Deployment on GitHub

Now that you are happy with your local website, it is time to deploy it on the internet. Here is the methodology for GitHub Pages hosting.

A note on the Academic theme

If you build your website using Hugo and the Academic theme, here’s how to ensure the static website falls in the correct folder. In the config/_default/config.toml file change the following line:

publishDir = "docs"

To ensure links consistency within your website you need to tell Hugo what will be your base URL. In the case of GitHub hosting, change the following line in config/_default/config.toml:

baseurl = "https://your-github-account.github.io/academic-kickstart/"

Run hugo to make your changes effective.

Local version control

In order to eventually push your website to your GitHub repository, your local files should be staged and committed:

git add --all
git commit -m 'First deploy'

Push your files to your repository

Then, you need to send your files to your GitHub repository.

git push

While GitHub only requires the docs folder to display your website, it is best to push all the content of your website if you want to make changes from other machines.

Hosting

At this point, the docs folder of your repository contains the necessary files to have a functioning website. However, you need to activate the hosting feature of your repository for GitHub to start hosting the contents of docs. In the Settings tabs of your repository, scroll down to the GitHub Pages section. There, use the drop-down menu under Source to master branch /docs folder.

Wait a few seconds and check out your awesome website!

Modifying your website

You will most likely want to add or edit content to your website. To do this, you only need to alter the docs folder accordingly to trigger redeployment. Each update may not be instantaneous, so don’t worry if it takes a few seconds before your changes become effective.