GitHub is a popular website for collaborative software development, especially with museum, historical preservation, and cultural heritage work. Getting started on GitHub for website creation and design involves a somewhat unfamiliar shift in thinking about the website creation process. The process for GitHub Pages differs from the model of one person retaining total control over an online space, while allowing contributors to edit one page at a time. Instead, each person contributing to the content of the website makes a copy of all pages on the website. Each contributor will then add their own content and re-send the entire website, which now includes their changes, back to the original. Those with permission to accept or reject the requested merge can note any conflicts or problems before accepting it. Each contributor tests out how their changes look on the site before submitting their changes for approval. We use this feature of GitHub to allow everyone to make edits without fear of breaking anything.
GitHub uses the term ‘repository’ for the location, like a top-level folder, that stores all the information for a particular project. For our purposes, that project is several files that will combine to form a website. Folders inside the repository organize different parts of the website. Some folders will contain information such as font and color for the whole website. Other folders will contain the content for particular pages, such as student essays. We will help you understand the function of the various folders you see in the repository of the template that you choose for your course website.