Simple Academic Personal Page

A lightweight, maintenance-free website template for academics, researchers, and students.

No complex frameworks. No Hugo/Jekyll. Just one JSON file.

How it Works

1. You edit data.json (add your bio, papers, news).
2. GitHub Actions detects the change.
3. A Python script runs automatically, merging your data with the design template.
4. Your website is published to GitHub Pages.

Quick Start Guide

1. Create your Repository

Click the "Use this template" button at the top right of this page to create your own copy of this repository.

2. Configure GitHub Pages

1. Go to your repository Settings.
2. Click Pages on the left sidebar.
3. Under Build and deployment > Source, select Deploy from a branch.
4. Under Branch, select gh-pages and / (root).
   • Note: If you don't see gh-pages yet, make a small edit to a file and commit it. The automated workflow will create the branch for you.
5. Click Save.

3. Update Your Content

1. Open data.json in your repository.
2. Edit the values to match your profile.
   • Tip: You can use Markdown (bold **text**, links [text](url)) inside the text fields!
3. Commit your changes.
4. Wait ~1 minute, and your site will be live!

Project Structure

• data.json: The Source of Truth. This is the only file you need to edit regularly.
• template.html: The HTML design. Edit this if you want to change the layout or colors.
• build.py: The Python script that generates the website.
• .github/workflows/deploy.yml: The automation configuration.
• assets/images/: Place your profile picture and project images here.

---

Editing data.json

The data file is structured into simple sections. If you don't want a section (e.g., you don't have "News" yet), simply delete that block from the JSON, and it will disappear from the website.

{
  "basics": {
    "name": "Your Name",
    "image": "images/profile.jpg",
    "bio": "I am a **Researcher**..." // Markdown is supported here!
  },
  "projects": [ ... ],
  "publications": [ ... ]
}

Adding Images

1. Upload your image to the images/ folder on GitHub.
2. In data.json, reference it like this: "image": "images/my-photo.jpg"

Local Development (Optional)

If you prefer to preview changes on your own computer before pushing to GitHub:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone [https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git](https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git)

2. Install Python requirements:

   pip install jinja2 markdown

3. Build the site:

   python build.py

4. Open index.html in your browser to see the result.

Customization

• Colors & Fonts: Open template.html and look for the <style> block at the top. You can change --primary-color and --accent-color.
• Layout: The template uses Bootstrap 5. You can use standard Bootstrap classes to modify the grid or spacing.

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License. Feel free to use it for your personal academic website!