Jekyll Academic Quickstart

Required Software

It is possible to get up and running with a Jekyll Academic website using only your web browser and a GitHub account. Full documentation for local installation and editing can be found on the Documentation page.

QuickStart

This QuickStart guide is geared to getting you up and running quickly, using only a web browser and GitHub account. Following the directions below will result in you having a Jekyll Academic website hosted on GitHub pages live on the web. Before you begin working through the QuickStart guide you may want to familiarize yourself with the following technologies that will be used to create your Jekyll Academic website:

• Jekyll
• Markdown
• GitHub
• GitHub Pages

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1) Register for a GitHub Account

Skip this step if you have already setup your GitHub account

• In a web browser, navigate to GitHub.com
• Fill Out Username*, Email Address and Password
• Click Sign up for GitHub button
• Click the Finish Sign Up button

*Make a note of the username that you create, as you will be required to use it in setting up your GitHub pages repository.

2) Verify Email Address

• Navigate to the email account you used to sign up
• Verify your email address by clicking on the “Verify email address” button in the email you received from GitHub

3) Setting Up your Jekyll Academic Repository:

• From your main profile page in GitHub click on New Repository
• Give your repository the following name [username].github.io *
• Click on Create Repository
• Click on the Import Code button under the "...or import code from another repository" section
• Paste the following URL in the “Your old repository’s clone URL" section https://github.com/NCSU-Libraries/jekyll-academic
• Click on Begin Import
• Once import is complete navigate to [username.github.io] in your web browser

*Note: For for GitHub Pages site to work correctly, the repository name must exactly match the format of [username].github.io. For example if your GitHub username is student1234 your GitHub Pages repository must be named student1234.github.io

4) See your Live Website

• Open your web browser and go to [username].github.io

5) Edit Site Files via GitHub Browser Editor

• Open a second web browser tab that shows the files in your repository github.com/[username]/[username].github.io
• Edit the main settings file for your website to add your name, and to link your accounts
• Click on the _config.yml file in your repository to see the contents of that file
• Click on the ‘Edit This File’ button
• Edit the following entries of the _config.yml file
  • Title
  • Name
  • Bio
  • Email (enter your full email address)
• Edit the following entries to provide links to social media platforms by replacing #username with your actual username on that platform.
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • GitHub
  • ... etc.

6) Commit Changes to GitHub*

• After making changes to the file, make a note under the ‘Commit Changes’ section documenting the changes that you made (e.g. Updated social media usernames)
• Click ‘Commit changes’
• Refresh the browser tab that contains your live website ([username].github.io) and confirm that changes were made to your site

Next Steps

After following the steps above you now have a fully functioning website that others can view online. You can continue to edit other files on the site in the browser following similar steps as above (click into file, edit and commit).

Following the instructions on the Documentation will allow you to set up your computer to edit your files locally. It also offers a full explanation of the site structure, providing detailed instructions for fully customizing your new website.