited.

Windows users need to install Git Bash. You can download it following this link:

https://git-scm.com/downloads

Mac users just need to type git in your terminal and it will come up an installation box if you haven’t installed git.

Iterm is a good replacement terminal for Mac users. Please check out my other post about iterm.

3. Install Ruby

For MAC users, first install brew. Paste the following line to your Terminal:

/usr/bin/ruby -e “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)”

Then, please install Ruby using the following command:

$ brew install ruby

For Windows users, please install Ruby using RubyInstaller following this link:

http://railsinstaller.org/en

4. Install Bundler and Jekyll

Now, type the following command in your terminal:

$ gem install bundler

We will use bundler to install jekyll. To do this, you need to use a text editor to create a file named Gemfile. We will do this step later.

5. Sign up for GitHub

Go to https://github.com/ to get an account

6. Git clone my Jekyll theme

Find a folder that you would like to work. This is typical to be ~/Document. In the terminal, cd to your folder and git clone my repo using the following command:

$ git clone https://github.com/YichaoOU/jekyll_theme_liyc.git

My repo has a Gemfile so you don’t need to create it again. Now, we will install jekyll by typing:

$ cd jekyll_theme_liyc

$ bundle install

$ bundle exec jekyll serve -w

Now, open your browser to 127.0.0.1:4000. You should be able to see my theme. Try out some of the buttons.

7. Use MarkDown to write your first post

Let’s use markdown to create our first post. Inside the MyPostFolder/_posts folder, create a file named:

YYYY-MM-DD-my-title.md

(Please change YYYY-MM-DD to the current date).

Now, add the following to your file:

---
layout: post
title: Give a title
header_keywords_abstract : false
one_sentence: Use one sentence to summarize this post
header_image: Desert.jpg
---

Note! header_keywords_abstract, one_sentence, and header_image are not standard Jekyll variables. I added them myself for my convenience.

The header_image is a file under /image/ folder.