Deploying Your Frontend
You've built something — now let's share it with the world. Deploying a static frontend is surprisingly simple. Modern hosting platforms handle the complexity, giving you a live URL in minutes.
What Is Static Hosting?
Static hosting serves files exactly as they are — HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images go directly to browsers without server-side processing. This is perfect for frontend-only projects. The hosting service stores your files and delivers them when someone visits your URL.
Because there's no server code to run, static hosting is fast, secure, and often free. Your files are typically distributed across multiple servers worldwide via a CDN, making your site load quickly for visitors anywhere.
Popular Hosting Options
Several platforms offer excellent free static hosting:
GitHub Pages integrates directly with GitHub repositories. Enable it in your repo settings, and your site goes live at username.github.io/repo-name.
Netlify offers more features including automatic deploys, custom domains, and form handling. Connect your GitHub repo, and every push automatically updates your live site.
Vercel works similarly to Netlify with excellent performance and easy setup. It's particularly popular for React and Next.js projects but works great for any static site.
All three have generous free tiers that handle most personal and small projects.
The Deployment Process
The typical workflow looks like this:
- Push your code to a GitHub repository
- Connect your repo to the hosting platform
- The platform builds and deploys automatically
- You get a live URL like
yourproject.netlify.app
After initial setup, deployment becomes automatic. Push changes to GitHub, and your live site updates within minutes. This continuous deployment workflow means you can iterate quickly.
What Files Do You Need?
At minimum, you need an index.html file in your repository's root (or a designated folder). The hosting platform looks for this as your homepage. Include your CSS, JavaScript, and any images or assets your page references.
Make sure all file paths are relative — /styles.css or ./styles.css rather than C:\Users\.... Absolute local paths won't work once deployed.
Custom Domains
Free hosting gives you a subdomain like yourname.netlify.app. For a professional touch, you can connect a custom domain you own. This involves updating DNS records to point to your hosting provider — the platforms provide step-by-step instructions.
Custom domains are optional but make your project look more polished when sharing with others.
See More
- Ways to Share a Project
- Deploying Static Sites
- Publishing to GitHub Safely
- CDN (Content Delivery Network)