-**Part 2: Quick Start Guide - Setting Up GitLab Pages**
- _[Part 1: Static Sites, Domains, DNS Records, and SSL/TLS Certificates](pages_static_sites_domains_dns_records_ssl_tls_certificates.html)_
- _[Part 3: Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](pages_creating_and_tweaking_gitlab-ci_.html)_
----
## Setting Up GitLab Pages
For a complete step-by-step tutorial, please read the blog post [Hosting on GitLab.com with GitLab Pages](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/04/07/gitlab-pages-setup/). The following sections will explain what do you need and why do you need them.
<!-- todo: transfer the content from that post to docs -->
### What You Need to Get Started
1. A project
1. A configuration file (`.gitlab-ci.yml`) to deploy your site
1. A specific `job` called `pages` in the configuration file that will make GitLab aware that you are deploying a GitLab Pages website
#### Optional Features
1. A custom domain or subdomain
1. A DNS pointing your (sub)domain to your Pages site
1.**Optional**: an SSL/TLS certificate so your custom domain is accessible under HTTPS.
### Project
Your GitLab Pages project is a regular project created the same way you do for the other ones. To get started with GitLab Pages, you have two ways:
- Fork one of the templates from Page Examples, or
- Create a new project from scratch
Let's go over both options.
#### Fork a Project to Get Started From
To make things easy for you, we've created this [group](https://gitlab.com/pages) of default projects containing the most popular SSGs templates.
Watch the [video tutorial](#LINK) we've created for the steps below.
1. Choose your SSG template
1. Fork a project from the [Pages group](https://gitlab.com/pages)
1. Remove the fork relationship by navigating to your **Project**'s **Settings** > **Edit Project**
![remove fork relashionship]()
1. Enable Shared Runners for your fork: navigate to your **Project**'s **Settings** > **CI/CD Pipelines**
1. Trigger a build (push a change to any file)
1. As soon as the build passes, your website will have been deployed with GitLab Pages. Your website URL will be available under your **Project**'s **Settings** > **Pages**
To turn a **project website** forked from the Pages group into a **user/group** website, you'll need to:
- Rename it to `namespace.gitlab.io`: navigate to **Project**'s **Settings** > **Edit Project** > **Rename repository**
- Adjust your SSG's [base URL](#urls-and-baseurls) to from `"project-name"` to `""`. This setting will be at a different place for each SSG, as each of them have their own structure and file tree. Most likelly, it will be in the SSG's config file.
> **Notes:**
>
>1. Why do I need to remove the fork relationship?
>
> Unless you want to contribute to the original project, you won't need it connected to the upstream. A [fork](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/12/01/how-to-keep-your-fork-up-to-date-with-its-origin/#fork) is useful for submitting merge requests to the upstream.
>
> 2. Why do I need to enable Shared Runners?
>
> Shared Runners will run the script set by your GitLab CI configuration file. They're enabled by default to new projects, but not to forks.
#### Create a Project from Scratch
1. From your **Project**'s **[Dashboard](https://gitlab.com/dashboard/projects)**, click **New project**, and name it considering the [examples above](#practical-examples).
1. Clone it to your local computer, add your website files to your project, add, commit and push to GitLab.
1. From the your **Project**'s page, click **Set up CI**:
![add new file]()
1. Choose one of the templates from the dropbox menu. Pick up the template corresponding to the SSG you're using (or plain HTML).
![gitlab-ci templates]()
Once you have both site files and `.gitlab-ci.yml` in your project's root, GitLab CI will build your site and deploy it with Pages. Once the first build passes, you see your site is live by navigating to your **Project**'s **Settings** > **Pages**, where you'll find its default URL.
> **Notes:**
>
> - GitLab Pages [supports any SSG](https://about.gitlab.com/2016/06/17/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-3-examples-ci/), but, if you don't find yours among the templates, you'll need to configure your own `.gitlab-ci.yml`. Do do that, please read through the article [Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](pages_creating_and_tweaking_gitlab-ci_.html). New SSGs are very welcome among the [example projects](https://gitlab.com/pages). If you set up a new one, please [contribute](https://gitlab.com/pages/pages.gitlab.io/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) to our examples.
>
> - The second step _"Clone it to your local computer"_, can be done differently, achieving the same results: instead of cloning the bare repository to you local computer and moving your site files into it, you can run `git init` in your local website directory, add the remote URL: `git remote add origin git@gitlab.com:namespace/project-name.git`, then add, commit, and push.
### URLs and Baseurls
<!-- rewrite this -->
Every Static Site Generator (SSG) default configuration expects to find your website under a (sub)domain (`example.com`), not in a subdirectory of that domain (`example.com/subdir`). Therefore, whenever you publish a project website (`namespace.gitlab.io/project-name`), you'll have to look for this configuration (base URL) on your SSG's documentation and set it up to reflect this pattern.
For example, for a Jekyll site, the `baseurl` is defined in the Jekyll configuration file, `_config.yml`. If your website URL is `https://john.gitlab.io/blog/`, you need to add this line to `_config.yml`:
```yaml
baseurl:"/blog"
```
On the contrary, if you deploy your website after forking one of our [default examples](https://gitlab.com/pages), the baseurl will already be configured this way, as all examples there are project websites. If you decide to make yours a user or group website, you'll have to remove this configuration from your project. For the Jekyll example we've just mentioned, you'd have to change Jekyll's `_config.yml` to:
```yaml
baseurl:""
```
## Further Reading
- Read through _[Part 1: Static Sites, Domains, DNS Records, and SSL/TLS Certificates](pages_static_sites_domains_dns_records_ssl_tls_certificates.html)_
- Read through _[Part 3: Creating and Tweaking `.gitlab-ci.yml` for GitLab Pages](pages_creating_and_tweaking_gitlab-ci_.html)_
