diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 706be3191..347207958 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,6 +6,11 @@
 
 - Added `geom_label_aligned`, a new geom that plots text labels with non-overlapping positioning along a specified alignment axis ("horizontal" or "vertical"). It uses quadratic programming to optimize label placement and includes options for spacing (min_distance), alignment, rounded background rectangles (label_r), disabling the background rectangle (background_rect = FALSE), etc.
 
+# Changes in version 2025.7.18 (PR#201)
+
+- `animint2pages()` default branch is gh-pages instead of main.
+- `update_gallery()` creates repos/* directories and removes errors.csv file if necessary.
+
 # Changes in version 2025.7.10 (PR#208)
 
 - Added Codecov integration for both R and JavaScript tests; coverage reports now available at https://app.codecov.io/github/animint/animint2
diff --git a/R/z_pages.R b/R/z_pages.R
index e545cf9ba..290e78ffc 100644
--- a/R/z_pages.R
+++ b/R/z_pages.R
@@ -138,9 +138,9 @@ initial_commit <- function(local_clone, repo, viz_url, title) {
     all_branches <- df_or_vec
     current_master <- df_or_vec
   }
-  # do not attempt to rename a branch to "main" when a branch with that name already exists
-  if (current_master != "main" && !"main" %in% all_branches) {
-    gert::git_branch_move(branch = current_master, new_branch = "main", repo = repo)
+  # do not attempt to rename a branch to "gh-pages" when a branch with that name already exists
+  if (current_master != "gh-pages" && !"gh-pages" %in% all_branches) {
+    gert::git_branch_move(branch = current_master, new_branch = "gh-pages", repo = repo)
   }
   gert::git_push(repo = repo, remote = "origin", set_upstream = TRUE)
 }
@@ -209,6 +209,8 @@ update_gallery <- function(gallery_path="~/R/gallery"){
         viz_owner_repo, filename)
       repo.png <- file.path(
         gallery_path, "repos", paste0(viz_owner_repo, ".png"))
+      repo.dir <- dirname(repo.png)
+      dir.create(repo.dir, showWarnings = FALSE)
       if(!file.exists(repo.png)){
         dir.create(dirname(repo.png), showWarnings=FALSE, recursive=TRUE)
         download.file(viz_url("Capture.PNG"), repo.png)
@@ -246,9 +248,15 @@ update_gallery <- function(gallery_path="~/R/gallery"){
     })
   }
   (meta.dt <- rbindlist(meta.dt.list))
-  (error.dt <- rbindlist(error.dt.list))
   fwrite(meta.dt, meta.csv)
-  fwrite(error.dt, file.path(gallery_path, "error.csv"))
+  error.csv <- file.path(gallery_path, "error.csv")
+  if(length(error.dt.list)){
+    (error.dt <- rbindlist(error.dt.list))
+    fwrite(error.dt, error.csv)
+  }else{
+    error.dt <- NULL
+    if(file.exists(error.csv))file.remove(error.csv)
+  }
   rmarkdown::render(file.path(gallery_path, "index.Rmd"))
   to_add <- c(
     "*.csv",
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-compiler-ghpages.R b/tests/testthat/test-compiler-ghpages.R
index b263c18f8..1e45025d5 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-compiler-ghpages.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-compiler-ghpages.R
@@ -22,12 +22,19 @@ test_that("error for viz with no source", {
   }, "plot.list does not contain option named source, which is required by animint2pages")
 })
 
+get_tsv <- function(L)Sys.glob(file.path(L$local_clone, "*tsv"))
+expect_Capture <- function(L){
+  expect_gt(file.size(file.path(L$local_clone,"Capture.PNG")), 0)
+}
+expect_no_Capture <- function(L){
+  expect_false(file.exists(file.path(L$local_clone,"Capture.PNG")))
+}
 ## The test below requires a github token with repo delete
 ## permission. Read
 ## https://github.com/animint/animint2/wiki/Testing#installation to
 ## see how to set that up on your local computer, or on github
 ## actions.
-test_that("animint2pages() returns list of meta-data", {
+reset_test_repo <- function(){
   ## https://docs.github.com/en/rest/repos/repos?apiVersion=2022-11-28#delete-a-repository says The fine-grained token must have the following permission set: "Administration" repository permissions (write) gh api --method DELETE -H "Accept: application/vnd.github+json" -H "X-GitHub-Api-Version: 2022-11-28" /repos/OWNER/REPO
   tryCatch({
     gh::gh("DELETE /repos/animint-test/animint2pages_test_repo")
@@ -38,6 +45,10 @@ test_that("animint2pages() returns list of meta-data", {
   })
   ## https://docs.github.com/en/rest/repos/repos?apiVersion=2022-11-28#create-an-organization-repository says The fine-grained token must have the following permission set: "Administration" repository permissions (write)
   gh::gh("POST /orgs/animint-test/repos", name="animint2pages_test_repo")
+  Sys.sleep(3)
+}
+test_that("animint2pages(chromote_sleep_seconds=3) creates Capture.PNG", {
+  reset_test_repo()
   ## first run of animint2pages creates new data viz.
   result_list <- animint2pages(viz, "animint2pages_test_repo", owner="animint-test", chromote_sleep_seconds=3)
   result_list
@@ -48,12 +59,8 @@ test_that("animint2pages() returns list of meta-data", {
   README.lines <- readLines(README.md)
   expected.line <- paste("##", viz$title)
   expect_identical(README.lines[1], expected.line)
-  get_tsv <- function(L)Sys.glob(file.path(L$local_clone, "*tsv"))
   tsv_files_created <- get_tsv(result_list)
   expect_equal(length(tsv_files_created), 1)
-  expect_Capture <- function(L){
-    expect_gt(file.size(file.path(L$local_clone,"Capture.PNG")), 0)
-  }
   expect_Capture(result_list)
   ## second run of animint2pages updates data viz.
   viz.more <- viz
@@ -67,6 +74,41 @@ test_that("animint2pages() returns list of meta-data", {
   expect_Capture(update_list)
 })
 
+test_that("animint2pages(chromote_sleep_seconds=NULL) does not create Capture.PNG", {
+  reset_test_repo()
+  result_list <- animint2pages(viz, "animint2pages_test_repo", owner="animint-test", chromote_sleep_seconds=NULL)
+  expect_match(result_list$owner_repo, "animint2pages_test_repo")
+  expect_match(result_list$viz_url, "github.io/animint2pages_test_repo")
+  expect_match(result_list$gh_pages_url, "animint2pages_test_repo/tree/gh-pages")
+  README.md <- file.path(result_list$local_clone, "README.md")
+  README.lines <- readLines(README.md)
+  expected.line <- paste("##", viz$title)
+  expect_identical(README.lines[1], expected.line)
+  tsv_files_created <- get_tsv(result_list)
+  expect_equal(length(tsv_files_created), 1)
+  expect_no_Capture(result_list)
+  ## clone and add Capture.PNG
+  new_clone <- tempfile()
+  github_url <- paste0("https://github.com/", result_list$owner_repo, ".git")
+  gert::git_clone(github_url, new_clone)
+  branch_name <- gert::git_branch(new_clone)
+  expect_identical(branch_name, "gh-pages")
+  cat("FOO", file=file.path(new_clone, "Capture.PNG"))
+  gert::git_add("Capture.PNG", repo=new_clone)
+  gert::git_commit(message="add Capture.PNG", repo=new_clone)
+  gert::git_push(repo=new_clone)
+  ## second run of animint2pages updates data viz.
+  viz.more <- viz
+  viz.more$five <- ggplot()+
+    geom_point(aes(
+      x, x),
+      data=data.frame(x=1:5))
+  update_list <- animint2pages(viz.more, "animint2pages_test_repo", owner="animint-test", chromote_sleep_seconds=NULL)
+  tsv_files_updated <- get_tsv(update_list)
+  expect_equal(length(tsv_files_updated), 2)
+  expect_Capture(update_list)
+})
+
 # This test is skipped under covr coverage collection due to environment manipulation.
 test_that("animint2pages raises an error if no GitHub token is present", {
   if (identical(Sys.getenv("R_COVR"), "true")) skip("Skip on covr: environment manipulation not supported")