diff --git a/bin/lesson_initialize.py b/bin/lesson_initialize.py
index f3955e00717eb4c3b254b77527d535961c39c37b..0a7e7c449b97b971985014edf9271745423ee33b 100755
--- a/bin/lesson_initialize.py
+++ b/bin/lesson_initialize.py
@@ -175,11 +175,12 @@ kind: "lesson"
 # Overall title for pages.
 title: "Lesson Title"
 
-# Account (without slashes).
-account: "[[USER-NAME]]"
+# Repository URL (without trailing slash).
+repo: https://github.com/[USERNAME]/[LESSON-SLUG]
 
-# Root URL below account (without slashes).
-project: "[[REPO-NAME]]"
+# Root URL below username.github.io domain, with leading slash but no trailing slash.
+# For example, for 'https://swcarpentry.github.io/lesson-example', use '/lesson-example'.
+root: "/[LESSON-SLUG]"
 
 # Contact email address.
 email: "[[CONTACT-ADDRESS]]"