CMSC320

    Publishing your Project with Github Pages

    Jun 24, 20243 min read

    Congratulations on finishing your CMSC320 final project. In this article, we’re going to walk you through the very last step of your project…publication to the internet!

    GitHub is a free provider of internet hosting for software development and version control. They provide a service called Pages that provides website hosting backed by a GitHub-based git repository. We would like you to host your final project on a GitHub Pages project site.

    Tutorial

    1. Download your Google Colab file and convert it from a file with a .ipynb extention to a .html file image info

      • Make sure you download the .ipynb file after running the code within your cells so that it contains the output of your code.
      • This link is a online resource that can be used for converting files from .ipynb to .html format

    2. Create a Github repository for your project and title it username.github.io.

      • Make sure username is the same as whatever you chose for your global GitHub account.

    3. Add the following files to your repository:

      1. iPython Notebook → This should be your project Colab file with the .ipynb file extention
      2. HTML → This should be named index.html and is the converted version of your Colab file

    4. You should now have a github repository that looks like the following:

      image info

    5. Deploy your website by navigating to Pages in the settings of your project repository and checking off the following settings:

      1. Source: Deploy from a branch
      2. Branch: main

    6. Your settings should look like the following if you’ve successfully deployed your site: image info

      • Your site might not immediately be deployed. Allow for some time for your repository changes to sync.

    7. Check if your website works and is formatted correctly by visiting username.github.io in your internet browser. image info

      • The deliverable to the CMSC320 staff will then be the single URL username.github.io pointing to this publicly-hosted GitHub Pages-backed website.

    Troubleshooting and FAQs

    Q: Why do I get the error “This site can’t be reached” when I visit my site username.github.io?

    A: In previous semesters, students have had issues with UMD’s wifi eduroam blocking their site. Students have been suggested to try the following:

    • First, check that the site loads while on a different wifi network. Submissions will be graded off-campus.
    • If the error persists on different wifi networks, students should try to deploy the site again in a new repository (following the same steps of the project publication tutorial) using non-campus wifi.
    • Email the CMSC320 staff at cmsc320gradingissues.dr.fardina@gmail.com a copy of your index.html file before the submission deadline as a backup if you still are encountering issues with your website.