Setting up this blog required me to google around a bit, so I figured I would make a step by step guide on how to get a Jekyll blog created, running locally on mac, and deployed to github pages.

1) Install homebrew (if you dont already have it)

The link to homebrew is here

2) Install Ruby

Once you have homebrew installed

Run brew install ruby in termial to install ruby

3) Ensure you have the latest version of Ruby

  • Run ruby -v in terminal

  • If version number is less than 3 link ruby by running: brew link --overwrite ruby --force in terminal

  • Run ruby -v in terminal and confirm verison number is greater than 3

4) Create a new GitHub Repository

  1. Create a new GitHub repository
  2. git clone <repository name> to your local machine

5) Install Jekyll

  1. cd <new repository name>
  2. Run gem install bundler jekyll
  3. After the install is done run jekyll new .

At this point, you should have your directory populated with the default jekyll files.

6) Add webrick

Open the Gemfile file in your newly populated directory and add the following line: gem "webrick"

I added webrick to the Gemfile so I could run the site locally. This may or may not be necessary depending on your setup.

7) Run the site locally

  1. Run bundle update to build
  2. Start your site with bundle exec jekyll serve
  3. Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost:4000

At this point you should see your site running locally.

8) Push and Deploy

  1. Push the changes to GitHub
  2. Deploy to GitHub Pages using this guide

9) Final Remarks

Congrats you have created a Jekyll site!

Some helpful links I found when looking to make edits to my site: