Prerequisites

• Before starting, make sure you have a GitHub account and are logged in.
  • If you don't have a GitHub account you can create one here.
• Navigate to your profile page by:

  1. Clicking your avatar in the top right corner, and

  2. Clicking Your profile.

     

Creating your profile README

1. Click the plus sign icon near the top right corner of the screen. The dropdown menu shows all the choices of items you can create on GitHub.

2. Click New repository.

   

3. In the Owner box, select your GitHub username from the dropdown menu. (It may be the default selection)

4. In the Repository name box, type your GitHub username. A green box should appear on screen.

   

5. Ensure that:

   • the Public option is selected. This is one of GitHub's requirements for the profile README feature; since profiles on GitHub are public (although your individual projects can be public or private), the README must be public to be visible to others.
   • the Add a README file box is checked. This is where we will put the content of our README message.

6. Click the green Create repository button.

   

7. When the page reloads, you should be in a repository named YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-USERNAME.

   

8. At this point, your GitHub profile README has been created!

Editing your profile README

1. To edit your profile README, click the pencil icon on the right side of the box.

   • Note: If this is your first time editing the README.md, there might be a big green box on the right side of the screen (not pictured) with an edit button. This is fine to click as well; it will take you to the same edit page as the pencil icon would.

   

2. In the box labeled <> Edit file is your default greeting. Modify this to your liking. You may want to introduce yourself, tell readers what types of projects you are working on, and what your skill set is.

   • The field accepts content written in Markdown, which will allow you to use headings, slight text-decoration, emojis, links, and more.
   • Note: If you are not familiar with using Markdown, click here for a brief tutorial.

3. When you are finished, scroll down to the bottom of the page and ensure that the Commit directly to the master branch option is selected.

   • Note: On my screenshot below you may notice that I changed my default branch name to main, instead of master. For more information on this, you can click here.

     

4. When you are done editing, click the Commit changes button at the bottom of the page.