How to deploy a Ploof Studio site to GitHub Pages

You need two things. A Ploof Studio project with at least one page in it, and a GitHub account. A free account is enough.

GitHub Pages serves files exactly as they are, with nothing to install or build first. That is why it fits a Ploof Studio site so well. Every project is plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so the files in your repository are the site visitors see.

1. Open Deploy and pick GitHub Pages

   In your project, select Deploy at the right end of the preview toolbar. The dialog shows three ways to put your site online. Pick GitHub Pages, the one that says free hosting on github.io.

2. Connect GitHub

   Select Connect GitHub. Ploof Studio shows a short code. Select Copy code and open GitHub, paste the code on the GitHub page that opens, and select Authorize.

   GitHub asks to let Ploof Studio reach your repositories. Ploof Studio only changes the ones it creates. The sign-in is stored encrypted on your Mac.

3. Create a repository

   A repository is a folder on GitHub that holds your site’s files. Ploof Studio suggests a name from your project. Keep it or type your own, then select Create. On this path the repository is public, because GitHub Pages needs a public repository.

4. Turn on GitHub Pages

   Select Turn on GitHub Pages. GitHub starts publishing your site, which usually takes a minute or two. Ploof Studio waits for it and shows the live link once the site is really up, at an address like yourname.github.io/sunny-cups.

Keep changing the site in Ploof Studio. Point at an element in the preview and say what you want instead. When you open Deploy again, it tells you whether GitHub already has the latest version. If not, select Push latest changes. Ploof Studio commits the new files to the same repository, and GitHub publishes them again.

Once the site is live, the dialog offers Add your own domain. Find a domain suggests names that fit your project and checks which are free and what they cost on Vercel and Cloudflare. You buy the one you pick on your own account, so it stays yours. Ploof Studio never buys a domain for you.

Connect a domain then walks you through three steps with your domain filled in.

• Add the domain on GitHub. Open your repository’s Pages settings, type the domain under Custom domain, and select Save. Ploof Studio keeps it there each time you push changes.
• Add the DNS records GitHub asks for where you bought the domain. A root domain like sunnycups.com uses A records, and www or a subdomain uses a CNAME. Ploof Studio links to GitHub’s guide for the current values instead of copying them.
• Turn on HTTPS. Once GitHub’s DNS check passes, tick Enforce HTTPS in Pages settings. The certificate can take up to an hour.

If your domain is on Cloudflare, set those records to DNS only, because the proxy blocks the certificate.

GitHub Pages is a good home for a public site with no server code, which is what Ploof Studio makes. If you would rather keep the repository private, follow the Vercel via GitHub guide instead. And if you want no GitHub at all, choose Download ZIP in the same dialog and drop the file on any host you like.