Publishing to GitHub Pages

The repository you created on the previous page is where the files for your comic are kept. In order to actually display those files as a proper website, you'll need to publish to GitHub Pages. This page walks you through those steps.

Even if you've only just created your repository from the previous page, the repo comes with some default text and images as a demonstration. Feel free to publish after creating to see how it works!

  1. In your repository, go to the Settings tab.

    An image of the GitHub repository site, with a red box around the Settings option.
    The Settings option.

  2. In the sidebar on the left, click Actions > General.

    Image of GitHub Settings page, with a red indicator around the Actions General item in the sidebar.
    Go to Actions > General.

  3. In Workflow Permissions at the bottom of the page, select Read and write permissions, then click Save below it.

    Image of the GitHub Action General settings page. Two indicators instruct you to click Read and write permissions, then Save.
    Set read and write permissions.

  4. In the sidebar, click Pages.

    Image of GitHub Actions General page, with a red indicator around the Pages item in the sidebar.
    Go to Pages.

  5. Under Branch, select master from the dropdown.

    An image of the GitHub Pages page, with a red box around the Branch setting.
    Select the working branch.

It takes a minute for the master branch to be created in a new repository, so if master isn't available in the dropdown, try refreshing the page.

  1. Click Save. Once you do, GitHub will automatically publish your repository to GitHub Pages!

    An image of the GitHub Pages page, with a red box around the Save button.
    Click Save.
    An image of the GitHub Pages page, with a red box around the text "Your GitHub Pages site is currently being built from the working branch.".
    Success!

  2. Publishing isn't immediate; GitHub needs to do some work in the background to do so. For this first time, the publishing process could take a few minutes. Go get a coffee, hit the can, call your mother... and when you come back, refresh your Settings page, and you should see a new text box appear telling you that your site is now live!

    An image of the GitHub Pages page, with a red box around the text "Your site is live" and the Visit Site button.
    It's ready!

You can also view the progress of your GitHub Pages deployments by looking in the Deployments section of the sidebar on your main repository page. Troubleshooting goes into more detail about this.

  1. Click Visit site to go to your website, hosted from your very own GitHub account! WOO HOO!

    The live GitHub Pages site, using the default text and image.
    It lives!

Next, we need to set up the app that will let you move your own files into the repository.

A Tale of Two GitHub URLs

You now have two different URLs to keep track of: Your GitHub repository URL and your GitHub Pages URL. Both of these URLs are automatically generated based on your GitHub account name and your webcomic repository name.

Example:

  • GitHub account name: comicgitdemo

  • Repository name: bestcomic

  • GitHub repository URL: https://github.com/comicgitdemo/bestcomic

  • GitHub Pages URL: https://comicgitdemo.github.io/bestcomic

Your GitHub Pages URL is what you need to give to anyone who wants to read your comic.

If you like, you can even set a custom domain rather than using the default one.

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