Steps — Stage 4: Try a Branch

Prerequisites

Completed Stage 3. git log --oneline shows three commits. git branch shows only main.

Steps

1. List your branches

git branch

You see one line: * main. The asterisk means "this is your current branch."

2. Create and switch to a new branch

git checkout -b dark-theme

This does two things in one command:

1. Creates a new branch called dark-theme.
2. Switches to it.

You will see a message like Switched to a new branch 'dark-theme'.

3. List branches again

git branch

Now you see two lines:

  main
* dark-theme

The asterisk has moved. You are on dark-theme.

4. Confirm nothing changed

Open index.html in the browser. It looks exactly the same as Stage 3. Run git status — clean. Run git log --oneline — still three commits.

This is important: a new branch by itself changes nothing visible. It just puts a new label on the current commit.

Verify

• git branch lists main and * dark-theme.
• git status says clean.
• git log --oneline shows three commits — the same three.
• The browser shows the same styled page with the scoreboard.