Introduction to Static Site Hosting

About 2045 wordsAbout 7 min

2025-08-01

Prerequisites

Before you start, you only need two things:

A GitHub Account: If you don't have one, sign up for free at GitHub.com. This will be the central hub for your code.

A Simple Website Project: A folder on your computer with your website files. If you don't have one, create a folder named my-first-website, and inside it, create a file called index.html with the following content:

index.html
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
    <meta charset="UTF-8">
    <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
    <title>My First Website</title>
    <style>
        body { 
            font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; 
            display: grid; 
            place-content: center; 
            height: 100vh; 
            margin: 0; 
            background-color: #f0f2f5; 
            color: #333;
            text-align: center;
        }
        h1 { 
            color: #1c1e21; 
            font-size: 2.5rem;
            text-shadow: 1px 1px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);
        }
    </style>
</head>
<body>
    <h1>Hello, World! My website is live!</h1>
    <p>Hosted with love by GitHub & Cloudflare.</p>
</body>
</html>

GitHub Pages

This method hosts your website directly from your GitHub repository. It's incredibly straightforward and deeply integrated with the GitHub ecosystem, making it a perfect starting point.

Step-by-Step Deployment to GitHub Pages

Create a New GitHub Repository
A repository (or "repo") is a project folder hosted on GitHub. This is where your website's code will live.
- Log into GitHub and go to your dashboard.
- In the top-right corner, click the + icon and select New repository.
- Fill out the form with the following details:
  Repository nameRequiredstring
  Enter a unique name, like my-first-website. GitHub will use this in your site's URL.
  DescriptionOptionalstring
  Briefly describe your project, e.g., "My first live website, deployed with GitHub Pages!".
  Public / PrivateRequired
  Select Public. Free GitHub Pages are hosted from public repositories.
  Add a README fileOptionalboolean
  It's good practice to add a README file to describe your project. You can check this box.
- Click the green Create repository button.
Upload Your Website Files
With your repository created, it's time to add your website's files.
- On your new repository's main page, click the Add file button and select Upload files.
- Drag and drop your index.html file (or your entire project folder) into the designated area.
- Below the upload area, you'll find the Commit changes section. A "commit" is a snapshot of your changes.
- Type a concise commit message, such as feat: Add initial website files.
- Click Commit changes.
Activate GitHub Pages
Now, you just need to tell GitHub to serve these files as a website.
- In your repository, click the Settings tab.
- On the left sidebar, click Pages.
- Under Build and deployment, for the Source, select Deploy from a branch.
Configure and Save
Tell GitHub which branch and folder contain your site.
- Branch: Select main from the dropdown. This is the primary branch of your repository.
- Folder: Select /(root). This tells GitHub that your index.html is in the main directory.
- Click Save.
Visit Your Live Website!
GitHub is now building and deploying your site. This process, called a "GitHub Action," might take a minute or two.
- After a short wait, refresh the Pages settings page.
- A green box will appear at the top: "Your site is live at https://<Your-GitHub-Username>.github.io/<your-repository-name>/".
- Click the link to see your "Hello, World!" message live on the internet!
Be Patient!
It can sometimes take 5-10 minutes for your site to become visible for the first time. If you see a 404 "Not Found" error, wait a bit, clear your browser cache, and try again.

Cloudflare Pages

Cloudflare Pages is a more powerful, performance-focused alternative. It connects directly to your GitHub repository and deploys your site on its super-fast global network (CDN), offering benefits like automatic SSL, custom domains, and analytics for free.

Step-by-Step Deployment to Cloudflare Pages

Create a Cloudflare Account
If you don't already have one, sign up for a free Cloudflare account. The process is quick and only requires an email address and password.
Create a Pages Project & Connect to GitHub
- Log into your Cloudflare dashboard.
- On the sidebar, navigate to Workers & Pages.
- Click Create application, then select the Pages tab.
- Click Connect to Git.
- A pop-up will ask you to authorize Cloudflare with your GitHub account. For security, select Only select repositories and choose the my-first-website repository.
- Click Install & Authorize.
Select Your Repository in Cloudflare
- Once authorized, you'll be redirected back to Cloudflare.
- Select the my-first-website repository and click Begin setup.
Configure Your Build Settings
This is the most important step. You are telling Cloudflare how to handle your project. For a simple HTML site, it's very easy.
- Project name: This will default to your repository name (my-first-website). This also determines your .pages.dev subdomain.
- Production branch: Ensure main is selected. This is the branch Cloudflare will deploy from.
- Under Build settings:
  - Framework preset: Leave this as None. This is for sites using frameworks like React or Vue that require a build step.
  - Build command: Leave this field completely blank.
  - Build output directory: Leave this field blank or set to /.
Save and Deploy
- Click the blue Save and Deploy button.
- Cloudflare will now fetch your code from GitHub and deploy it across its global network. You can watch the deployment progress in real-time. It's usually finished in under a minute.
- When it's done, you'll see a big "Success!" message.
Visit Your New, Faster Website!
Cloudflare provides you with a unique, secure URL.
- Your website URL will be: https://my-first-website.pages.dev.
- Click the link to see your live site, now served by Cloudflare's global edge network!
All Done!
You have now successfully deployed the same website using two different, powerful, and free hosting platforms. You can see how both connect to the same source code on GitHub but provide different workflows and benefits.

Automating Deployment with GitHub Actions

Manual uploads are great for getting started, but the real power of modern web development lies in automation. By using a GitHub Actions workflow, you can set up a process that automatically builds and deploys your website every time you push a change to your main branch.

This is a best practice known as Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment (CI/CD).

Setting Up Your Auto-Deployment Workflow

Create the Workflow Directory
GitHub Actions workflows are defined by YAML files located in a special directory within your repository.
- In your project's root folder, create a new folder named .github.
- Inside .github, create another folder named workflows.
Create the Workflow File
Inside the .github/workflows directory, create a new file named deploy.yml.

Add the Workflow Code

Copy and paste the following code into your deploy.yml file. This is a standard workflow for a VuePress site.

.github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: deploy

on:
  # Automatically trigger deployment on pushes to the main branch
  push:
    branches: [main]
  # Allow manual deployment from the GitHub Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:

jobs:
  docs:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          # Fetch all commit history to get "last updated" info
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Setup Node.js
        uses: actions/setup-node@v4
        with:
          # Use Node.js version 22
          node-version: 22

      # Install dependencies using npm ci for faster, reliable installs
      - name: Install Dependencies
        run: npm ci

      # Run the build script defined in your package.json
      - name: Build VuePress site
        run: npm run docs:build

      # Deploy the built site to the gh-pages branch
      # @see https://github.com/crazy-max/ghaction-github-pages
      - name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
        uses: crazy-max/ghaction-github-pages@v4
        with:
          # The branch to deploy to
          target_branch: gh-pages
          # The directory to deploy from (VuePress default)
          build_dir: docs/.vuepress/dist
        env:
          # The GITHUB_TOKEN is automatically provided by GitHub
          GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

Commit and Push the Workflow File

Save the deploy.yml file, commit it to your repository, and push it to GitHub.

git add .github/workflows/deploy.yml
git commit -m "ci: Add GitHub Actions workflow for deployment"
git push

Configure GitHub Pages for the gh-pages Branch
The workflow will automatically create a new branch called gh-pages and push your built website files to it. You need to tell GitHub Pages to use this branch.
- Go to your repository's Settings > Pages.
- Under Build and deployment, change the Source to Deploy from a branch.
- Change the Branch to gh-pages and the folder to /(root).
- Click Save.
Watch the Magic Happen
From now on, every time you push a change to your main branch, the workflow will automatically run. You can view its progress under the Actions tab in your GitHub repository. It will build your site and deploy the finished product to your live GitHub Pages URL.

Q&A and Troubleshooting

Here are answers to some common questions and issues you might encounter.

Why is my site showing a 404 Not Found error?

Wait a few minutes: Deployments can take time to propagate across the web. This is the most common reason. Give it 5-10 minutes, especially on the first deployment.
Check the file path: Ensure your main HTML file is named index.html. If you're using a framework, verify that the Build output directory is correct. For a standard VuePress site, it should be docs/.vuepress/dist.
Check repository visibility: For the free tier of GitHub Pages, your repository must be set to Public.
Check your branch: Make sure the branch you are deploying from (main or gh-pages) is the one selected in your hosting provider's settings.

My CSS or JavaScript is not loading. Why?

Incorrect paths: This is the most likely cause. Check the href and src paths in your HTML. Relative paths (/style.css or ../scripts/main.js) are usually the most reliable.
Case sensitivity: Web servers are typically case-sensitive. style.css is a different file from Style.css. Double-check your filenames and paths for correct casing.
Build issues: If you're using a framework, it's possible the build process failed to include your assets. Check the build logs in GitHub Actions or Cloudflare Pages for errors.

How do I use a custom domain?

Both platforms provide excellent support for custom domains.

For GitHub Pages: Go to Settings > Pages > Custom domain, enter your domain name (e.g., www.yourdomain.com), and save. Then, go to your domain registrar's website and add the CNAME or A records that GitHub provides.
For Cloudflare Pages: In your Pages project, go to the Custom domains tab and follow the setup wizard. If your domain's DNS is already managed by Cloudflare, this process is seamless and often instant.

Should I use GitHub Pages or Cloudflare Pages?

Changelog

8/4/25, 11:40 AM

View All Changelog

2b7ff-web-deploy(Auto): Update base URL for web-pages branchon 8/4/25

Copyright

License under:Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0)