WEBSITE ARCHITECTURE & DEVELOPMENT LOG

Project: Aksoy Research (Personal Academic Website)

Maintainer: Altug Aksoy

Last Updated: February 2026

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1. TECH STACK OVERVIEW

   • Engine: Jekyll (Static Site Generator)
   • Theme: Minimal Mistakes (Remote Theme Version)
   • Hosting: GitHub Pages
   • Repo Structure: Standard Jekyll structure.
   • Content: Markdown (.md) files in root or _pages/.
   • Config: YAML (.yml) files for settings.

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1. CRITICAL CONFIGURATION (THE “TWO-FILE” RULE)

   The Logic: The Minimal Mistakes theme has a strict hierarchy. _data/navigation.yml overrides _config.yml. We encountered a “Ghost Footer” issue where the theme ignored our config settings.

The Fix: To enable a custom footer with icons while removing the default “Feed” link:

1. _config.yml: Defines the content (icons, URLs, copyright).
   • atom_feed: hide: true (Disables the RSS button).
   • footer: links: [...] (Defines our institutional links).
2. _data/navigation.yml: Defines the structure.
   • CRITICAL: This file MUST contain footer: [] (empty list) or have the footer section deleted entirely.
   • If you define footer links here, they will override the icons in _config.yml.

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1. KEY FILE LOCATIONS & MODIFICATIONS

A. _config.yml

• Global Settings: Title, Author, SEO.
• Author Sidebar:
  • Includes LinkedIn, GitHub, Scholar, ORCID.
• Footer Content:
  • Links to: Contact, CIMAS, Rosenstiel, NOAA/AOML, HRD.

B. _data/ui-text.yml (The “Contact & Bio” Fix)

• Purpose: Overrides hardcoded theme labels.
• Modification: Changed follow_label: "Contact & Bio" to follow_label: "" (empty string).
  • Why: This removed the unwanted text header appearing above the footer icons.

C. _data/navigation.yml

• Purpose: Top Main Menu.
• Items: Home, CV, Publications, Projects, Tools, Contact.

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1. CONTENT ADDITION GUIDE

Adding a New Page (e.g., Education Tab)

1. Create a file in root (e.g., education.md).
2. Add Front Matter:

   ---
   title: "Education & Outreach"
   permalink: /education/
   layout: single
   author_profile: true
   ---
   

3. Add the link to _data/navigation.yml to appear in the menu.

Adding Sidebar Links

• Edit _config.yml under author: links:.
• Use FontAwesome class names for icons (e.g., fab fa-linkedin).

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1. EDUCATIONAL VIDEO ROADMAP (Planned Feb 2026)

   Series: “Predicting the Chaos” Platform: YouTube (@DrWeatherWX) embedded on /education/.

• Ep 1: The Beast: Atmosphere & Scales (Micro to Synoptic).
• Ep 2: The Mirror: Numerical Modeling, Grids, & Discretization errors.
• Ep 3: The Correction: Data Assimilation (The “GPS” analogy).
• Ep 4: The Horizon: Chaos, Butterfly Effect, Predictability Limit.
• Ep 5: The Lab: Streamlit App Walkthrough (Logistic Map).

Integration:

• Embed videos on the Education page.
• Link “Learn More” buttons to /projects/ and /publications/.