WHAT IS GITHUB? SIMPLE EXPLANATION

Posted on December 18, 2025 by NewbieTools
Illustration of GitHub as a platform to store, manage, and share code repositories for developers
    Table of Contents
  • What Is GitHub?
  • How GitHub Works
  • Why Use GitHub?
  • Tips To Get Started on GitHub

Some beginners that are coming online normally get confused on GitHub while some don’t know it at all, because there was a time that some asked me to help and explain to him what is GitHub and how to use it, which I was then able to help out and answer his questions. So now I was able to solve his problem by teaching him what is GitHub and how it works. For you that is also a beginner or you don’t know what GitHub really means, I will be teaching you today on all that you need to know about GitHub. As a beginner who is able to use GitHub it will really help you to push your project online, and also it will give you more advantage to get work in the online space because those clients will now see you as someone who knows what they are doing online. So, we will be moving now by starting with what GitHub means.

WHAT IS GITHUB?

GitHub is a platform that helps developers or people that are into tech to be able to store, manage and share their code, now for you to understand it better, you just have to think of it as a place to keep your code and a place where developers can collaborate. Now you can use GitHub for hosting and sharing your projects like your portfolio website and other works, you can also decide to either make it public for everyone to see or private, you can also use GitHub to collaborate with many people, like example you and four more people are working in an organization and there is work that is needed to be done on the organization website or file, the five of you can be working on those project at the same time at your homes or different location (remotely).

HOW GITHUB WORKS

I earlier told you that GitHub is about storing code and collaborating with multiple individuals by working on the same project. But I forgot to tell you that you can also use GitHub track changes on your code, for example you use GitHub to store your code and maybe later you made correction and left for some days or weeks but get confused on where you made you made the correction, that is where GitHub can help you to show you where you made the changes. And here now is the step by step of how GitHub works; (1) Create Repository (Repo): now repo serve as your project folder, so now every project that you work on will get its own repository where all the files and codes for your project are stored. (2) Commit: when you make correct or make changes to your code, you will have to use commit to write the reason of the change or correction of the code, so now just imagine it as taking a snapshot of your project so that you can see what changed and when it was changed. (3) Branches: branch now is a place for the copy of your project where you can test your new ideas without touching or affecting your main project. (4) Pull Request: immediately that your changes are ready then you can submit a pull request so to merge your branch into to your main project. (5) Version Control: GitHub normally help you to keep a complete history of your work or project, which you can later revert to your old version, compare your changes or fix mistakes at any time.

Steps to add website to Github

WHY USE GITHUB?

By now I want to even believe that everyone knows the use of GitHub based on the explanations that I have given earlier, so now these are some of the reasons that you should use GitHub; (1) To keep track of changes that is made on your project, so that you can see the history and cancel mistakes if you want. (2) To be able to work and collaborate with others on a project at the same time. (3) You can use GitHub to store your code and project online, so that you can’t lose your project if your computer eventually crashes. (4) You can use GitHub to show your work to the public which will now serve as your portfolio. So now if you are completely new and want to know how you can add your project to GitHub, then you can visit How to upload your first project to GitHub so as to be able to add your first project to GitHub.

Multiple developers collaborating remotely on the same organization website files using GitHub

Tips To Get Started on GitHub

Starting with GitHub does not need to be like a big deal. Now these are the tips that you can follow to get started on GitHub as a beginner; (1) You will have to create a GitHub account and then explore and try the interface to get comfortable. (2) Start small by creating a simple repository and add files then you should go ahead and practice committing changes regularly, this will help you to under version control better. (3) Now use branches when you are trying new ideas so that your main project will remain safe with no changes. (4) Try to visit others GitHub account and explore their repositories to be able to see how the structure or arrange their projects, and as you are checking it then also try to learn from them. (5) Don’t ever be afraid or scared to experiment and check out new things because GitHub is really a safe place to practice, collaborate with others and also to be able to improve your coding skills. These tips that I just listed here for you will really help you, only if you try and practice everything that was said in this today guide on your own.

If you are really helped by this guide, then you can do us some help by sharing our link to others so that they can also benefit and learn more for themselves as we always promise to continue sharing more step-by-step training or guides for beginners coming online.