This repo contains the contents of http://help.mcneel.com
The site is hosted on GitHub Pages which uses a static site generator called Jekyll. The pages are made generally from a markdown syntax called kramdown
There are 3 ways to edit these GitHub Pages:
- Edit the markdown (md) files directly on GitHub.
- Clone the Github repository on your local computer. This brings all the files onto your computer. Then edit those files and push the changes back up to GitHub.
- Setup a local GitHub Pages server on your machine. Clone the GitHub repository on your machine. Then, edit the files. The changes can be previewed on the local GitHub server before pushing the changes up to GitHub.
The recommended product we use to pull the files to your local machine is SourceTree. Once downloaded and installed, log-in to GitHub through SourceTree. Clone the "mcneel/help-docs" repository to a local folder on your machine. All other interactions with GitHub can be accomplished with SourceTree
If SourceTree does not work well in your case, GitHub offers a desktop application which simplifies syncing with the public repository. Try GitHub for Mac and GitHub for Windows. There's also the git cheat sheet.
Finally, if you are comfortable using GIT on the commandline, navigate somewhere safe and clone the repository.
git clone https://github.com/mcneel/help-docs.git
Notice that 'gh-pages' is the only branch. Everything committed to this branch is automatically published when pushed to GitHub.
Most edits can be made on the site, or by pulling the site locally then pushing the site back up to GitHub to see the reults. If needed, it is possible to run a GitHub server locally to see any changes before pushing to GitHub. These instructions cover running this project locally on both Mac OS X and Windows so that you can preview changes before pushing them up to GitHub Pages.
Mac OS X Yosemite ships with Ruby and RubyGems, however it's not wise to mess around with this installation. Instead, install your own Ruby using Homebrew.
As per the Homebrew website, install via the following one-liner (which will prompt you to install the Xcode Command Line Tools, if you don't already have them).
ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
Then we can brew Ruby.
brew install ruby
Now close and reopen the Terminal window to make sure the system knows about the new version of Ruby.
The GitHub Pages Ruby Gem provides the same version of Jekyll as exists on the GitHub Pages servers. This ensures we aren't accidentally using features that have either been deprecated or simply don't exist yet!
gem install github-pages
You can now serve your local copy of this site by running the following commands, remembering to replace CLONE_DIRECTORY with the location to which you checked out this repository.
cd CLONE_DIRECTORY
jekyll serve
Navigate to http://localhost:4000 in your browser to view the site.
Please install Ruby, Ruby Devkit, Jekyll, Github pages, wdm. The instructiosn are below.
Go to http://rubyinstaller.org/downloads/ and download the installer for Ruby 2.2.X that matches your system architecture (x86/x64).
At the "Installation Destination and Optional Tasks" dialog, make sure to check the "Add Ruby executable to your PATH" box.
Then, from the same page download the Development Kit that corresponds to your Ruby installation. Jekyll won't be fully functional without this.
Run the self extracting archive, entering the path C:\RubyDevKit when prompted.
To initialize and install the DevKit, open up a command prompt and roll up your sleeves...
cd C:\RubyDevKit
ruby dk.rb init
ruby dk.rb install
As with OS X, install the GitHub Pages Ruby Gem, navigate to the clone directory and run jekyll.
gem install jekyll
gem install github-pages
gem install wdm
Using the command line navigate to the local GitHUB clone directory. Then run the "jekyll serve" command.
cd "to your local CLONE_DIRECTORY"
jekyll serve
The server can be accessed through the Localhost address listed on the commandline.