jekyll-theme-conference

jekyll-theme-conference

Jekyll template for a conference website containing program, speaker, talks and room overview

#jekyll-theme#jekyll#jekyll-site#conference#template#congress#markdown#program#schedule#streaming
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jekyll-theme-conference

This is a responsive Jekyll theme based on Bootstrap 4 for conferences. It contains

  • multiday program / schedule,
  • talk and speaker descriptions,
  • map for directions,
  • realtime live indications during the conference, and
  • supports embedded video streaming or recordings.

All components such as talks, speakers or rooms are represented as collection of files. The schedule is given is defined via a simple structure stored in a YAML file. There is no need for databases and once generated the website consists only of static files. A script and workflows are available for easy import, e.g. of frab compatible schedules. The design is easily customizable and is adapted for mobile uses and printing.

The theme was originally created for the yearly Winterkongress conference of the Digital Society Switzerland. You can see this theme in action here:

Table of Contents

Installation

There are three ways to install: As a Gem-based theme, as a remote theme (GitHub Pages compatible), or by cloning/forking this repository and reference to it directly.

Gem-based Method

With Gem-based themes, directories such as the assets, _layouts, _includes, and _sass are stored in the theme’s gem, hidden from your immediate view. Yet all of the necessary directories will be read and processed during Jekyll’s build process.

This allows for easier installation and updating as you don't have to manage any of the theme files. To install:

  1. Add the following to your Gemfile:

    gem "jekyll-theme-conference"

  2. Fetch and update bundled gems by running the following Bundler command:

    bundle

  3. Set the theme in your project's Jekyll _config.yml file:

    theme: jekyll-theme-conference

  4. Continue with the Setup section further below to customize the theme and add some content for your conference

To update the theme run bundle update.

Remote Theme Method

Remote themes are similar to Gem-based themes, but do not require Gemfile changes or whitelisting making them ideal for sites hosted with GitHub Pages.

To install:

  1. Create/replace the contents of your Gemfile with the following:

    source "https://rubygems.org"

gem "github-pages", group: :jekyll_plugins

  2. Add jekyll-include-cache to the plugins array of your _config.yml.

  3. Fetch and update bundled gems by running the following Bundler command:

    bundle

  4. Add remote_theme: "DigitaleGesellschaft/[email protected]" to your _config.yml file. Remove any other theme: or remote_theme: entry.

  5. Continue with the Setup section further below to customize the theme and add some content for your conference

Setup

The different talks, speakers and rooms are stored as a collection of files. Each file contains a small header in form of a YAML block (called FrontMatter) which is used to store additional information beside a description. Their exact use and meaning is described further below in the section Content. Additional configuration options can be found in the section Configuration.

The actual schedule defining when and in which room a talk takes place is stored as a YAML data file under _data/program.yml. For further details about it see below in the section Content.

:warning: Please note that the generated website can be quite large containing many unnecessary whitespaces. It is recommended to minimize the generated output files before uploading them to a server (e.g. with minify).

Jump Start

In order to be up and running simply use the default content of this repository as an initial base for your new website. After having setup a new Jekyll website copy the following files and folders into the website's folder:

  • _config.example.yml -> _config.yml
  • _data/
  • _rooms/
  • _speakers/
  • _talks/
  • index.md
  • location/
  • program/
  • speakers/
  • talks/

Automatic Import

There exists a Python file in this repository, _tools/create_entries.py, which can be used to import content from a frab compatible JSON file (e.g. from pretalx.com) or a CSV table and generate the different talk, speakers and room files automatically.

  1. Copy the files _tools/create_entries.py and _tools/requirements.txt from this repository

  2. Create a virtual environment and activate it

    python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

  3. Install the requirements

    pip install -r _tools/requirements.txt

  4. Execute the script, e.g. to show the help type

    python _tools/create_entries.py --help

Automatic Build

In case you do not want to install the entire Ruby/Jekyll toolchain on your machine you can make use of GitHub Actions, Github's continuous integration platform. This repository contains multiple example Github Action configuration files in the _tools/ folder:

  • build.yml: automatically builds and minimizes the website upon adding a new tag starting with a v (e.g. v2020.01.01). It then attaches the generated website as an archive to a release for easy downloading. Requires purgecss.config.js to be copied to the project's root too.
  • test.yml: automatically tries to build the website upon a new pull request. It can thus be used as status check before merging.
  • schedule.yml: automatically generates the schedule and content files when a new pull request contains a schedule.json file (see the Automatic Import subsection above). Thus, it allows quick updates of the site's content from pretalx.com exports.

To get started, simply copy the desired workflow file to your repository and adapt it to your needs:

  • _tools/build.yml -> .github/workflows/build.yml

Please note that the Gemfile.lock of your project must be adapted to include specific versions required by Github's workflow server, i.e. run bundle lock --add-platform x86_64-linux to add support for them.

Configuration

All configurations and customization for this theme are stored under the conference property in the _config.yml file. You can find an example configuration containing most of the here discussed parameters under _config.example.yml in this repository.

Theme Verification

Upon building the theme runs some basic verification to check if all necessary files and configurations are in place. If it encounters an error it shows so in adding an information bar on all your sites. You can disable this, e.g. in a production environment, by setting show_errors to false (default: true).

Example:

conference:
  show_errors: false

:warning: Please be sure to disable this parameter for your production system.

Collection URLs

The three required collections containing the files for the talks, speakers and rooms have to be specified in the _config.yml file. The first block declares them and sets the URL under which they will later be accessed. The second block defines the default layout for each of the collection.

collections:
  talks:
    output: true
    permalink: /:collection/:title/
  speakers:
    output: true
    permalink: /:collection/:title/
  rooms:
    output: true
    permalink: /:collection/:title/

defaults:
  - scope:
      path: ""
      type: talks
    values:
      layout: talk
  - scope:
      path: ""
      type: speakers
    values:
      layout: speaker
  - scope:
      path: ""
      type: rooms
    values:
      layout: room

In order to change the URL of the collection, simply edit the permalink property and replace the :collection tag (which translates to talks, speakers and rooms) with your desired value. Please note that the talk and speaker overview pages should residue in a folder of the same name.

Note: While you might want to change the URLs, the name of the three collections (talks, speakers and rooms) is fixed and cannot be changed.

Language

In order to adapt the language of the theme set the lang property. If you change it from its default, make sure you have copied the internationalization file from this repository to _data/lang.yml. Currently the following languages are included:

  • English: en (Default)
  • German: de
  • French: fr
  • Portuguese: pt

Example:

conference:
  lang: en

The navigation bar is located at the top and visible on every site. On the right it show the title of the website (site.title) followed by the links listed under the links property of the navigation property. See the Content > Links section below for the available properties per link.

Example:

conference:
  navigation:
    links:
      - name: Program
        relative_url: /program/
      - live: true
      - name: Previous Editions
        menu:
          - name: 2020 (current)
            disabled: true
          - name: 2019
            relative_url: /2019/

Optionally, a logo or link of your organization hosting the conference can be shown on the right side of the navigation bar. It is activate through the logo property under the navigation property containing

  • the text to show (name),
  • an absolute link address (url), and
  • optionally a logo to show instead of the text (img), whereby the path to the image file relative to the /assets/images/ folder has to be specified.

Example:

conference:
  navigation:
    ...
    logo:
      name: Magic Organisation
      img: 'logo.svg'  # inside /assets/images/
      url: 'https://github.com'

The navigation bar automatically collapses when the available space is too small (e.g. on a smaller screen). The breakpoints are given by Bootstrap. The default breakpoint is md (collapsing if the screen width is smaller than 992px). It can be adapted by setting the breakpoint property under the navigation property to either sm, md, lg, or xl.

The theme automatically includes the necessary <meta> tags to ease link previewing when sharing links based on the Open Graph protocol and Twitter Cards. These tags control how a link is presented when shared via different platform and apps. In order to disable these <meta> tags add the disable: true setting (default: false) to the link_preview property.

In order to generate a meaningful description for each of the links, the preposition for the conference title as given under the title property can be defined by using the preposition property. For example, if title is set to "Conference 2020" the corresponding preposition would be "at". The template can then use it to generate descriptions such as "Talk at Conference 2020".

Optionally, an image which is shown as preview for all links can be specified. For sharing via Open Graph an image ratio of 1.91:1 and an ideal size of 1200x630 pixel is recommended. For sharing via Twitter an image ratio of 1:1 and a minimal size of 600x600 pixel (better 1200x1200 pixel) is recommended. SVG image files are not supported. It is activate through the img property under the link_preview property containing an image file shown for Open Graph (open_graph) and on the Twitter Cards (twitter), whereby the path to the image file relative to the /assets/images/ folder has to be specified.

title: Conference 2020
preposition: 'at'

...

conference:
  link_preview:
    disable: false
    img:
      twitter: 'twitter_preview.png'      # inside /assets/images/
      open_graph: 'facebook_preview.png'  # inside /assets/images/

Main Landing Page

The main landing page is shown at the root of the website to greet new visitors. In order to show it you need to create a index.md file in the root of your website's folder and specify its layout as layout: main. The remaining customizations are specified in the _config.yml file.

The main page states your site's title (site.title) or a logo instead. The logo can be configured through the logo property under the main property containing

  • a img property specifying the path to the image file relative to the /assets/images/ folder.

Example:

conference:
  main:
    logo:
      img: 'main_logo.png'

The title/logo on the main page is followed by a description of your site (site.description) and the content of your index.md file. It ends with an optional list of links in the form of buttons. See the Content > Links section below for the available properties per link.

Example:

conference:
  main:
    ...
    links:
      - name: Program
        relative_url: /program/
      - name: Tickets
        disabled: true
        absolute_url: ''

Information Boxes

One or multiple information banners or boxes can be shown at the top of the website just below the navigation bar. They are prominent but dismissable and can inform your visitors about recent changes. They are activate through the info_bars property which contains a list for each information banner to show. Each banner consists of

  • a title (title),
  • a color (color) following the Bootstrap color scheme (see below), possible values are:
    • primary (your website's main color, normally blue)
    • secondary (your website's secondary color, normally grey)
    • success (green)
    • alert (red)
    • warning (yellow)
    • info (blue)
    • light (white)
    • dark (dark grey)
  • an additional text (text, markdown supported),
  • the option to show it on all pages, only the main landing page (main_only: true), or all pages except the main landing page (pages_only: true).

Example:

conference:
  info_bars:
    - title: Sold Out!
      color: primary
      main_only: true
      text: |
        We're truly sorry but we are sold out.

        ---

        Try again next year.

Live Indications & Streaming

In order to help users navigating the program during the congress, a Live indication can be shown next to talks which are currently taking place. A small JavaScript functions keeps the site automatically up-to-date (without the need to refresh) showing the indication as soon as the talk has started and hiding it once it is over (according to the timetable indicated in the _data/program.yml file).

This can be further extended if some of the talks have an associated live stream: Upon clicking one of the live indications a modal will open containing the corresponding embedded live stream. The URL to the live stream has to be set via live property in each room (see the Content > Room section below). Instead of opening the modal an external link can also be used.

In order to activate these functionalities, each day in the program.yml file must contain a date property (see section Content > Schedule / Program below) and the live property has to be set in the configuration file containing

  • how long a pause between two consecutive talks has to be for the live indication to pause (stop),
  • optionally under the streaming property:
    • if streaming should be enabled (enable), and if enabled
    • how many minutes the stream goes active before a talk (prepend),
    • how many minutes the stream stays active after a talk (extend),
    • how long a pause between two consecutive talks has to be for the stream to pause (pause), and
    • optionally an external (absolute) link to which the user will be redirected instead of opening the modal (external),
  • optionally under the demo property:
    • if a demonstration mode should be enabled (enable), whereby the JavaScript function cycles continuously through the entire program in a few minutes, and if enabled
    • how long the demonstration should take (duration), and
    • how long the pause between two demonstration cycle should be (pause).
conference:
  live:
    stop: 240      # in minutes
    streaming:
      enable: true
      pause:   60  # in minutes
      prepend:  5  # in minutes
      extend:   5  # in minutes
    demo:
      enable: false
      duration: 300  # in seconds
      pause:     10  # in seconds

Map

In order to help users finding your venue, an OpenStreetMap container displaying a map can be shown on any page. The map's initial position is globally defined and thus the same for all map containers. You can define the initial position of the map by setting the default zoom level default_zoom, the center coordinates home_coord, and the map provider for the tiles map_provider. Alternative map providers can be found here. The map contains small control buttons to zoom in and out, center the map back to the initial position, and show the visitors current location (has to be manually activated and granted by the visitor).

The map can be added to any page by setting map: true in its Front Matter or on the location main page by setting conference.location.map: true (see Location Settings section below).

conference:
  map:
    default_zoom: 17
    home_coord: 47.37808, 8.53935
    map_provider: "OpenStreetMap.Mapnik"

Talk Settings

Each talk can have one or multiple categories associated via FrontMatter (see the Individual Pages: Talks section below for more details). Some of these categories can be elevated to so called main categories". These are used to color group the talks across the entire website, particularly in the program. In order to do so add the main_categories property under the talks property. It consists of a list of all main categories. Each main category consists of:

  • its name (name, must be corresponding to the listed categories in the talk's FrontMatter), and
  • a color (color) following the Bootstrap color scheme (see below), possible values are:
    • primary (your website's main color, normally blue)
    • secondary (your website's secondary color, normally grey)
    • success (green)
    • alert (red)
    • warning (yellow)
    • info (blue)
    • light (white)
    • dark (dark grey)

Each talk can have associated links listed at the end of its content. If these links have an icon associated (see Content > Talks below), they are also shown on the talk overview page (e.g. to show in the overview which talk has a video recording and which not). To disable the showing of icon links on the overview page, set the hide_icons property to true (default: false).

Example:

conference:
  talks:
    # Talk categories
    main_categories:
      - name: Cat A
        color: info
      - name: Cat B
        color: success

    # Hide icons on talk overview page
    hide_icons: false

Speaker Settings

In the program as well as the speaker's overview the speaker's first name can be abbreviated to its first letter. Of course, you also have the option to not specify a first name for each speaker in the first place. In order to shorten the first name add the show_firstname: true setting (default: false) to the speakers property.

Example:

conference:
  speakers:
    show_firstname: false

Location Settings

In case the location of your rooms is obvious (e.g. on a campus) you can decide to disable the location page and links to all the rooms. You still need to create the different rooms as files in the _rooms/ directory, since they are needed as a reference. But there will not be any link pointing to it (effectively hiding them). In order to hide all rooms add the hide: true setting (default: false) to the location property.

If your location overview file is not located under /location you can indicate an alternative path by setting the url property (default: /location) under the location property.

The location main page shows a navigation bar listing all the different rooms by name. Due to the quirks of Jekyll, the main page itself cannot be listed by title as defined in its Front Matter. Instead the title of the main landing page for the navigation bar is taken from the language files and defaults to "Directions". In order to change this, you can either change the language files directly (see the Language section above), or you provide an alternative title by setting the navbar_title to the desired title under the location property.

The location layout can include a map to point to your venue by adding the map: true setting (default: true) to the location property. See the Map section above for more information.

Example:

conference:
  location:
    hide: false
    url: '/location'
    navbar_title: 'Location'
    map: true

The map is based on the Leaflet JavaScript library. The map object can be customized by adding additional layers with markers, text, or shapes. To do so, one has to edit the main JavaScript file, assets/js/main.js:

  1. Import the JavaScript library of the theme (via Jekyll include command)
  2. Await the initialization of the theme's object
  3. Fetch the map object and verify it is set (while the JavaScript code is imported and executed on each page, the map object will only exist on the location site)
  4. Modify the map.

Following an example is given adding a simple marker to the map:

---
---

{% include js/conference.js %}

window.conference.awaitReady().then(() => {
    const map = window.conference.map.getMap();

    if (typeof map !== 'undefined') {
        let main_station = L.marker([47.37785, 8.54035], {
            icon: L.divIcon({
                className: '',
                html: '<span class="fas fa-train"></span> Main Station',
                iconSize: [120, 56]
            })
        }).addTo(map);
    }
});

Program Settings

The schedule shown as program can be slightly customized:

  • The time steps shown with a new line can be adapted with the time_steps setting given in minute (default: 15 minutes)
  • Besides the full hour the individual time steps can be hidden by setting show_alltimes: false (default: true)

If your program file is not located under /program you can indicate an alternative path by setting the url property (default: /program) under the program property. Example:

conference:
  program:
    time_steps: 15 # in minutes
    show_alltimes: true

Content

The different talks, speakers and rooms are stored as a collection of file. Each file contains a small header in form of a YAML block (called FrontMatter) which is used to store additional information beside a description. The actual schedule defining when and in which room a talk takes place is stored as a YAML data file.

Schedule / Program

The schedule of the conference linking the talks with the rooms and indicating when each talk talks place and how long it goes is set in the _data/program.yml file. It contains a list of days, whereby each day contains a list of rooms, whereby each room contains a list of talks.

Each day consists of

  • a list of rooms (rooms) in which talks are taking place on that day
  • optionally, the day's name, e.g. the weekday
  • optionally, the short form of the day's name (abbr), and
  • optionally only if no live indications are active, a date in the format YYYY-MM-DD.

Each room consists of

  • the room's name (must correspond to one of the room identifier), and
  • a list of talks (talks) which also can be empty [].

The order of the rooms in the list defines the order of the rooms as shown in the schedule on the program page. For the live streaming or the room overview the order of the rooms is alphabetical but can be adapted via the main configuration file.

Each talk consists of

  • a name (must correspond to one of the talk identifier),
  • a starting time time_start given as H:M (strftime formated) or H:M +∆ whereby ∆ is the day offset in relation to the date given for the given day, and
  • an end time time_end.

The list of talks should (manually) be ordered by time, i.e. the first occurring talk should be listed first.

Example:

days:
- name: Monday
  abbr: Mo
  date: 2020-01-31
  rooms:
  - name: Room A
    talks:
      - name: Vim Impetus Placerat Cotidieque Ad
        time_start: '12:00'
        time_end: '12:45'
      - name: Condimentum Vitae Sapien Pellentesque
        time_start: '12:45'
        time_end: '13:30'

  - name: Room B
    talks:
      - name: Arcu Non Odio
        time_start: '12:00'
        time_end: '13:00'

Talks

Each talk is represented by a file in the _talks/ directory. It must begin with valid YAML Front Matter containing

  • the talk's name (used as identifier),
  • one or more existing speakers name(s),
  • optionally one or more categories of which one should be a main category as defined in the site's configuration,
  • optionally a list of links (see the Links subsection below for the available properties per link; links with icons are treated separately and are also included on the talk overview page),
  • optionally a list of live: links (see the Links subsection below for the available properties per link) which are shown below the live stream for the given talk in form of buttons, and
  • optionally hide: true if the talk's page should not be linked to.

Speakers

Each speaker is represented by a file in the _speakers/ directory. It must begin with valid YAML Front Matter containing

  • the speaker's name (used as identifier), as well as its
  • first_name,
  • last_name,
  • optionally a list of links (see the Links subsection below for the available properties per link; links with icons are treated separately), and
  • optionally hide: true if the speaker's page should not be linked to.

If the speaker's name consists only out of one word, populate the last_name property and leave the first_name property empty. The last name is generally used for sorting the speakers.

Rooms

Each room is represented by a file in the _rooms/ directory. It must begin with valid YAML Front Matter containing

  • the room's name
  • optionally hide: true if the room's page should not be linked to, and
  • optionally under the live property a URL pointing to a live stream for the given room during the conference (see the section Live Indications & Streaming above), either:
    • as an absolute_url, or
    • a relative_url.

Example:

---
name: The Room
hide: false
live:
  absolute_url: https://github.com
---

...

Links are used at different location throughout the theme: They can either be used in the configuration file (for the landing page or the navigation bar), or in talks and for speakers. A link can thereby have the following properties:

  • the text to show (name),
  • optionally if it is disabled (disabled: true),
  • optionally if it should open in a iframe embedded in a popup-like modal in the site it self (iframe: true, e.g. for embedding videos thus having a default iframe ratio of 24:11)
  • optionally an icon to show (indicating the name of a FontAwesome icon to be shown if supported at the given location)
  • the actual link address:
    • given relatively to the site's base address: relative_url:,
    • given absolute: absolute_url:,
    • pointing to a file uploaded to the /documents folder (for talks /documents/slides, for speakers /documents/bio): file:
    • pointing to an external video: video:

Additionally, a navigation bar or main landing page link can also have the following properties:

  • menu containing another list of links. This creates a dropdown menu of multiple sublinks. The sublinks have the same properties as regular links, or
  • live making the link only visible during the conference and adds a live indication. The name property can be omitted. Using the optional name_inactive property shows a placeholder text while the conference is not live. If streaming is enabled and any URL property is omitted, a click on the link will open the streaming modal (see section Live Indications above).

Using the file: indicator, the relative address is automatically set as well as the icon. Using the video: indicator, the link is automatically configured to open in an iframe with a corresponding title and the icon is set.

Example:

  links:
    - name: Slides
      file: slides.pdf
    - name: Recording
      video: https://media.ccc.de/

There exists a Python file in this repository, _tools/import_resources.py, which can be used to import resources such as slides and other documents from pretalx.com) via its API. It automatically downloads all files, stores them and updates the links of the talks concerned.

  1. Copy the files _tools/import_resources.py and _tools/requirements.txt from this repository

  2. Create a virtual environment and activate it

    python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate

  3. Install the requirements

    pip install -r _tools/requirements.txt

  4. Execute the script, e.g. to show the help type

    python _tools/import_resources.py --help

Overview Pages

For each of the three collections there exist a dedicated layout giving an overview among all items of the collection. Furthermore, there exists a layout to show the program as a time schedule. Simply create an empty page and associate the corresponding layout with it:

  • talks/index.md with layout: talk-overview
  • speakers/index.md with layout: speaker-overview
  • location/index.md with layout: location
  • program/index.md with layout: program

They can be empty but should contain the layout property in the FrontMatter header.

If you choose a different location for the overview pages you must:

  • in case of the talks and speaker overview file, adapt the URL of the two collections as described further above in the section Collection URLs, and
  • in case of the location and program file, adapt the corresponding url parameter as described further above in the sections Location Settings and Program Settings.

Location / Room Overview

The location layout can include a map container (if not disabled, see the Location Settings section above) which can be customized (see the Map section above).

Live Stream Overview

The stream-overview layout contains all active streams on a single page (see the section Live Indications & Streaming above).

Additional Pages

Additional static pages can easily be added as files and linked to via navigation bar or main landing page (see above on how to).

Each of these pages can include a map at its end (e.g. to point to your venue) by adding the map: true setting to its Front Matter. See the Map section above for more information.

Design

The design is based on the Bootstrap 4 and thus easily expandable. Furthermore, it makes use of the FontAwesome Icons across the theme. Custom Bootstrap themes or simple color schemes such as designed with Bootstrap Magic can be added in the main SASS stylesheet:

  1. Create a new file under assets/css/main.scss with the following content (or copy the one of this repository):

    ---
---

$fa-font-path: '{{ site.baseurl }}/assets/webfonts';

@import 'conference';

    Do not skip the $fa-font-path variable or modify it as otherwise, the FontAwesome icons will not be able to load.

  2. Add your Bootstrap variables in front of the @import 'conference' line, e.g. currently the primary color is set internally to green (instead of Bootstrap's default blue): $primary: #074 !default;

  3. Add any additional CSS styles after it.

Development

If you want to modify this theme and see its changes on an existing project, simply indicate in your Gemfile that you want to use the local copy of the theme by adding a path indication after the gem instantiation:

group :jekyll_plugins do
  gem "jekyll-theme-conference", path: "../[path to your local theme]"
end

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. You can view LICENSE.md for more details.

This project redistributes other opensource tools and libraries. You can view REDISTRIBUTED.md for third party licenses.

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