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Version Control for Researchers > Websites With Github Pages > Create a Markdown Website

Create a Markdown Website

Create a website landing page (`index.md`)

In GitKraken create a file in your repository called index.md.

index files have special meaning and represent the entry point to any website - the “Default” webpage.

To create a new file in GitKraken Client, we can use the Command Palette.

To initiate the Command Palette, hit | Ctrl + P, type Create File, and hit Enter.

Then enter the file name index.md.

Add content to `index.md`

I’ve added some welcoming text to my landing page.

I also added:

a hyperlink to the workshop materials.
an image which I sourced from Unsplash and downloaded to the root of my repository. I also added the attribution tag for the photographer who took the picture. This is actually in HTML but as you will see, markdown files can also render HTML content.

# My first Website

Welcome to my website! 

I created this website during [this workshop](https://r-rse-git-github-zero2hero.netlify.app/)

![](belinda-fewings-6wAGwpsXHE0-unsplash.jpg)

Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@bel2000a?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Belinda Fewings</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/6wAGwpsXHE0?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>

Commit everything and push to GitHub

Save any changes you made to index.md
Stage index.md and any images you added.
Commit.
Push to GitHub.

Enable the GitHub Pages

Now we need to enable GitHub Pages in order to tell GitHub to serve your repository as a website.

On your GitHub repository, go to the Settings (top right-ish tab).

In Settings, scroll down on the left navigation panel the Pages section.

Configure GitHub Pages

This opens up the GitHub Pages panel where we can configure how we want our website to be served.

Under the Build and deployment section:

Leave the Source set tho Deploy from a branch.
Under Branch choose the main branch and /(root) of the directory as the source for your website’s content.
Click Save.

Once you click on Save, GitHub will start building your website in the background (this might take a minute)

Enable HTTPS

In the meantime, while our website is being built and in the interest of security, let’s go ahead and enable HTTPS by scrolling down and ticking the Enable HTTPS option.

View your website

Once your page is built, the details including the URL to your site will be shown on your GitHub Pages panel (you might need to refresh the page for it to appear).