Spoiler Alert: Github

Bruce H. Cottman, Ph.D.

Jan 24, 2020·4 min read

In case you missed Jeremy Howard’s tweet:

I did a deep-dive into @GitHub Pages, and found it’s possible to create a *really* easy way to host your own blog: no code, no terminal, no template syntax. I made “fast_template” to pull this together,

I had known about the Github service, but I was not in immediate need of a blog site. Besides, there was a considerable switching-cost because I had not fooled around with Ruby in over four years.

As Jeremy Howard states in his blog:

GitHub’s own documentation on setting up a blog requires installing the Ruby programming language, using the git command line tool, copying over version numbers, and more. 17 steps in total!

How was using fast_template?

Jeremy Howard's blog outlines in detail how to create your free blog site and how to use the template. What I will detail is my experience in following his blog in setting up my own free blog site on Github.

& a guide showing beginners how to get blogging https://fast.ai/2020/01/16/fast_template/

Step 1. Create Account on Github

If you already have an account on Github, you can use that. If not, create one. Notice you can create an account with any name, such as your current startup name (if not taken already).

I already have an account on Github.

Step 2. Create and Initialize the Repository for the Blog

I clicked on the template at

https://github.com/fastai/fast_template/generate

to create a repository bcottman.github.io.

Jeremy's blog warns you against creating a repo by a name other than <github-account-name>.github.io(repo is an alternate name for repository).

The <github-account-name> name in my case is bcottman.It derives from the URL that routes me to my root Github account: https://github.com/bcottman.

Without looking at the GitHub code, I tried different patterns of repo names, such as bcottman.io.The result was a failure on any attempt to route.

The only bcottman.github.io is a successful URL route to my blog home. Anything else will not make sense to Github.

Step 3. Edit _config.yml

After clicking on the template, I saw the following directory athttps://github.com/bcottman/bcottman.github.io

I edited the file _config.yml by clicking on the icon

In the file _config.ymlI made the following changes:

...title: Reference to bcottman Blog
description: Find all links for bcottman's blog posts here.
github_username: bcottman...# Email and twitter are optional:
email: dr.bruce.cottman@gmail.com
twitter_username: brucecottman# Set this to true to get LaTeX math equation support
use_math: True...

Step 4. Edit bcottman.github.io/blob/master/README.md

Using Markdown.

Markdown is a lightweight and easy-to-use syntax for styling all forms of writing on the GitHub platform.

I edited the file bcottman.github.io/blob/master/README.md :

# bcottman's Blog of Blog References

Step 5. Edit bcottman.github.io/blob/master/index.md

index.md is the homepage of your blog. I edited index.md :

## bruce Cottman's Reference Blog### Medium Blogs1. [paso’s Offering of Logging and Parameter Services for your Python Project](https://medium.com/@dr.bruce.cottman/pasos-offering-of-logging-and-parameter-services-for-your-python-project-c3ae2fd6869a)1. [Part 1: Balancing and Augmenting Structured Data](https://medium.com/@dr.bruce.cottman/part-1-balancing-and-augmenting-structured-data-4ade0df38662)1. [Uncommon Data Cleaners for your Real-World Machine or Deep Learning Project](https://towardsdatascience.com/uncommon-data-cleaners-for-your-real-world-machine-or-deep-learning-project-f926d8ecb258)1. [Part 2 — More Uncommon Data Cleaners for your Machine or Deep Learning Project](https://medium.com/@dr.bruce.cottman/part-2-more-uncommon-data-cleaners-for-your-machine-or-deep-learning-project-b30f862b2d81)1. [Part 1: Will Streamlit kill off Flask?](https://medium.com/swlh/part-1-will-streamlit-kill-off-flask-5ecd75f879c8)1. [Part 2: Will Streamlit cause the extinction of Flask?](https://medium.com/@dr.bruce.cottman/part-2-will-streamlit-cause-the-extinction-of-flask-395d282296ed)

Step 6. Edit bcottman.github.io/blob/master/about.md

The edits are:

# About
Dr. Bruce is a Machine Learning Scientist @ HPKinetics.
He has over 19 years focusing on delivering solutions using Java, R and Python. 
He has over 40 Papers and Presentations in Physics, Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence.

7. Edit file in the directory bcottman.github.io/blob/master/_posts

I renamed the file in this directory (*welcome*.md)to bcottman.github.io/blob/master/_posts/2020-02-24-no-posts.md.I edited the file.

# No posts yet

The resulting home page of bcottman.github.io

Summary

I went over the enjoyable experience of using https://fast.ai/2020/01/16/fast_template/.

I edited four files created by https://fast.ai/2020/01/16/fast_template/ to result in a free (minimal) blog site.

I will log and report as I expand this blog site.

I hope this helps you create your own blog site. If you do send me a quick e-mail.

References