Git & GitHub

GitHub Advanced Features

13 min Lesson 33 of 35

GitHub Advanced Features

In this lesson, we'll explore advanced GitHub features that go beyond basic Git functionality. These tools can enhance your documentation, collaboration, and overall project management on the platform.

GitHub Pages - Hosting Websites

GitHub Pages allows you to host static websites directly from your GitHub repository for free:

Types of GitHub Pages Sites:

1. User/Organization Site:
   - Repository: username.github.io
   - URL: https://username.github.io
   - Deploy from main branch

2. Project Site:
   - Any repository
   - URL: https://username.github.io/repo-name
   - Deploy from main, gh-pages branch, or /docs folder

Setting up GitHub Pages:

# Method 1: Deploy from main branch
1. Go to repository Settings
2. Navigate to Pages section
3. Select "Deploy from branch"
4. Choose "main" and "/ (root)"
5. Click Save

# Method 2: Deploy from /docs folder
1. Create docs/ folder in your repository
2. Add your HTML files to docs/
3. In Settings > Pages, select "main" and "/docs"
4. Your site will be available shortly

# Method 3: Use GitHub Actions for build process
name: Deploy to GitHub Pages
on:
  push:
    branches: [main]
jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      - name: Build site
        run: npm run build
      - uses: peaceiris/actions-gh-pages@v3
        with:
          github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          publish_dir: ./dist

Use Cases: Portfolio websites, project documentation, blogs (with Jekyll), landing pages, and API documentation.

Custom domains for GitHub Pages:

# Add custom domain
1. Create CNAME file in repository root
2. Add your domain: www.yourdomain.com
3. In Settings > Pages, add custom domain
4. Configure DNS records with your domain provider:
   - Type: CNAME
   - Name: www
   - Value: username.github.io

# Enable HTTPS (free with GitHub Pages)
✓ Automatically provided via Let's Encrypt
✓ Check "Enforce HTTPS" in settings

GitHub Gists - Code Snippets

Gists are simple way to share code snippets, notes, or small files:

Gist Features:
✓ Create public or secret gists
✓ Version control for each gist
✓ Embed gists in websites
✓ Fork and star gists
✓ Comment on gists
✓ Share with unique URL

Creating and using Gists:

# Create a Gist on GitHub.com
1. Go to gist.github.com
2. Add filename and code
3. Choose "Create public gist" or "Create secret gist"

# Clone a Gist
git clone https://gist.github.com/username/gist-id.git

# Embed Gist in HTML
<script src="https://gist.github.com/username/gist-id.js"></script>

# Using GitHub CLI
gh gist create myfile.js --public
gh gist list
gh gist view <gist-id>
gh gist edit <gist-id>

Secret vs Private: Secret gists aren't searchable but can be accessed by anyone with the URL. They're not truly private but are hidden from search engines.

GitHub Discussions

GitHub Discussions provides a community forum within your repository:

Discussion Features:
✓ Community Q&A
✓ Announcements
✓ Ideas and feature requests
✓ Polls
✓ Categorized discussions
✓ Mark answers as correct
✓ Convert issues to discussions

Enabling and organizing Discussions:

# Enable Discussions
1. Go to repository Settings
2. Check "Discussions" under Features
3. Discussion tab appears in repository

# Create Discussion Categories
- Q&A: Community questions
- Announcements: Project updates
- Ideas: Feature suggestions
- Show and tell: Community showcases
- General: Everything else

# Best practices
✓ Pin important discussions
✓ Set up discussion templates
✓ Use labels for organization
✓ Moderate discussions actively
✓ Link to discussions from README

When to use: Use Discussions for open-ended conversations. Use Issues for actionable bugs and tasks. Use PRs for code changes.

GitHub Wikis

Wikis provide comprehensive documentation space for your project:

# Enable Wiki
1. Go to Settings
2. Check "Wikis" under Features
3. Wiki tab appears

# Wiki is actually a Git repository
git clone https://github.com/username/repo.wiki.git
# Edit locally, commit, and push

# Wiki supports Markdown
- Create pages with Markdown
- Link between pages: [[Page Name]]
- Add sidebar: _Sidebar.md
- Add footer: _Footer.md
- Add home page: Home.md

Organizing Wiki content:

Recommended Wiki Structure:

Home.md                    # Wiki homepage
Getting-Started.md         # Installation and setup
User-Guide.md             # How to use the project
API-Reference.md          # API documentation
Contributing.md           # Contribution guidelines
FAQ.md                    # Frequently asked questions
Troubleshooting.md        # Common problems and solutions
_Sidebar.md               # Navigation sidebar
_Footer.md                # Footer with links

Releases and Changelogs

Releases package your software with release notes and downloadable assets:

# Creating a Release
1. Go to Releases > Draft a new release
2. Choose or create a tag (e.g., v1.0.0)
3. Target: usually main branch
4. Write release notes
5. Upload binary files (optional)
6. Mark as pre-release if needed
7. Publish release

# Semantic Versioning (SemVer)
MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH
- MAJOR: Breaking changes (2.0.0)
- MINOR: New features, backwards compatible (1.3.0)
- PATCH: Bug fixes (1.2.1)

# Pre-release versions
v1.0.0-alpha.1
v1.0.0-beta.2
v1.0.0-rc.1

Writing effective release notes:

# Release v2.1.0 - New Features and Bug Fixes

## What's New
- Added dark mode support (#234)
- Implemented user profile customization (#245)
- New API endpoint for batch operations (#256)

## Bug Fixes
- Fixed memory leak in data processing (#267)
- Resolved authentication timeout issue (#271)
- Corrected date formatting in exports (#278)

## Breaking Changes
- Removed deprecated `oldFunction()` method
- Changed API response format for /users endpoint

## Upgrade Instructions
See [Migration Guide](link) for upgrade steps.

## Contributors
Thanks to @user1, @user2, @user3 for contributions!

**Full Changelog**: v2.0.0...v2.1.0

Important: Once a release is published, never modify the associated tag. Create a new release with a new version number instead.

GitHub CLI (gh command)

The GitHub CLI brings GitHub functionality to your terminal:

# Install GitHub CLI
# macOS
brew install gh

# Windows
winget install GitHub.cli

# Linux
sudo apt install gh

# Authenticate
gh auth login

Common gh commands:

# Repository operations
gh repo create my-project --public
gh repo clone username/repo
gh repo view
gh repo fork

# Issue management
gh issue list
gh issue create --title "Bug report" --body "Description"
gh issue view 123
gh issue close 123

# Pull request operations
gh pr create --title "Feature" --body "Description"
gh pr list
gh pr checkout 456
gh pr review 456 --approve
gh pr merge 456 --squash

# Workflow operations
gh workflow list
gh workflow run ci.yml
gh run list
gh run view 789

# Gist operations
gh gist create file.js
gh gist list
gh gist view <id>

# Releases
gh release create v1.0.0 --notes "Release notes"
gh release list
gh release download v1.0.0

Productivity Boost: Create aliases for common gh commands in your shell profile to save typing: alias gpr="gh pr create"

GitHub Mobile App

GitHub Mobile allows you to manage your projects on the go:

Mobile App Features:

✓ Review and merge pull requests
✓ Respond to issues and discussions
✓ Browse code with syntax highlighting
✓ Receive notifications
✓ Approve workflow runs
✓ Create and edit issues
✓ Comment on code and PRs
✓ Manage your profile

Available on:
- iOS (iPhone/iPad)
- Android

Best practices for mobile workflow:

Good mobile tasks:
✓ Code review and comments
✓ Approving simple PRs
✓ Responding to issues
✓ Triaging notifications
✓ Quick documentation edits

Better done on desktop:
✗ Complex code reviews
✗ Resolving merge conflicts
✗ Writing substantial code
✗ Extensive refactoring reviews

Organization Management

GitHub Organizations provide advanced team and repository management:

# Creating an Organization
1. Click your profile > Settings
2. Select "Organizations"
3. Click "New organization"
4. Choose plan (Free/Team/Enterprise)
5. Configure organization settings

Organization Features:
✓ Team-based access control
✓ Multiple repository ownership
✓ Organization-wide settings
✓ Audit logs
✓ Billing management
✓ OAuth app restrictions
✓ Organization Projects
✓ Organization Discussions

Team management best practices:

# Create teams based on function
- @org/frontend-team
- @org/backend-team
- @org/devops-team
- @org/security-team

# Assign team permissions
- Read: View and clone
- Triage: Manage issues and PRs
- Write: Push and create branches
- Maintain: Manage settings (no destructive actions)
- Admin: Full access including deletion

# Use team mentions in issues/PRs
"@org/frontend-team please review the UI changes"

# Set CODEOWNERS by team
# CODEOWNERS file
*.js    @org/frontend-team
*.py    @org/backend-team
*.yml   @org/devops-team

GitHub Sponsors

GitHub Sponsors allows maintainers to receive funding for their work:

# Setting up GitHub Sponsors
1. Go to github.com/sponsors
2. Join the waitlist or apply
3. Set up your sponsor profile
4. Configure sponsorship tiers
5. Add funding options to repositories

# Add .github/FUNDING.yml
github: [username1, username2]
patreon: username
open_collective: projectname
custom: ["https://yourwebsite.com/donate"]

Advanced Repository Features

Additional features that enhance repository functionality:

Repository Templates:
- Create reusable repository structures
- Include default files and folders
- Template repositories for common project types

Code Scanning:
- Automated security vulnerability detection
- CodeQL analysis
- Integration with security advisories

Dependency Graph:
- Visualize project dependencies
- Automated dependency updates (Dependabot)
- Security vulnerability alerts

Repository Insights:
- Contributor statistics
- Traffic analytics
- Commit activity graphs
- Code frequency visualization

Practice Exercise:

Explore GitHub Advanced Features:

Create a GitHub Pages site from one of your repositories
Create a public gist with a code snippet and embed it
Enable Discussions on a repository and create categories
Set up a Wiki with at least 3 pages and a sidebar
Create a release with semantic versioning and release notes
Install GitHub CLI and practice 5 different commands
Download GitHub Mobile and review a pull request

Summary

In this lesson, you learned about:

GitHub Pages for hosting static websites and documentation
GitHub Gists for sharing code snippets and notes
GitHub Discussions for community engagement and Q&A
GitHub Wikis for comprehensive project documentation
Creating releases with semantic versioning and changelogs
GitHub CLI for terminal-based GitHub operations
GitHub Mobile for managing projects on the go
Organization management for team collaboration
GitHub Sponsors and additional repository features

Next Up: In the next lesson, we'll explore team collaboration strategies and workflows!