Next-generation academic websites in Jekyll Speaker: UCCSC! Peter Werba 2014 How do we share information in the modern era? Websites! wikipedia.org ucsf.edu nytimes.com A lot has changed 1999 2014 How do we make sure that our websites are: • available 24/7 (even with heavy traffic)! • easy to create, edit, and maintain! • scalable How did we work! last decade? • Dynamically generated pages in CMS systems! • Maintain our own servers and databases ! • HTML often edited in the browser What are the problems? • Configuring & maintaining servers & databases = HARD! • Editing HTML source = HARD We can do better! In fact, the software industry has moved on! What do they do? 1. HTML → TXT (with Markdown) 2. Dynamic → Static (with Jekyll) 3. Servers → Hosted (with GitHub) 1. What is Markdown? TXT files with! simple syntax that ! compile to HTML HTML MARKDOWN Why use Markdown? • Simple, fast, clean! • Portable to other formats! • Supports raw HTML (if you need to do something complicated)! • Widespread (and growing) adoption 2. What is Jekyll? Jekyll is a “static site” generator that converts source files! (markdown, etc.)! into a website Basics about Jekyll • Simple to install as a Ruby Gem, but no Ruby coding knowledge is required for use.! • Converts your code and Markdown posts into HTML! • An elegant and simple way to publish to the web. Why use Jekyll • SAFE from Denial of Service Attacks.! • SAFE from caving under heavy traffic (if served from GitHub pages or a CDN like cloudfront).! • SAFE from MySQL injection attacks (because it doesn't use a database).! • It needs NO security patches or updates.! • It doesn't need any special server script software (like php,python or ruby or perl etc). Who is using Jekyll ? • Not just for “small” websites… used by the Obama Fundraising Campaign site in 2012.! • GitHub is running Jekyll.! • Many blogs migrating away from WordPress Installing Jekyll • Installs as a ruby “gem” easy to update and maintain.! • Excellent documentation at http://jekyllrb.com/docs/home/ Where is the Content? jekyll comples ! everything to _site “default site build” Jekyll vs. CMS • No need to worry about constant "urgent" software updates.! • Simple article and post management.! • No database, content is served up fast and it is very easy to find info in content.! • SEF/Clean URL’s by default.! • Developer “git” driven workflow.! • Clean templating uses “Liquid” for responsive designs. Other options like bootstrap are also available. 3. What is GitHub? • “Facebook for source code”! • GitHub Pages = free hosting of Jekyll-powered websites! • No servers to maintain, etc. Why use GitHub and GitHub Pages? • Seamless integration to GitHub Pages.! • No need for you to create or remember a password. You can make changes via git or the GitHub account.! • Free for each GitHub account and organization. Unlimited project sites. Why use GitHub and GitHub Pages? • Automatic versioning of your site keep track of past content changes as well as code changes.! • Easy to preview changes before committing them to production.! • Easy to revert your code to a previous version. + = Conclusion Jekyll + GitHub Pages gives you websites that are… • affordable (free if using GH-pages)! • flexible and scalable! • solid static HTML “just works” Enjoy your stay in San Francisco!.