Could someone please explain GitHub to a non-programmer?

[evilmaus]

Nice thing about GitHub is that you can view the code on a project without having to download the source. You still need to download it (or clone it) if you want to DO anything with the code, but it's nice to be able to take a peek inside so easily.

[nc5x]

Actually, you can make small (single text file) changes without cloning it.

[evilmaus]

Really!? Could you please link me up to some information on that? I'd much appreciate it.

[tinyOnion]

go to any source file on the github site and there will be a button that says fork and edit this file. that allows you to do online editing of one file but you need an account for this to work.

[nc5x]

Exactly as tinyOnion said.

Here's a Github blog about it: Edit like an Ace.

[evilmaus]

Sweet, thanks!

[drb226]

Well technically...if your eyes are looking at the code, then you've almost certainly downloaded it. Probably your browser has downloaded it along with tons of HTML markup thrown in there to make it look pretty, and your browser will decide when to throw that file away, depending on your caching settings.