I’m just starting out with GitHub and web development. I want to set up a new repository for my web project and add some basic starter files to it.
I need to create empty template files for my HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code so I can start building my website. What’s the best way to add these placeholder files to a GitHub repo?
Also, since I’m pretty new to this, could someone explain how to create the actual repository first? I know this might be a basic question but I want to make sure I’m doing everything correctly from the beginning.
Any step-by-step guidance would be really helpful since I’m still learning the ropes with both GitHub and web development in general.
yea for sure! just click the green button for a new repo, name it, then add those files like index.html, style.css, script.js. start with a lil html in the index and u’ll be all set!
Start by going to GitHub and clicking the plus icon (upper right) → ‘New repository.’ Give it a descriptive name and check the box to include a README file. Once it’s created, click ‘Add file’ → ‘Create new file’ to start adding your code. I’d suggest creating index.html first, then making separate folders for CSS (styles.css) and JavaScript files. This keeps everything organized from day one. Don’t worry about perfect code initially - even dropping a simple comment like ‘/* CSS styles go here */’ in your CSS file helps later on.
I’d start by initializing your repo with a README file - gives you something to work with right away. Then just add your template files through GitHub’s web interface using ‘Create new file.’ Name them index.html, styles.css, and main.js. For the HTML file, throw in the basic boilerplate - doctype, html, head, and body tags, even if they’re mostly empty. This worked great when I started out. Having that foundation made it way easier to actually start coding. You can clone it locally later once you’re comfortable with Git commands.
Skip the manual file creation - automate the whole thing. I wasted tons of time doing the same setup steps until I got smart about it.
Build a workflow that creates your GitHub repo and dumps in all your starter files automatically. Set it up once, get index.html, style.css, script.js, and proper folders in seconds.
Throw in your HTML boilerplate, CSS reset, basic JavaScript structure, even a gitignore. Beats clicking through GitHub’s interface every time.
I’ve done this for my team - saves hours across projects. Just trigger it and boom, everything’s in your new repo.
Latenode makes it simple. Connect to GitHub’s API and it’ll create repos with your exact template whenever you want.