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Hands-on tutorial

Pick the path matching the tool you want to explore and work at your own pace. Tom and Fabien can help.

How each path works

Each path follows the same three stages:

  1. Get the template — either download it as a ZIP (no GitHub account needed) or fork it on GitHub (needs a free account).
  2. Edit and preview on your own computer — install the tool, make your changes, and preview the site locally. No account needed.
  3. Publish online — optional — put your site on the web with GitHub Pages. This is the only stage that requires a GitHub account.

You can get a working website running on your laptop today without any GitHub account, and only sign up later if and when you want to publish.

Two routes to an easy start

  • No install, but needs a free GitHub account — the Jekyll path lets you build a personal website entirely through the GitHub web interface, with no software to install. We recommend this for anyone unfamiliar with the command line.
  • No account, but needs a local install — download any of the three templates as a ZIP and build it on your own machine.

  • Jekyll / Minimal Mistakes

    Good for: personal websites, project websites, fancier layouts. No Python required.

    Jekyll Path

  • MkDocs / Material

    Good for: software documentation, project websites, anything Python-based.

    MkDocs Path

  • JupyterBook / MyST

    Good for: computational content, tutorials, online books, papers with code

    JupyterBook Path