Weecology's Wiki
Computing
Lab Website

Editing the Lab Website

Cloning the Website Repository

First, fork the website repository to your own GitHub account. Then, clone your fork to your local machine and create a new branch. It’s recommended to work on a branch rather than the default main branch to keep your changes organized.

One-Time Setup

To get started, follow these steps for the initial setup:

  1. Install the blogdown R package:

    install.packages("blogdown")

  2. Install Hugo:

    blogdown::install_hugo()

  3. Create a New R Project: Open RStudio, navigate to your local copy of the website repository, and create a new R project in that directory.

Adding New Members

To add a new member to the website, follow these steps:

  1. Create a Directory: Create a directory named content/authors/first-lastname/.

  2. Add an Avatar Image: Place an avatar image file named avatar.jpg in the directory: content/authors/first-lastname/avatar.jpg.

  3. Create and Customize an _index.md File: Copy an existing _index.md file from content/authors/ into the new directory and customize it with the new member’s details:

    cp content/authors/existing-author/_index.md content/authors/first-lastname/_index.md

Viewing Your Changes Locally

To see your changes in real-time on your local computer, follow these steps:

  1. Open the R Project: Open your R project in RStudio.

  2. Serve the Site: Run the following command in the R console:

    blogdown::serve_site()

  3. View in Browser: The site will appear in a pane within RStudio. Click the Show in new window button to open it in your web browser. The site should update automatically as you save files, though it may take a few seconds to reflect changes.

Submitting Your Changes

When you’re ready to submit your changes, follow these steps:

  1. Create a Pull Request (PR): Push your branch to your GitHub fork and create a pull request to the original repository. This will allow others to review your changes.

  2. Netlify Deployment Preview: After creating the PR, Netlify will automatically provide a deploy preview for the website. Check this preview to ensure everything looks correct.

  3. Merge the PR: If everything works fine, the PR will be merged.

After Merging

Once the PR is merged, the website will rebuild automatically. This process may take a few minutes, so please be patient. any issues, don’t hesitate to ask for help.