Setting up a blog with Jekyll, Github, and dnsimple

Sean Massa – 04 Jan 2012

Step #1: Github

This step involves setting up your github repository to properly respond to a domain name.

1. Register for Github if you don’t already have an account.
2. Create a new repository called yourusername.github.com.
3. Clone it locally by running `git clone git@github.com:yourusername/yourusername.github.com.git`

Now we’re ready to put some content on our blog! If you go to yourusername.github.com, you should now see a page that says you need to setup some content for your blog. If you need more help for this part, take a look at the Github Pages documentation.

Step #2: Jekyll

This step involves setting up Jekyll for your static content generation.

1. This requires ruby. Make sure that’s installed.
2. Install the Jekyll gem with `gem install jekyll`.
3. Find a template that you like and clone it. Or, take a look at an existing site and copy the structure.

You should now be able to see your content by executing `jekyll —server —auto` in your repository directory. The —auto flag will make the server recompile pages based on files you change. If you need more help with this, take a look at the Jekyll documentation.

Step #3: dnsimple

This step involves setting up your domain name to point to your Github Pages blog.

1. Go to dnsimple and register for an account.
2. Find a domain name that is available and register it.
3. View your registered domain and click “Add services to domain”.
4. Add the Github Pages service.
5. Once you are back at your domain management page, click the “Advanced Editor” button.
6. Edit your CNAME entry to point to yourusername.github.com.
7. Go to your git repository and create a file called CNAME with the content mydomain.com.
8. Push your CNAME change to your git repository.
9. Wait a few seconds.
10. Go to mydomain.com and see if it worked!

At this point, your domain should be pointing to your Github Pages content. If not, look at one of the documentation sites I linked above. If this guide was unclear, let me know via email or a comment.