Build a Micro Static Site With GitHub Pages

tl;tr

In repository settings, enable GitHub Pages for the master branch.

Now you can access your site at https://your-username.github.io/your-repo-name

Done. Period.

How

GitHub Pages will use README.md as index page. And your project probably already have one. There is no need to write index.html or index.md.

Why

Focus on content, not the site design and configuration.

We use README.md and master branch. This makes updating project site easier. Just update README.md without the hassles of sync documentation between master and gh-pages branches.

Bonus

Your project may have some additional documentary pages. They are welcome by GitHub Pages.

For example:

README.md
...
docs/
    README.md
    quick-start.md
    install/
        linux.md
        osx.md
        bsd.md
        win.md

URL paths will be:

/index.html
/docs
/docs/quick-start.html
/docs/install/linux.html
/docs/install/osx.html
/docs/install/bsd.html
/docs/install/win.html

And you can link them as [quick start](quick-start.md), so the link will work on both GitHub and GitHub Pages.

Conclusion

Yes. You can have a site powered by GitHub Page up and running without writing a single line of yaml configuration, html template, css, javascript, etc.