Quick Start - Deploy in 5 Minutes

Quick Start - Deploy in 5 Minutes

Step 1: Review Your Site

Your Jekyll site is ready! Here’s what was created:

• Blog post: _posts/2026-02-23-carrion-insect-mycobiome.md
• Data files: 7 CSV files in assets/data/
• Visualizations: Interactive Observable Plot charts
• Styling: Clean academic theme

Step 2: Test Locally (Optional)

If you have Ruby 3.0+:

bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve
# Open http://localhost:4000

If you get a Ruby version error, skip this and deploy directly to GitHub Pages (it will work there).

Step 3: Deploy to GitHub Pages

# Initialize git (if not already)
git init

# Add all files
git add .

# Commit
git commit -m "Initial commit: Jekyll research site with 2026-02-23 data"

# Create a GitHub repo at https://github.com/new, then:
git remote add origin https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-REPO.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

Step 4: Enable GitHub Pages

1. Go to your repository on GitHub
2. Click Settings → Pages
3. Under “Source”, select:
   • Branch: main
   • Folder: / (root)
4. Click Save

Step 5: View Your Site

Wait 2-3 minutes, then visit:

https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/YOUR-REPO/

Next Steps

Update Site Info

Edit _config.yml:

title: Your Name, PhD
email: your.email@domain.edu
github_username: your-github

Commit and push:

git add _config.yml
git commit -m "Update site info"
git push

Add a Custom Domain (Optional)

If you have a domain (e.g., www.yourname.com):

1. Add a CNAME file:

   echo "www.yourname.com" > CNAME
   git add CNAME
   git commit -m "Add custom domain"
   git push
   

2. In GitHub Settings → Pages → Custom domain, enter your domain

3. In your domain registrar, add a CNAME record:

   www.yourname.com → YOUR-USERNAME.github.io
   

Add More Posts

Copy the pattern from _posts/2026-02-23-carrion-insect-mycobiome.md:

1. Export new CSV data to assets/data/
2. Create _posts/YYYY-MM-DD-new-post.md
3. Create assets/js/YYYY-MM-DD-plots.js (use 2026-02-23 as template)
4. Commit and push

File Overview

Your Site Structure:
├── _posts/                     📝 Blog posts here
├── assets/
│   ├── data/                  📊 CSV files
│   ├── js/                    📈 Observable Plot scripts
│   └── css/                   🎨 Styling
├── _config.yml                ⚙️  Site settings
├── index.md                   🏠 Homepage
└── blog.md                    📚 Blog index

Troubleshooting

“Ruby version error” locally → Just deploy to GitHub Pages, it will work there

“Site not found” on GitHub → Wait 3 minutes for build, check Settings → Pages is enabled

“Plots not showing” → Check browser console (F12), verify use_plot: true in post front matter

“Need help” → See SETUP.md for detailed instructions

Resources

• Full documentation: README.md
• Detailed setup: SETUP.md
• Observable Plot: https://observablehq.com/plot/
• Jekyll docs: https://jekyllrb.com/