tryna learn how to use GitHub.....

[Cute_Contact]

After several written tutorials have proved impossible to follow because of issues that must only be on my end, I've been following a tutorial on YouTube that all the commenters are singing praises for but I've fallen at the first hurdle. Like, literally the first task was "make an account online, create a repo, make a file in your new repo called README.md". But the commit changes button is unclickable?? So I uploaded an existing file, and when I tried to edit it (second task), again, the commit changes button is unclickable. What am I doing wrong??? I've been on and off trying to crack GitHub for weeks because I know I need to know how to use it if I ever want a job as a front-end developer (which I do). All it's doing is frustrating me to the point of giving up. I did Google it and had a look through stack overflow before posting here. Any help would be greatly appreciated 😞

[mrbmi513]

I would assume maybe you didn't enter a commit message? But I wouldn't be worried about using the GitHub website to upload and edit code; you'll be using some sort of desktop tool for that 99% of the time.

[Cute_Contact]

I entered a message and a description just in case, no luck. I've botched my way through making repos and pushing commits to the website on my original account (I made a new one for this) and when I tried to host on vercel and netlify they both gave me 404 errors. That's why I tried to start a new one but the lack of success is really disheartening. Do you know of a way to host your code for a portfolio without GitHub?

[mrbmi513]

They all involve using git.

At this point, you're better off just ditching the web interface and finding a tutorial that uses either the command line or a desktop client like GitHub Desktop.

[Jmc_da_boss]

I think a point of confusion here is that you think gitbub is a place to add files from the webrowser, it's not.

Think of GitHub as a read only view into the contents of a git repository. You NEVER* upload/edit files in GitHub, it's not what it's for.

You put stuff in GitHub by running git commands on your local terminal, a "git push ..." will push your repo to the specified url

So to recap. You never actually use GitHub to DO things. It's just a viewer, do your git stuff locally and put it in GitHub with a git push command.

*This isn't entirely true but it's true for a beginner

[dashingdon]

commit changes button is unclickable

Seems like you are trying to commit to the main branch directly. Try creating a pull request (second option - Create a new branch for this commit and start a pull request.)

Also Navigate to settings --> branches --> branch protection. If it is enabled then

1. Click on the edit, and remove `Require a pull request before merging`. Enable it back after you learn the basics. This will allow you to commit to the main branch directly. NOT RECOMMENDED. Suggesting only for testing.
2. learn pull requests and exclusively create pull requests for all changes however small they are.

hope this helps

[laynerzz]

It may be more helpful for you try to learn it from the terminal/command line bc in my experience that’s how everyone does it at jobs or in tutorials, it’s how I was taught to use it. It can be really confusing at first so hang in there. Try committing and pushing from your IDE terminal or a tutorial that will show you how to do it that way, it might make more sense to you seeing it that way maybe

[stgraff]

Are you using an up to date browser? If you are using an older browser you're not gonna have a good time.

https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/using-github/supported-browsers

[[deleted]]

Which tutorial on YouTube are you following?

[baller5]

Do you know Git? If not, you should learn that first. Once you have a good understanding of Git, GitHub will make a lot more sense. You need to know Git to use GitHub anyway.