diff --git a/.github/workflows/pkgdown.yml b/.github/workflows/pkgdown.yml
index 05bdfad..cc3ab4b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/pkgdown.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/pkgdown.yml
@@ -17,43 +17,32 @@ jobs:
     env:
       GITHUB_PAT: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
     steps:
-      - name: Checkout bedstat@${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}
-        uses: actions/checkout@v2
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v23
         with:
           # The branch, tag or SHA to checkout. When checking out the repository that
           # triggered a workflow, this defaults to the reference or SHA for that event.
           # Otherwise, uses the default branch.
           ref: ${{ github.event.inputs.branch }}
           
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v1
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v2
 
-      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-pandoc@v1
-
-      - name: Query dependencies
-        run: |
-          install.packages('remotes')
-          saveRDS(remotes::dev_package_deps(dependencies = TRUE), ".github/depends.Rds", version = 2)
-          writeLines(sprintf("R-%i.%i", getRversion()$major, getRversion()$minor), ".github/R-version")
-        shell: Rscript {0}
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r@v2
+        with:
+          use-public-rspm: true
 
-      - name: Restore R package cache
-        uses: actions/cache@v2
+      - uses: r-lib/actions/setup-r-dependencies@v2
         with:
-          path: ${{ env.R_LIBS_USER }}
-          key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('.github/R-version') }}-1-${{ hashFiles('.github/depends.Rds') }}
-          restore-keys: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ hashFiles('.github/R-version') }}-1-
+          extra-packages: any::pkgdown, local::.
+          needs: website
 
-      - name: Install dependencies
-        run: |
-          remotes::install_deps(dependencies = TRUE)
-          install.packages("pkgdown", type = "binary")
+      - name: Build site
+        run: pkgdown::build_site_github_pages(new_process = FALSE, install = FALSE)
         shell: Rscript {0}
 
-      - name: Install package
-        run: R CMD INSTALL .
-
-      - name: Deploy package documentation
-        run: |
-          git config --local user.email "actions@github.com"
-          git config --local user.name "GitHub Actions"
-          Rscript -e 'pkgdown::deploy_to_branch(new_process = FALSE, commit_message="deploy docs with a github action")'
+      - name: Deploy to GitHub pages
+        if: github.event_name != 'pull_request'
+        uses: JamesIves/github-pages-deploy-action@v4.4.1
+        with:
+          clean: false
+          branch: gh-pages
+          folder: docs
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 7fac20d..b62e384 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -1,8 +1,9 @@
-# pepr 0.5.0 - unreleased
+# pepr 0.5.0 - 2023-11-16
 
 ## Fixed
 
 * result class of appended attributes; it's no longer wrapped in a `list`
+* various other fixes and improvements
 
 ## Changed 
 
@@ -12,6 +13,7 @@
 
 * possibility to configure the sample and subsample table index attributes in the `Project` object constructor
 * possibility to initialize `Project` with no configuration file
+* ability to initialize a project from URL
 * auto initialization file detection: CSV (sample table) or YAML (project config)
 * duplicated sample auto-merging