How can you detect if a website uses GitHub Pages?
Detecting if a website is hosted on GitHub Pages involves identifying specific indicators characteristic of this hosting service.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do it:
- Check the URL: Websites hosted on GitHub Pages often use the format
username.github.io
orrepository-name.github.io
. Simply check the URL in your browser’s address bar. - Open the Page Source: Right-click on the webpage and select “View Page Source” or press
Ctrl+U
(Windows) orCmd+Option+U
(Mac) to open the page’s source code. - Search for GitHub-Specific Tags: Use
Ctrl+F
(Windows) orCmd+F
(Mac) to open the search function and look for the following keywords:github
: Look for any references to GitHub in the HTML, CSS, or JavaScript files. For example:<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://username.github.io/path/to/style.css">
pages.github.com
: There might be links to content hosted on GitHub Pages such ashttps://pages.github.com
.
- Check for CNAME Files: If the site uses a custom domain, it might have a
CNAME
file in its repository. This file directs the custom domain to the GitHub Pages server. You won’t see this in the page source but it might indicate GitHub Pages in the repository on GitHub if you have access to it. - Look for Meta Tags: GitHub Pages sometimes includes meta tags related to GitHub. Look for:
<meta name="generator" content="GitHub Pages">
- Inspect HTTP Headers: Use browser developer tools (F12) to check the network requests. Sometimes you can see headers like
X-Github-Request-Id
indicating the site is hosted on GitHub. - Check for Jekyll: Many GitHub Pages sites use Jekyll as their static site generator. Look in the source code for any Jekyll-specific tags like
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/assets/css/style.css" >
where URL patterns hint at Jekyll (such as the/_posts/
directory). - Look for GitHub Repositories: If you can find a link to the GitHub repository from the website, check it for the project being hosted. Look for the presence of files that are common in GitHub Pages, such as
index.html
orREADME.md
.