Ship It: Deploy Your Site

A file on your laptop and a URL on the internet are fundamentally different things. A URL is reachable by anyone, on any device, anywhere in the world, even after camp ends. Today you close that gap twice: once for the team project, once for your own About Me page.

Netlify Drop

Netlify Drop publishes a static website by dragging a folder onto a web page. No command line, no git, no config files. The first time you see it work, it feels like a magic trick.

  1. Go to netlify.com/drop.
  2. Drag the entire project folder — not individual files — onto the drop target. A live URL appears in seconds.
  3. Click Log in and create a free account with your email. This links the site to your account and makes the URL permanent. Without an account, the link expires.
  4. Rename the site: Site settings → Site name → something readable, like yourname-portfolio.netlify.app instead of stoic-galileo-7f2a1b.

Verify It Like a Stranger Would

Copy the URL, open a private/incognito tab, paste, and hit Enter.

This step matters more than it looks. The Netlify dashboard is what you see; the URL is what everyone else sees. "It works" means the site loads in a fresh tab, not that it looks right in the dashboard.

Updating After Changes

Your site doesn't auto-update when you edit files. To push changes: log in → open your site → Deploys tab → drag the folder again. The URL stays the same.

Two Deploys Today

Deploy Who URL goes on
Team project One designated deployer per team The Pitch Outline card
Your About Me page (about-me/ from Day 1) Every camper, own account Your Links card

The personal one is yours to keep: your account, your site, your link to share after camp.

Troubleshooting

Symptom Fix
Images, CSS, or fonts don't load on the live site You probably dragged loose files — drag the top-level project folder. Also check case: Netlify is case-sensitive, so Style.css ≠ style.css; every reference in the HTML must match the filename exactly.
Live URL shows Netlify's 404 page The entry file must be named exactly index.html — not home.html, not Index.html. Rename, fix any internal links, re-drag.
Styles work locally but break live Absolute paths like /css/style.css can break on the server. Use relative paths: css/style.css.
You dragged individual files by mistake Open the site's Deploys tab and drag the folder this time — the URL stays the same.
Signup blocked on camp wifi Create the account on phone data (2 minutes), then switch back to wifi for the upload.

Tomorrow's dry run happens from the live URL on the projector. Open your link, not VS Code.