GitHub Tips and Tricks

I wanted to share some GitHub tips and tricks that I have picked up lately. I hope they can help you out!

Octotree

Octotree is a browser based extension that you can install to help you navigate through GitHub repositories file and folder structure in an easy to read tree-based file structure.

Create a repository with your own name

If you create a repository with your own name and create a README.MD file then everything in there will appear on your public profile.  It's a great way to introduce who you are, your projects and work to people who are visiting your profile.

I have mine setup to display a bit of a bio and share some links to new blog posts and YouTube videos through some GitHub Actions created by https://github.com/gautamkrishnar/.

Mention Highlighter

Is it hard to spot if you are mentioned in a comment or an issue?  Install the browser based plugin GitHub Mention Highlighter.  It'll make it easier to spot if you are quickly scrolling through and hopefully avoid missing something you need to answer or action.

Keyboard Tags

Did you know you can use a tag to insert little keyboard icons into your files or comments etc?  This is great if you are trying to give someone instructions on what key presses or combos work with your application or game or whatever.

If you use the <kbd></kbd> syntax like below:

Press <kbd>A</kbd> that will make you go left, which <kbd>D</kbd> will make you go right. 

It will end up looking like this within GitHub!

Video Uploads

In May 2021 the ability to upload .mp4 and .mov files to issues, pull requests and discussion comments meaning you can share reproduction steps or ideas with GitHub repo owners or other contributors.  The video file has to be less than 100MB though.

For some more tips and tricks on how to get the most out of GitHub check out my video: