Github html website doesn't work [404 file not found]

[Mark Kaine]

I don't quite understand how i could mess this up...

 

used this guide to make a html website 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Simple-Web-Page-with-HTML%3famp=1

 

 

when i click on the html file i made it works in my browser, except the photo (maybe imgur links don't work? )

 

but when i published it on github and go to the web address it should be at 

https://[username].github.io/

 

i just get the 404 error , but in the repository it sees my file,  everything looks ok, and yes i unticked "keep private"

 

where could I have messed this up??

 

also im trying to make a new repository, it won't let me, it always goes back to the one i already made, probably because there are "no changes", so  need to delete the commit (repository)  to make a new one? I mean im not going to figure this out if it won't let me try again... 

 

EDIT: it even says "your site is published at [adress link]..." 

but it still just shows 404 error???

[tikker]

Have you followed GitHub's instructions? https://pages.github.com/

Did you name the repository <username>.github.io and call your HTML file index.html?

 

33 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

also im trying to make a new repository, it won't let me, it always goes back to the one i already made, probably because there are "no changes", so  need to delete the commit (repository)  to make a new one? I mean im not going to figure this out if it won't let me try again... 

Repositories and commits are different things. The repository keeps your files and you commit changes to the repository. You indeed can't have two repositories with the same name, so if you want to delete a repository, you need to go into the repository's settings and then delete it in the "Danger Area".

[Mark Kaine]

15 minutes ago, tikker said:

Have you followed GitHub's instructions? https://pages.github.com/

Did you name the repository <username>.github.io and call your HTML file index.html?

i used another tutorial,  unfortunately... i did everything like you said except i called it .html. like they said in that tutorial lol...

so i need to name it  .index.html. 

?

 

but now  i created more issues (of course!) and made a few more commits... can i just delete them (and how) and then try again with my original commit , which I'd have to rename first?

 

Its probably easier to just delete the repository and start again?

[tikker]

2 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i used another tutorial,  unfortunately... i did everything like you said except i called it .html. like they said in that tutorial lol...

so i need to name it  .index.html. 

?

index.html, without the preceding dot.

3 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

but now  i created more issues (of course!) and made a few more commits... can i just delete them (and how) and then try again with my original commit , which I'd have to rename first?

Since version control is all about tracking changes, you'll rarely want to actually delete them. You can undo your commits with git revert. Something like

git revert --no-commit <problematic commit>..HEAD
git commit

could be one solution to undo everything since the problematic commit. You can also just fix them and push more commits.

[Mark Kaine]

46 minutes ago, tikker said:

Since version control is all about tracking changes, you'll rarely want to actually delete them. You can undo your commits with git revert. Something like

i mean the weird thing is i clicked "new repository", made a new name, description,  etc, changed and renamed the html file and it still just added to the first thing i uploaded... i probably made a mistake somewhere,  but thats the "flow" that they chose, i clicked "new" lol 

 

but wait so i just could push another (commit?) with renamed html file and try again until it works basically?

 

thats not to say i wouldn't prefer to remove the previous ones though since none of them worked anyways.

 

 

edit: @tikker now it tells me "deleted" because that's what i did! brute force! ; D

 

 

 

 

will it work now? the plot thickens...

 

 

 

 

 

[tikker]

10 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i mean the weird thing is i clicked "new repository", made a new name, description,  etc, changed and renamed the html file and it still just added to the first thing i uploaded... i probably made a mistake somewhere,  but thats the "flow" that they chose, i clicked "new" lol 

How are you commiting? Sounds like you might still be working in the old repository or got the remotes not setup entirely correctly.

12 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

but wait so i just could push another (commit?) with renamed html file and try again until it works basically?

Yes. Rename the file ("git mv <old> <new>" if working form the command line), add and commit.

[Mark Kaine]

47 minutes ago, tikker said:

How are you commiting?

wait, sorry, i wanted to rename it, but didn't,  you *need* to name it like that (your username.github.io) apparently or else it won't make a web page... so yeah, i just added i guess. im using the app, idk why, but thats probably good because on the website im completely lost... lol.

 

 

So ok i deleted the repository,  renamed the file to index.html,  published it, the GitHub Pages page says "your site is published"... again... and

 

 

complains about index.html file...

[tikker]

16 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

wait, sorry, i wanted to rename it, but didn't,  you *need* to name it like that (your username.github.io) apparently or else it won't make a web page... so yeah, i just added i guess. im using the app, idk why, but thats probably good because on the website im completely lost... lol.

Yes for your user homepage you have no choice, but to name the repository username.github.io.

16 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

So ok i deleted the repository,  renamed the file to index.html,  published it, the GitHub Pages page says "your site is published"... again... and

What do you mean with "published it"? Did you (re)create the required repository and push the index.html there?

[Mark Kaine]

36 minutes ago, tikker said:

What do you mean with "published it"? Did you (re)create the required repository and push the index.html there?

yeap. it calls it publish in the app though.  next thing is push. then it says "commit successful" (or similar) 

 

 

but it didn't help, same 404 error as before. 

 

its like I'm in a loop, now i changed the html code again,  because I wasn't sure if there wasn't a mistake and pushed it (there is no publish button in that case) and now it says "your site is ready to be published" in settings but there is no publish button or anything. 

 

 

basically the first problem seems to be it creates the website,  but cant read the file.

 

the second problem i don't understand,  there must be a way to update a file, or in this case publish a site since that would be the next step its expecting now obviously. 

 

[Mark Kaine]

basically... this doesn't really make sense, in my previous attempts this blatantly said "failed" (idk for the very first)

 

how can it be "successful" and still not work -  and being "ready to publish"  when its already "deployed"?

 

 

 

 

 

[tikker]

17 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

yeap. it calls it publish in the app though.  next thing is push. then it says "commit successful" (or similar) 

 

 

but it didn't help, same 404 error as before. 

 

its like I'm in a loop, now i changed the html code again,  because I wasn't sure if there wasn't a mistake and pushed it (there is no publish button in that case) and now it says "your site is ready to be published" in settings but there is no publish button or anything. 

 

 

basically the first problem seems to be it creates the website,  but cant read the file.

 

the second problem i don't understand,  there must be a way to update a file, or in this case publish a site since that would be the next step its expecting now obviously. 

 

It can take about 10 minutes before changes show up according to their documentation. I just tried it out, created new repository named <username>.github.io, added index.html and it worked immediately for me.

 

Dumb question time, are you using your actual github username? The username in username.github.io is a placeholder and needs to be you actuall account name.

 

  

5 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

basically... this doesn't really make sense, in my previous attempts this blatantly said "failed" (idk for the very first)

 

how can it be "successful" and still not work -  and being "ready to publish"  when its already "deployed"?

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait, is this for a global page, or one specific to that repo? Are you following GitHub's own material for that?

https://docs.github.com/en/pages/getting-started-with-github-pages/creating-a-github-pages-site

https://docs.github.com/en/pages/getting-started-with-github-pages/configuring-a-publishing-source-for-your-github-pages-site

[Mark Kaine]

2 minutes ago, tikker said:

created new repository named <username>.github.io, added index.html and it worked immediately for me.

i mean thats exactly what i did, should be easy enough, right?

 

 

and since my html code works in my browser i think that cant be the problem either, although it might?

 

4 minutes ago, tikker said:

The username in username.github.io is a placeholder and needs to be you actuall account name.

yeah, i know lol. 

 

i mean it even shows the correct URL , it just brings up that 404 page every time

[tikker]

34 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i mean it even shows the correct URL , it just brings up that 404 page every time

  So it can take some time for it to show up, but other things to try is expicitely trying to put https://username.github.io or trying username.github.io/index.html.

 

It may also be worth checking if the branch in the Pages settings matches the branch you put your site on. I didn't try any of that deploy stuff though, just set up a repo with a simple index.html.

 

Maybe a link to the repo or a screenshot of it with names blurred out if you care about that might help as well.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, tikker said:

Oh wait, is this for a global page

i think so! but im not sure >.<

 

i followed this guide basically - in hindsight the site is definitely kinda sus though... 

content://com.sec.android.app.sbrowser.beta/readinglist/0116023216.mhtml

(cant even link it? lmao)

 

but he doesn't tell you anything about coding html so i used this for that.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Simple-Web-Page-with-HTML%3Famp=1

 

which is also all over the place... the code keeps changing for no reason lol...

 

and i think maybe thats the issue,  github just cant read this html file probably? 

 

because now i deleted the repo again (i wish i didn't need to do that all the time there must be an easier way to start over lol)

 

and just used a "theme" 

 

low and behold the website is online,  but of course doesn't look at all like I'd want... i dont want random links, and stuff, obviously... 

 

 

 

no html file...  

 

index.md 

 

but i still dont get how i can update this after i edit it, hopefully thats automatic,  i really dont want to delete the whole thing every time i change a single word or line... 

 

PS:  it *is* automatic,  you just have to press "commit"  (that obviously didn't work previously, with my "html file") 

 

 

[tikker]

14 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

i think so! but im not sure >.<

 

i followed this guide basically - in hindsight the site is definitely kinda sus though... 

content://com.sec.android.app.sbrowser.beta/readinglist/0116023216.mhtml

(cant even link it? lmao)

 

but he doesn't tell you anything about coding html so i used this for that.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Simple-Web-Page-with-HTML%3Famp=1

 

which is also all over the place... the code keeps changing for no reason lol...

 

and i think maybe thats the issue,  github just cant read this html file probably? 

 

because now i deleted the repo again (i wish i didn't need to do that all the time there must be an easier way to start over lol)

 

and just used a "theme" 

 

low and behold the website is online,  but of course doesn't look at all like I'd want... i dont want random links, and stuff, obviously... 

 

 

 

no html file...  

 

index.md 

 

but i still dont get how i can update this after i edit it, hopefully thats automatic,  i really dont want to delete the whole thing every time i change a single word or line... 

 

PS:  it *is* automatic,  you just have to press "commit"  (that obviously didn't work previously, with my "html file") 

 

 

Oh you're using that Jekyll build system. I've never used that. I was looking at it from the simpler "make that repo with index.html" variant point of view.

 

Well for changes you edit the stuff and then add, commit and push (I guess that's what the "publish" button does? I don't use the GitHub GUI thing.). Then the repo gets updated and the build system should do its thing.

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, tikker said:

Oh you're using that Jekyll build system. I've never used that. I was looking at it from the simpler "make that repo with index.html" variant point of view.

not quite... my plan was to use 100% html code... which i personally wrote copy pasted into a html file...   and my best guess is that code didn't work,  but im not sure...

 

This is roughly what i made, from the link in the OP, i also had background colors and stuff, sobs!

 

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>

<head>
<title>wikiHow Fan Page</title>
</head>

<body>

<h1>Welcome to My Page!</h1>
<p>This is a fan page for wikiHow. Make yourself at home!</p>

<h2>Important Dates</h2>
<p><i>January 15, 2019</i> - wikiHow's Birthday</p>

<h2>Links</h2>
<p>Here is a link to wikiHow: <a href="http://www.wikihow.com">wikiHow</a></p>

</body>
</html>

 

Should have worked,  did in my browser...

 

 

And *then* after nothing worked, i decided to use the themes/templates they dangle in front of your nose all the time : p

 

 

and that worked right away,  wasn't my plan tho, my plan was using my own html code,  which i find btw far more pleasing visually than these standard templates. i also didn't use the app for that in the end, maybe that is buggy too... i had the feeling the web site didn't sync properly with the desktop app half of the time... 

 

 

1 hour ago, tikker said:

Well for changes you edit the stuff and then add, commit and push (I guess that's what the "publish" button does? I don't use the GitHub GUI thing.). Then the repo gets updated and the build system should do its thing.

yes, but if you *change* or add something it (the app) doesn't give you a "publish" option,  only "push" and that doesn't seem to work... the website sees it (it'll make all changes *red*) but never actually updates it... it just sits there doing nothing,  and i saw no push, commit or publish option on the website either. 

.tldr, its needlessly confusing,  apparently buggy, and about as unintuitive as humanly possible! lol

 

ps: @tikker

heres my "code"

 

 

(and yes, i renamed it index.html obviously) 

 

i tried everything,  no "." before the "com", http or https for the link, paragraphs,  no paragraphs... the thing is it worked in my browser (minus the imgur link, that just showed a placeholder thing)

 

 

[tikker]

45 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i had the feeling the web site didn't sync properly with the desktop app half of the time... 

The website itself can take some time to change, they mention those 10 minutes in their documentation.

45 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

yes, but if you *change* or add something it (the app) doesn't give you a "publish" option,  only "push" and that doesn't seem to work... the website sees it (it'll make all changes *red*) but never actually updates it... it just sits there doing nothing,  and i saw no push, commit or publish option on the website either. 

.tldr, its needlessly confusing,  apparently buggy, and about as unintuitive as humanly possible! lol

There are multiple steps involved:

1. add adds changed files to the queue to be commited (in a diff additions are green, deletions are red)
2. commit commits the changes locally and makes a "log entry" with you commit message and changes involved.
3. push pushes those changes to the remote repository (e.g GitHub). If you don't push, nothing will change in the remote repository. You can't push without a commit and you can't commit without adding changes.

If it was successful, then it will show up on the commit history on GitHub. If not, then the changes haven't been pushed to the remote repository.

 

If you created the repository only locally and did not clone it from GitHub, then you'll need to point it to the correct remote repository to push to

 

This is what my entire "username.github.io" repository looks like and it renders fine. None of that Jekyll stuff or markdown files (the .md ones). You show in your screenshots. It's rather odd if that doesn't work.

.

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

24 minutes ago, tikker said:

There are multiple steps involved:

1. add adds changed files to the queue to be commited (in a diff additions are green, deletions are red)
2. commit commits the changes locally and makes a "log entry" with you commit message and changes involved.
3. push pushes those changes to the remote repository (e.g GitHub). If you don't push, nothing will change in the remote repository. You can't push without a commit and you can't commit without adding changes.

i see, i mean i roughly did that, except theres no commit button in the app after adding something,  only "push" then it may or may not say "commit successful"... 

 

the thing is my first commit / repo "should" have worked, i waited over an hour.

 

so either its buggy or my "code" didn't work  (see previous post) 

[tikker]

19 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

i see, i mean i roughly did that, except theres no commit button in the app after adding something,  only "push" then it may or may not say "commit successful"... 

 

the thing is my first commit / repo "should" have worked, i waited over an hour.

 

so either its buggy or my "code" didn't work  (see previous post) 

Do the changes show up on github? That tells you if the push worked.

[Mark Kaine]

8 minutes ago, tikker said:

Do the changes show up on github? That tells you if the push worked.

yes, in red and green... but no feedback whatsoever,  as i said i waited for an hour each time and, it simply didn't work anyways,  despite saying "your website has been published" (which was actually the only "feedback" i got)

 

so the html code just didn't work? only explanation I have,  but why?

 

 

[tikker]

36 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

yes, in red and green... but no feedback whatsoever,  as i said i waited for an hour each time and, it simply didn't work anyways,  despite saying "your website has been published" (which was actually the only "feedback" i got)

Just to be sure, I mean to check on the GitHub webpage of your repository, not the local GUI. Like where in my screenshot it says "1 commit" with the curvy arrow, if you click there in your repository you see the history of all commits made (though indeed if you click on a specific commit changes will be highlighted in red/green).

 

36 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

so the html code just didn't work? only explanation I have,  but why?

 

 

This file seems to be called index.txt and not index.html

 

That could be enough to make it not work.

[Mark Kaine]

4 minutes ago, tikker said:

This file seems to be called index.txt and not index.html

 

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

and yes, i renamed it index.html obviously

 

its also changing the icon to browser icon when renamed, and it opens and works in my browser. 

 

so you're saying it should work,  i don't need any paragraphs or something?

 

 

Quote

yup, thats exactly how mine looked.

[tikker]

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

and yes, i renamed it index.html obviously

Well the screenshot disagreed, so I'm just throwing it out there

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

so you're saying it should work,  i don't need any paragraphs or something?

Nah, my html file is literally

<html>
  Hello World
</html>

You are missing a </p> it seems, but that should just mess with the layout and nothing else.

8 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

yup, thats exactly how mine looked.

Does the Settings > Pages bit look ok? The correct branch and the correct root folder? Mine looks like this

("master" may be called "main" for you if you kept the default settings)

[Mark Kaine]

2 minutes ago, tikker said:

You are missing a </p> it seems, but that should just mess with the layout and nothing else.

10 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

yup, thats exactly how mine looked.

Does the Settings > Pages bit look ok? The correct branch and the correct root folder? Mine looks like this

Ah ok, yeah i figured it should work (since it did in my browser...) the "midnightblue" doesn't show because there's nothing to show, but lavender background and text works...

 

And yeah exactly like this... 

 

that's what ive been saying "your site is published" and over an hour later still "404 error"...

 

when i eventually used the jekyll theme it took one second to show up on that web adress... if i change something it takes a few mins max to update... 

 

 

well, maybe i make another account [would "Steve Ballmer Executive" be illegal or something?  ] and try again. 

 

because the one I used seems tainted lol...

 

[tikker]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ah ok, yeah i figured it should work (since it did in my browser...) the "midnightblue" doesn't show because there's nothing to show, but lavender background and text works...

 

And yeah exactly like this... 

 

that's what ive been saying "your site is published" and over an hour later still "404 error"...

 

when i eventually used the jekyll theme it took one second to show up on that web adress... if i change something it takes a few mins max to update... 

 

 

well, maybe i make another account [would "Steve Ballmer Executive" be illegal or something?  ] and try again. 

 

because the one I used seems tainted lol...

 

I still have no issue even adding a Jekyll theme (apart from that the style doesn't apply to html files). Odd.

 

Does the account name contain weird characters or dots or something that might mess things up?

 

I also see suggestions to push something to the repository. If you have a command line ready you can try an empty commit

git commit --allow-empty -m "Trigger rebuild"
git push

 

One last thing I can think of is that your browser may have cached the 404 page. Try forcing a refresh without cache maybe (ctrl+F5 on Firefox for example)?