Lesson #2: Getting Started with GitHub

Here is the quick, shareable link to our GitHub Repository - http://bit.ly/ELfall19.

Each Learner is tasked with creating a GitHub account. GitHub Guides - https://guides.github.com - is a great resource for learning more about using GitHub.

Steps to Creating an Account   

1. Go to github.com to set up your free account. Scroll to the top of the page and will see a green "Sign Up" button. You can use whatever GitHub handle you want (that is @blahblah). When you go to sign up, it is just like signing up for Instagram or Twitter in the sense that you do not put the @ symbol before your username when you are creating it. The @ is a feature only to be used when mentioning or pinging someone on the platform.   

2. Under "Choose a Plan" - select "Free"    

3. Under "Tailor Your Experiences" - You can either skip this step (located at the bottom of the screen) or make some selections that will customize your login dashboard slightly to display projects available on the platform linked to your selected interests.   

4. Verify your email address via your email - you will receive a verification email via GitHub.

5. Immediately give your GitHub username/handle (example: @blahblah) to me via email - cmccraw@luc.edu so I can invite you as a collaborator on this repo (repository). Check your e-mail to confirm my invitation for you to be a collaborator on this repo.

6. Navigate back to our class repository - http://bit.ly/ELfall19. 

7. Click on “star” (also in the upper right-hand corner) so our class repository appears on your main GitHub dashboard/newsfeed. You need to verify your account via your email address before you will be able to complete this step. 

8. If you want to, click on “watch” (in the upper right-hand corner of our class repository) in order for an email to be sent to you any time anyone updates something in our GitHub repository. You need to verify your account via your email address before you will be able to complete this step.   

Setting Up GitHub Notifications

GitHub has two notification systems: via e-mail, and through your GitHub account (see the notification 🔔 icon in the upper right corner of this page).

Because GitHub will be our primary mode of communication for these next few weeks, it is important to have the right notification settings. Please ensure that you have e-mail notifications on:

1. Click on your user icon in the upper right corner
2. Choose Settings from the drop-down menu
3. Choose Notifications from the menu on the left
4. Under Participating, make sure BOTH "Email" and "Web" are checked

This will ensure that you are notified each time you are tagged. This is important, because you will be expected to respond to posts you are tagged in, as this is a critical part of our project workflow.

If there is an Issue that you are receiving too many notifications about that do not pertain to you, navigate to that specific Issue and click "Unsubscribe" from the options on the right. This will ensure that you only receive notifications for posts that pertain to you.