Designing Websites with Publii and GitHub Pages: Create, Maintain and Host Beautiful Websites for Free

About the Author ...............................................................................................xv
About the Technical Reviewer ..............................................................................xvii
Acknowledgments ..............................................................................................xix
Part I: Building the Foundation .............................................................................1
Chapter 1: A Small Step or a Giant Leap? ..............................................................3
Introduction ......................................................................................................4
What’s in It for Me? ............................................................................................5
What Lies Ahead ................................................................................................7
What Sort of Tools Will I Need? ............................................................................9
Write Everything Down! ......................................................................................10
Overview of the Workflow ...................................................................................11
Summary .........................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Getting Started ..................................................................................15
Getting an Email Address ....................................................................................16
Choosing an Email Address .................................................................................22
Choosing a Password .........................................................................................27
Getting Started with GitHub ................................................................................33
But What Exactly Is GitHub? ...............................................................................33
Creating a New GitHub Account ...........................................................................34
Signing In to GitHub ..........................................................................................41
Summary .........................................................................................................44
Chapter 3: Getting Publii CMS Running .................................................................47
Introduction to Publii CMS ..................................................................................47
Downloading Publii CMS .....................................................................................50
Installing Publii CMS ..........................................................................................53
Windows Installation .........................................................................................53
macOS Installation ...........................................................................................58
Create Your First Website ..................................................................................65
Modifying Publii CMS Site Settings ......................................................................68
Advanced Options ............................................................................................72
Previewing the Site ..........................................................................................80
Summary .......................................................................................................83
Chapter 4: Getting Ready for Content ................................................................85
Theme Settings ..............................................................................................85
Layout: Hero Section .......................................................................................91
Post List .........................................................................................................97
Colors ............................................................................................................99
Fonts ............................................................................................................102
Additional: Favicon .........................................................................................107
Author Settings .............................................................................................110
Basic Author Information ................................................................................114
Author Avatar ...............................................................................................117
Author Featured Image ..................................................................................122
Author SEO ..................................................................................................124
Menu Settings ..............................................................................................126
Add a Menu .................................................................................................126
Assigning Menus ..........................................................................................129
Add Menu Items ..........................................................................................131
Tag Settings ................................................................................................138
Creating Tags ...............................................................................................142
Adding a Tag for News ..................................................................................142
Adding Remaining Tags .................................................................................151
Summary ..........................................................................................................153
Chapter 5: Adding Content ..................................................................................155
Content Is King ..................................................................................................155
What Is a Blog ...................................................................................................157
Posts .................................................................................................................158
WYSIWYG Editor ...........................................................................................159
Block Editor .................................................................................................160
Markdown Editor .........................................................................................161
The WYSIWYG Editor ...................................................................................162
Add a New Post ...........................................................................................162
Post Options ................................................................................................182
Posts List Panel ............................................................................................194
Managing Posts ...........................................................................................195
Duplicating a Post .......................................................................................196
Changing Post Status ..................................................................................198
Changing Published Date .............................................................................199
Deleting a Post ............................................................................................201
The Block Editor ..........................................................................................202
Creating a New Post ....................................................................................203
Add a Post Title ............................................................................................204
Save Post As a Draft ....................................................................................204
Post Body Text .............................................................................................206
Changing Heading Level ..............................................................................208
Formatting a Bullet List ...............................................................................209
Adding an Image .........................................................................................211
Inserting a Block ..........................................................................................215
Separating Paragraphs into Text Blocks ..........................................................217
Converting a Text Block ...............................................................................219
Adding a Separator ......................................................................................222
Moving Blocks .............................................................................................224
Formatting Text Within a Block ....................................................................225
Adding a Link in a Text Block .......................................................................227
Deleting a Block ..........................................................................................231
Apply Post Options ......................................................................................233
Publishing the Post ......................................................................................236
Summary .....................................................................................................240
Editors .........................................................................................................240
Posts ............................................................................................................241
Post Elements ..............................................................................................242
Text Formatting ...........................................................................................243
Post State ....................................................................................................243
Chapter 6: Page Building in Publii CMS .............................................................245
Creating a Page .............................................................................................246
The Markdown Editor ..................................................................................246
Rules for Markdown ....................................................................................247
New Page Using Markdown Editor ..................................................................250
Adding a Page Title ......................................................................................252
Terms and Conditions ..................................................................................253
Page Body Text ............................................................................................257
Formatting Headings ...................................................................................260
Bold Text ......................................................................................................262
Adding a Link ...............................................................................................264
Ordered Lists ...............................................................................................266
Implementing Ordered Lists ........................................................................270
Adding Emphasis .........................................................................................273
Inserting Images ..........................................................................................275
Publish the Page ...........................................................................................281
Page Options and Settings ..........................................................................281
Saving Draft As Published ...........................................................................289
Adding a Link to the Menu ...........................................................................291
Converting Posts to Pages ...........................................................................299
Nested Pages ............................................................................................303
What Are Nested Pages ...............................................................................303
Modifying Hierarchy in Page Options .............................................................304
Modifying Hierarchy in Pages List Panel .........................................................308
Viewing Nests Pages ...................................................................................315
Summary ..................................................................................................319
Chapter 7: Creating a GitHub Page ...............................................................323
Getting Back to GitHub ...............................................................................325
Logging In .................................................................................................325
Creating a Repository ..................................................................................328
Uploading a Test File ...................................................................................332
Configuring GitHub Pages ............................................................................340
Testing the Website .....................................................................................346
Final Steps .................................................................................................347
Summary ..................................................................................................350
Chapter 8: Configure Publii CMS for Sync .......................................................353
Understanding Synchronization .....................................................................353
Publii CMS Synchronization Settings ..............................................................354
Synchronize ...............................................................................................379
Begin the Sync Process ...............................................................................380
View Your Website .......................................................................................382
Issues with Cached Pages ............................................................................383
Try, Try Again… ...........................................................................................386
Troubleshooting ...........................................................................................387
Summary ...................................................................................................388
Part II: Enhancing Your Website ....................................................................391
Chapter 9: Backups and Sites .......................................................................393
Backing Up a Site ........................................................................................394
Creating a Backup .......................................................................................394
Storing Backups ..........................................................................................400
Restoring Backups ......................................................................................411
Deleting a Backup .......................................................................................422
Managing Sites ...........................................................................................424
Creating a New Site .....................................................................................425
Duplicating a Site ........................................................................................428
Deleting a Site .............................................................................................432
Navigating Between Sites ..............................................................................434
Renaming a Site ...........................................................................................436
Summary .....................................................................................................439
Chapter 10: Themes .......................................................................................441
Getting a Theme ................................................................................................442
Installing a Theme .............................................................................................447
Deleting a Theme ..............................................................................................452
Activating a Theme ...........................................................................................453
Theme Settings for New Theme ..........................................................................461
Featured Posts ..................................................................................................472
Summary ..........................................................................................................476
Chapter 11: Single-Page Sites ............................................................................479
More About Pages .............................................................................................480
Leveraging Earlier Work ....................................................................................481
Adding a New Page ...........................................................................................483
Selecting a Theme ............................................................................................504
Setting the Homepage ......................................................................................507
Adding a Blog ..................................................................................................509
Pretty URLs ..................................................................................................511
Posts Prefix ..................................................................................................512
Add Links to Blog .........................................................................................513
Create a Footer Menu .......................................................................................519
Summary ..........................................................................................................524
Chapter 12: Gallery and Contacts .........................................................................527
Adding a Gallery ................................................................................................528
Add a Third-Party Contact Page ..........................................................................540
Configuring Server ............................................................................................566
Summary ..........................................................................................................572
Chapter 13: Internet Real Estate ..........................................................................575
Domain Names ..................................................................................................576
Registering a Domain Name .............................................................................578
Selecting a Name ...........................................................................................578
Registering a Domain Name ............................................................................583
Configuring DNS ............................................................................................597
What Is DNS .................................................................................................598
GitHub Settings ............................................................................................599
Configuring Your DNS ..................................................................................603
Verifying the DNS Settings ..........................................................................610
Testing the Domain Name ...........................................................................613
Modifying Publii CMS Server Settings ...........................................................616
Summary .................................................................................................617
Part III: Advanced Customizations ...............................................................619
Chapter 14: Plugins and Cookies ..................................................................621
Plugins .....................................................................................................622
Getting a Comments Plugin .........................................................................622
Installing the Plugin ....................................................................................629
Registering for the Service ...........................................................................632
Activating the Plugin ....................................................................................640
Configuring the Plugin .................................................................................643
Enabling Comments in Publii CMS .................................................................644
Other Great Plugins .....................................................................................648
Cookie Banner Notice ...................................................................................651
Having a Privacy Policy ................................................................................653
Enabling the Banner Notice ...........................................................................654
Modifying the Footer Menu ............................................................................662
Summary ...................................................................................................664
Chapter 15: CSS Tricks .................................................................................667
FAQ Section ................................................................................................667
Getting the Code ..........................................................................................670
Creating an FAQ Page ..................................................................................671
Adding Custom CSS to Publii CMS ..................................................................674
Linking the FAQ to the Homepage ..................................................................679
Styling Links As Buttons ...............................................................................682
Getting the Code and CSS .............................................................................683
Adding Custom CSS to Publii CMS ...................................................................687
Modifying the Homepage Page ........................................................................688
The Final Word .............................................................................................693
Summary ....................................................................................................696
Index ..........................................................................................................699

Does getting online seem overwhelmingly difficult? Are you paying too much for your hosting solution? Have you always wanted to have a blog but don’t know where to start? Do you settle for a Facebook page for your business website but know you need more? The solution to these problems is choosing the right tools. This book will guide you through the process of setting up a Publii-based publishing platform and hosting your site for free on GitHub.

Publii is a free, open source, desktop application that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux and makes building the website or blog you dream of is a simple process. This book walks you through the process of installing and using Publii, setting up accounts on GitHub and hosting a static blog or website there. You will gain background insights on here to get no-cost imagery for website, how to leverage AI to generate ideas, outlines, and images. You’ll also review search engine optimization (SEO) best practices to ensure your site is searchable.

Designing Websites with Publii and GitHub Pages is your roadmap to creating a website and understanding how the publishing workflow works.

What You Will Learn

• Use text editors such as WYSIWYG, Block, and Markdown

• Make a page from a post.

• Work on advanced processes such as installing themes and plugins

• Manage and back up your data

• Explore GDRP and cooking banner considerations

Who This Book Is For

Those with limited or no programming or compute skills who want to learn how to set up a website.