These are instructions for setting up a local environment to build websites. If you set this up, you will have the ability to build and test your personal projects without needing internet access.
Install Brackets on your laptop (Mac or Windows). The installation is straightforward. Once the installation is completed and you have run Brackets for the first time it will look something like this:
Once Brackets is installed, I recommend the add these extensions:
- Beautify - Format JavaScript, HTML, and CSS files
- Brackets Icons
Here is how to install Beautify extension:
Create an account on GitHub. Remember your credentials because you are going to need them later. Once you are signed in, look for the green button on the right that says + New repository
Type a repository name using the following structure; username.github.io where username is your GitHub username. For example my username is kikolio therefore my repository name is going to be kikolio.github.io.
Remember - It has to have your username not mine!
Install GitHub Desktop. Run the app and sign in using your GitHub credentials - you will only do this step once. If the signin process does not appear click on the gear on the top right corner, click on option, and lastly click on + Add account. Enter your GitHub credentials and click login.
To clone your repository click on the plus sign on the top left corner and choose clone. A list of repositories you have access will show up. In your case it might only be the one you created above. Select it and click on clone.
You will be asked where do you want to save your project. To keep consistency, save it under GitHub folder in your documents folder.
Your repository will be added to list on GitHub Desktop and an empty folder with the name of your repository is under GitHub folder. Note that the folder is not really empty. If you have the option of seeing hidden folder/files, you will see a folder called .git. It contains the information about your repository - do not delete it or make any change.
Each change you made to that folder by adding files/folder or changing the content of those will be reflected on GitHub Desktop as an uncommitted change.
In this repository you will be creating a new folder for each homework and project for this session.
Please follow the folder structure I present; this is not required but it would help me to help you in the long run. In your documents folder, create a folder and name it AustinCodingAcademy. Notice that it has no spaces.
As you add more exercises, add them all to the "AustinCodingAcademy" folder. When you are done, you will have an organized folder structure like this:
/documents
/AustinCodingAcademy
/exercise-1
/exercise-2
/exercise-3
...
It is important to note that these are just examples of folder names. These folders will be added as we process in class
Now that we have Brackets installed, a folder structure, and a repository cloned, we can open any of those folders within Brackets This will allow us to access files and folders within the project easily. We can create files and folders according to our needs.
