GitHub tips for beginners

At first, you create a repo with a base/main branch, you push your initial/first commit there, after that we want to have a way to properly manage our project.

Here is how I manage my repos/projects on GitHub.

1. Create a project

For every repo I create, I add a project for it, which includes three columns:

1. To Do - All issues that I am to work on stay here.
2. In Progress - All issues I am currently working on.
3. Done - All issues I have completed are seen here.

2. Create an issue

I treat every thing I add or remove on my repos as an issue, before starting coding I create issues I want to work on to the repo, assign it to myself or someone else, add labels to them e.g enhancement, bug or any other custom label, add it to a project - the one I created for the repo, sometimes I add a milestone then I start working on them (issues).

NB: When you are working on an issue, it is a good practice to move it to the In Progress column in the project, this helps others to know what you are currently working on

3. Create a branch

After you have solved one of the issues above, commit your changes then check out to a new branch, push your changes to this branch. I normally use one branch for one purpose then I delete it after merging with the main/base branch, if you like working on the same branch all time, that is OK if it works for you.

4. Create a pull request

You have your changes pushed to the new branch, you need to create a pull request so that you can merge your new changes to the main/base branch, on creating the pull request make sure you close the issue you just solved by simply writing closes #21 on the comment section, this will identify issue no. 21 as the one to be closed if this pull request is successfully merged.
NB: Replace #21 with your issue number.

5. Merge your branch to main/base branch

After your pull request is validated and it gave you the green light for you to merge, merge your branch to the main/base branch, this should move your issues from In Progress column to Done column in the project, after that you can delete the branch you were working on.

This way, you can track all your activities from the beginning to the end or your project on GitHub.

BONUS: You can use Milestones in GitHub, this is useful if you want to group your issues based on your goals, for instance you want to improve your site accessibility, then you create a milestone - Site accessibility - Improve site accessibility and all the issues related to site accessibility should be added to this milestone, grouping them this way will help you track how much you have done on site accessibility goal.

Happy Hacking!