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Link custom domain to any GitHub repo

I am aware that on GitHub you can create a repository, <username>.github.io, which will be a personal website. I also understand you can link custom domains to this, so example.com would show the website in your GitHub repo.

I have a couple questions though.

At the moment, I have a GitHub project - let's call it FooProject. I have purchased a custom domain name for a website to showcase the project. How can I create a website for this, hosted on GitHub? (not a personal site in the form <username>.github.io, but a project site).

Also, can I give the GitHub repository a different name like fooproject.com, or does it something specific?

I suppose what I am really asking is, when hosting a website on GitHub...

  • Can you host your website using a GitHub repository of any name (like fooproject.com)?

  • If not, I'm aware of using gh-pages branches for the website of a project. How would this work with a custom domain?

  • If that isn't a good option either, what's the best option for my use case?

Hope that's clear.

Solution

  • So I managed to answer my own questions in the end - here's what I did.

    My website is going to be something to showcase a different project I am working on. I could have hosted the website from a /doc directory or gh-pages branch in my project repository and then set up a custom domain from there.

    However, there was also the option of creating a repository with any name and hosting the website from the master branch - this method appealed to me more.

    I created a new repository named the same as my domain name, example.com (it doesn't really matter what you call the repository). Then, using git, I added some website files - index.html, stylesheet.css, etc.

    Once my repository was ready, I configured its master branch as a publishing source for GitHub pages - see this help page for details.

    Then with my DNS provider (GoDaddy, in my case), I configured the CNAME and A records (for the www subdomain and apex domain respectively). There are also help pages on GitHub for setting up www subdomains and setting up apex domains. Note that it takes a little while for the changes made on the DNS to take effect.

    Finally, I added my custom domain to my GitHub repository - see the GitHub help page for adding or removing custom domains.

    Here's a summary (for using any GitHub repository to host a website):

    1. Create your repository - repository name doesn't matter.
    2. Add your website files - HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.
    3. Configure the master branch as a publishing source
    4. Configure CNAME and A records with DNS provider
    5. Add the custom domain to the GitHub repository settings