Publish a Portfolio with GitHub Pages

Overview

GitHub Pages turns a repository into a live website, for free, straight from your Git history. In this project you will build a small portfolio page, publish it at https://your-username.github.io, and then update it the professional way — on a branch, through a pull request — watching the live site change after the merge.

You will finish with something genuinely useful: a public portfolio you can put on your CV, built and maintained with exactly the workflow employers use.

Prerequisites

Step 1: Create the Website

Create a folder named after your future site and turn it into a repository:

mkdir priya-sharma.github.io
cd priya-sharma.github.io
git init

Add three files. Change the text to describe yourself:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="UTF-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Priya Sharma | Web Developer</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">
</head>
<body>
  <header>
    <h1>Priya Sharma</h1>
    <p>Aspiring web developer. I build small, fast, accessible websites.</p>
  </header>
  <main>
    <h2>About me</h2>
    <p>I'm learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Git, one project at a time.</p>
  </main>
  <footer>
    <a href="https://github.com/priya-sharma">GitHub</a>
  </footer>
</body>
</html>

body {
  font-family: system-ui, sans-serif;
  max-width: 720px;
  margin: 40px auto;
  padding: 0 16px;
  line-height: 1.6;
}

header h1 {
  margin-bottom: 0;
}

# priya-sharma.github.io

My personal portfolio, published with GitHub Pages.

Step 2: Commit It

git status --short

git add .
git commit -m "Create portfolio home page"

Step 3: Create the GitHub Repository

Step 4: Push and Publish

git remote add origin https://github.com/priya-sharma/priya-sharma.github.io.git
git push -u origin main

For a repository named your-username.github.io, GitHub publishes the main branch automatically. Open the repository’s Settings → Pages to confirm the source is “Deploy from a branch” with main and the / (root) folder. After a minute or two, your site is live at https://priya-sharma.github.io — the Actions tab shows the deployment while it runs.

Step 5: Update Through a Pull Request

Now add a Projects section the way a team would — on a branch:

git switch -c add-projects-section

Add this inside <main>, after the About section:

    <h2>Projects</h2>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="https://github.com/priya-sharma/weather-dashboard">Weather dashboard</a></li>
      <li><a href="https://github.com/priya-sharma/recipe-finder">Recipe finder</a></li>
    </ul>

git diff --stat
git commit -am "Add projects section"
git push -u origin add-projects-section

On GitHub, click “Compare & pull request”, check that the base is main, describe the change and create the pull request. Review your own Files changed tab, then click “Merge pull request” and “Delete branch”. GitHub redeploys the site automatically — refresh it after a minute to see the new section.

Step 6: Sync and Clean Up

git switch main
git pull

git branch -d add-projects-section
git fetch --prune
git log --oneline --graph

The graph tells the whole story: the first commit, the feature branch and the merge commit GitHub created when you merged the pull request.

Extend This Project

Summary

You created a repository, published it as a live website with GitHub Pages, and shipped an update through a branch and a pull request. From now on, every change to your portfolio can follow the same safe, reviewable path.