wh-deploilerplate 🚀

This template includes several files for testing, building, and deploying a Jekyll site via GitHub FTP action to any server.

For NYU-DSS, this will generally be to an NYU Web Hosting server, e.g., specialcollections.hosting.nyu.edu with CPanel.
This can be adapted to use any static site generator; you'll just need to change the dependencies installed in actions and replace the rake tasks with your runner of choice.

Prerequisites

• Ability to create and manage FTP accounts on your target server
• Ability to create a new GitHub repo from this template
• A static site. This template is geared towards Jekyll
• Permissions to run GitHub actions and manage repo secrets

Repo Tour

File(s)	Purpose
Gemfile	specifies the Ruby dependencies. add to / change these for your purpose.
Rakefile	specifies the test, build, and reset tasks.
src	contains the demo jekyll site. replace this with your own site's source content.
.github/workflows/deploy.yml	defines the steps and conditions for deploymentexecuted by GitHub actions
.github/workflows/test.yml	defines the steps and conditions for testingexecuted by GitHub actions

Steps

Use and tweak this template

1. Click the "Use this Template" button above.
2. Rename it to the name of the site you'll be working with.
3. Replace the src directory with your own site's content and _config.yml with your own site's config.
4. Add any addtional project-specific dependencies to the Gemfile.

Create FTP deploy account on target host

1. Log in to your dashboard and navigate to the “FTP Accounts” tab under “Files.”

2. Create a special FTP account just for deployments. Under “directory” put public_html. If you want the site to be in a subdirectory from the root URL (e.g., “marii.hosting.nyu.edu/my-site”), enter the subdirectory after public_html with no trailing slash (e.g., public_html/my-site). More info available here.

   

Add FTP secrets to GitHub repo

Enable and run the actions