How do I create a website using Github?

I am a beginner interested in creating my own website and I have a few questions.

First of all which IDE do I use? Currently I am using notepad++, which I find to be pretty decent. I have also downloaded Visual Studio; however, I found it to be too complicated for me.

In addition, my intention is to start off with a basic site, and keep improving it. I am a CS student, and I believe showing my progress will look good to potential employers. Will github let me do that (ie. I can create branches? or something like that) My site is hosted by GitHub pages.

I also tried to delete a folder on GitHub, and all solutions I found after googling around required me to type in commands. I have downloaded github desktop, but I dont really get how it works.

Can anyone suggest the way I should do this? Can I link notepad++ to my github and keep track of changes? Any recommendations for how I should set things up?

Thanks :)