Making Journal: GitHub Pages Template

A minimal static website for your weekly making journal, using GitHub Pages.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following installed:

• GitHub Desktop: Download from desktop.github.com. This handles all the Git operations for you — no terminal needed.
• VS Code: Download from code.visualstudio.com.
• A GitHub account: Sign up at github.com if you don't have one.

Quick Setup

1. Create your own copy of this repository:
   • Click the green "Use this template" button at the top of this repo, then choose "Create a new repository".
   • Give your new repository a name (e.g. making-journal) and click "Create repository".
2. Clone your new repository with GitHub Desktop:
   • In GitHub Desktop, select your new repository, then click "Clone".
   • Choose a folder on your computer to save the project.
3. Enable GitHub Pages:
   • Go to your repo on GitHub → Settings → Pages
   • Under "Source", select Deploy from a branch
   • Choose the main branch and / (root) folder
   • Click Save
4. Wait 1–2 minutes, then visit https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/YOUR-REPO-NAME/

How to Use

Working on your journal

• In GitHub Desktop, click "Open in Visual Studio Code" to open your project.
• Journal entries are in journal-pages/week-XX.md — one file per week.
• Write using Markdown.

Publishing your changes

When you're ready to update your site, switch from VS Code to GitHub Desktop:

1. Your changed files will appear automatically in the left panel.
2. Type a short summary in the "Summary" box at the bottom left (e.g. "Week 03 documentation").
3. Click the blue "Commit to main" button.
4. Click "Push origin" at the top. Your site will update automatically within a couple of minutes.

Adding images

1. Place your file in the matching assets/week-XX/ folder.
2. Embed it in your week's page:

   ![Alt text](../assets/week-01/photo.jpg)
   *Your caption here*
   

   The text inside the square brackets is alt text (a description for accessibility), not a visible caption. To add a caption, place a line of italic text below the image.

Adding video (hosted elsewhere)

Markdown doesn't embed video directly. Link to it instead:

[Watch the video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXX)

Or, if you need an inline embed, use a small HTML snippet:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XXXX"></iframe>

File Structure

/
├── _config.yml          ← Site settings (title, theme)
├── index.md             ← Homepage with links to all weeks
├── journal-pages/
│   ├── week-01.md       ← One file per week
│   ├── ...
│   └── week-12.md
├── assets/
│   ├── week-01/         ← Images/media for each week
│   ├── ...
│   └── week-12/
└── README.md            ← This file (not shown on the site)

Customisation

Note: Customising the theme or site settings is entirely optional and goes beyond what is required for the course. Only explore this if you're comfortable with the basics first.

• Site title and description: Edit _config.yml.
• Theme: The default is minimal. You can change remote_theme in _config.yml to any supported GitHub Pages theme.