Daniel Thurau's Personal Website

This is the source code for my personal website hosted at thurau.io. It's a Jekyll-based static site that showcases my projects, blog posts, and professional information.

🏗️ Architecture

This is a Jekyll static site with the following structure:

Core Components

• Jekyll 4.3.3 - Static site generator
• no-style-please theme - Minimal, clean design theme
• GitHub Pages - Hosting platform

Directory Structure

danielthurau.github.io/
├── _config.yml          # Jekyll configuration
├── _layouts/            # HTML templates
│   ├── default.html     # Base layout
│   ├── home.html        # Homepage layout
│   ├── page.html        # Standard page layout
│   ├── post.html        # Blog post layout
│   └── archive.html     # Archive page layout
├── _includes/           # Reusable HTML components
├── _posts/              # Blog posts (Markdown)
├── _sass/               # SCSS stylesheets
├── assets/              # Static assets (CSS, JS, images)
├── images/              # Image galleries for projects
├── pdfs/                # PDF documents (resume, etc.)
└── [content pages]      # About, projects, economics, etc.

Key Features

• Minimal Design: Clean, fast-loading pages
• Project Showcases: Dedicated pages for hardware projects
• Blog Posts: Technical writing and updates
• Responsive: Works on desktop and mobile
• Analytics: GoatCounter integration for privacy-friendly analytics

🎯 Purpose

This website serves as my digital home on the internet, featuring:

• Professional Information: About me, resume, contact details
• Project Portfolio: Showcases of hardware and software projects
• Blog: Technical writing and project updates
• Personal Branding: Consistent online presence

🚀 Local Development

Prerequisites

• Ruby (2.7 or higher)
• Bundler (gem install bundler)
• Git

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/DanielThurau/danielthurau.github.io.git
   cd danielthurau.github.io

2. Install dependencies

   bundle install

3. Start the development server

   bundle exec jekyll serve

4. View the site Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:4000

Development Workflow

1. Create new blog posts

   • Add Markdown files to _posts/ directory
   • Use the format: YYYY-MM-DD-title.md
   • Include front matter with layout, title, and other metadata

2. Add new pages

   • Create Markdown files in the root directory
   • Include front matter with layout and title
   • Use layout: page for standard pages

3. Modify styling

   • Edit files in _sass/ directory
   • Main stylesheet: assets/css/main.scss

4. Add images

   • Place images in images/ directory
   • Reference them in Markdown using relative paths

Useful Commands

# Start development server with live reload
bundle exec jekyll serve --livereload

# Build for production
bundle exec jekyll build

# Serve with drafts
bundle exec jekyll serve --drafts

# Check for broken links
bundle exec jekyll build
bundle exec htmlproofer ./_site

📝 Content Management

Blog Posts

• Location: _posts/
• Format: Markdown with YAML front matter
• Example front matter:

  ---
  layout: post
  title: "Your Post Title"
  date: 2024-01-01
  ---

Pages

• Location: Root directory
• Format: Markdown with YAML front matter
• Example front matter:

  ---
  layout: page
  title: "Page Title"
  ---

Project Pages

• Create dedicated directories for project images
• Reference projects in projects.md
• Use consistent naming conventions

🎨 Customization

Theme Configuration

The site uses the no-style-please theme with customizations in _config.yml:

theme_config:
  appearance: "auto"  # light, dark, or auto
  back_home_text: ".."
  date_format: "%Y-%m-%d"
  show_description: true

Custom Styles

• Main stylesheet: assets/css/main.scss
• Custom SCSS in _sass/ directory
• Override theme defaults as needed

🔧 Deployment

This site is automatically deployed via GitHub Pages:

1. Push changes to the main branch
2. GitHub Pages automatically builds and deploys
3. Site is available at https://danielthurau.github.io
4. Custom domain configured via CNAME file

Manual Deployment

# Build the site
bundle exec jekyll build

# The built site is in `_site/` directory
# Upload contents to your web server

📊 Analytics

The site uses GoatCounter for privacy-friendly analytics:

• Only active in production environment
• No cookies or tracking scripts
• Respects user privacy

🤝 Contributing

While this is a personal website, if you find issues or have suggestions:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Submit a pull request

📄 License

This project is open source and available under the LICENSE file.

🔗 Links

• Live Site: thurau.io
• GitHub: @DanielThurau
• Twitter: @DanielNThurau

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Built with Jekyll and hosted on GitHub Pages