Quick Start Guide 🚀

Welcome! Your Jekyll blog has been significantly improved. Here’s how to get started.

First-Time Setup

1. Update Your Personal Information

Edit _config.yml and replace:

# Update these placeholder values:
email: "contact@spsarkar.dev"  # Your actual email
author.links:  # Your actual social media URLs
  - Twitter: https://twitter.com/yourusername
  - GitHub: https://github.com/spsarkar
  - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/yourprofile

2. Add Your Photos

Add these images to assets/images/:

• bio-photo.jpg - Your profile picture (square, 200x200px recommended)
• site-logo.png - Your site logo for SEO
• header-bg.jpg - Homepage header background (1600x900px recommended)

3. Install Dependencies

bundle install

Daily Development

Start the Development Server

Simple start:

./dev.sh

With all features enabled:

./dev.sh --livereload --drafts

Options:

• --livereload or -l - Auto-refresh browser on changes
• --drafts or -d - Show draft posts
• --future or -f - Show posts with future dates
• --help or -h - Show all options

Then visit: http://localhost:4000

Creating Content

New Blog Post

1. Create file in _posts/:

   touch _posts/2025-12-01-my-awesome-post.md
   

2. Add front matter: ```yaml — title: “My Awesome Post” date: 2025-12-01 categories:
   • data-engineering tags:
   • python
   • tutorial excerpt: “Learn how to build amazing things” —

   Your content here… ```

New Draft Post

1. Create file in _drafts/ (no date needed):

   touch _drafts/work-in-progress.md
   

2. Preview with:

   ./dev.sh --drafts
   

Testing Before Deployment

# Build production version
./build.sh

# Check for issues
bundle exec jekyll doctor

Deploy to GitHub Pages

git add .
git commit -m "Add new blog post"
git push origin main

GitHub Pages will automatically build and deploy!

Common Tasks

Update Theme/Plugins

bundle update

Test All Links

gem install html-proofer
htmlproofer ./_site --disable-external

Change Theme Skin

Edit _config.yml:

minimal_mistakes_skin: "dark"  # Try: air, aqua, contrast, dark, dirt, neon, mint, plum, sunrise

File Organization

Your most important files:
├── _config.yml          ← Site settings
├── _data/
│   └── navigation.yml   ← Menu items
├── _posts/              ← Published posts (YYYY-MM-DD-title.md)
├── _drafts/             ← Work in progress
├── _pages/              ← Static pages
└── assets/images/       ← Your images

Need Help?

• 📖 Full README - Comprehensive guide
• 🤝 Contributing Guidelines - How to contribute
• 📋 Improvements Summary - What was changed
• 🔄 Changelog - Version history
• 📚 Minimal Mistakes Docs

Next Steps

1. ✅ Replace placeholder info in _config.yml
2. ✅ Add your profile photo
3. ✅ Write your first real blog post
4. ✅ Customize the theme (optional)
5. ✅ Set up Google Analytics (optional)
6. ✅ Enable comments (optional)

Pro Tips

• Use ./dev.sh -l -d for best development experience
• Draft posts don’t need dates in filenames
• Images go in assets/images/posts/YYYY-MM-DD-post-name/
• Test locally before pushing to GitHub
• Check _site/ folder to see final output

Happy blogging! 🎉