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| layout | title | prev_section | next_section |
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| docs | GitHub Pages | extras | deployment-methods |
GitHub Pages are public web pages for users, organizations, and repositories, that are freely hosted on GitHub. GitHub Pages are powered by Jekyll behind the scenes, so in addition to supporting regular HTML content, they’re also a great way to host your Jekyll-powered website for free.
Deploying Jekyll to GitHub Pages
GitHub Pages work by looking at certain branches of repositories on GitHub. There are two basic types of Pages available, user/organization Pages and project Pages. The way to deploy these two types of pages are nearly identical, except for a few minor details.
User and Organization Pages
User and organization Pages live in a special GitHub repository dedicated to only the Pages files. This repository must be named after the account name. For example, @mojombo’s user page repository has the name mojombo.github.com.
Content from the master branch of your repository will be used to build and publish the GitHub Pages site, so make sure your Jekyll site is stored there.
Custom domains do not affect repository names
GitHub Pages are initially configured to live under the `username.github.com` subdomain, which is why repositories must be named this way even if a custom domain is being used.
Project Pages
Unlike user and organization Pages, Project Pages are kept in the same repository as the project they are for, except that the website content is stored in a specially named gh-pages branch. The content of this branch will be used to rendered using Jekyll, and the output will become available under a subpath of your user pages subdomain, such as username.github.com/project (unless a custom domain is specified—see below).
The Jekyll project repository itself is a perfect example of this branch structure—the master branch contains the actual software project for Jekyll, however the Jekyll website (that you’re looking at right now) is contained in the gh-pages branch of the same repository.
GitHub Pages Documentation, Help, and Support
For more information about what you can do with GitHub Pages, as well as for troubleshooting guides, you should check out GitHub’s Pages Help section. If all else fails, you should contact GitHub Support.