12 Jun 2024

How To Edit Site Data

How to update About, Ref, Notes Archive, header contact icons, share icons, and site identity from _data and _config.yml.

data yaml jekyll documentation

Some site content is better kept in _data instead of being typed directly into a page. This keeps About, Ref, and icon links easy to update without editing layout HTML.

Site Name

The site name comes from _config.yml:

title: Rajesh Kumar
author:
  name: Rajesh Kumar

The footer, header brand, home hero, and About page use author.name first. If it is missing, they fall back to title.

About Page Data

Edit:

_data/about.yml

This file controls:

• profile photo and summary
• research papers
• books and selected articles
• experience
• education
• certifications
• skills

Example research paper entry:

research_papers:
  - venue: Annals of Physics · Vol. 463 · Article 169623 · 2024
    title: Rationally Extended Harmonic Oscillator Potential
    authors: Rajesh Kumar, Rajesh Kumar Yadav, Avinash Khare
    doi: 10.1016/j.aop.2024.169623
    url: "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2024.169623"

The first research paper is shown directly. Extra papers appear inside the collapsible “More Research Papers” section automatically.

Ref Page Data

Edit:

_data/ref.yml

Each top-level item appears on the Ref page. Use children for nested links.

items:
  - title: Green's Function - Erik M. Olsen
    url: /assets/pdf/ref/Greens-Function.pdf
    children:
      - title: Scattering Theory - B. Zwiebach
        url: /assets/pdf/ref/Scattering-MIT.pdf

Use full URLs for external links:

url: "https://example.com/resource.pdf"

Use site-relative paths for local assets:

url: /assets/pdf/ref/QM-Formulae.pdf

If an item has no url, it appears as bold non-clickable text. Use this for group labels:

items:
  - title: Appendix
    children:
      - title: Fourier Transform
        url: /assets/pdf/ref/appendix/Fourier-Transform.pdf

Notes Archive Data

Edit:

_data/notes_archive.yml

This file controls the Notes Archive page at:

/notes-archive/

Use this file when the same board structure is repeated for B.Sc notes, M.Sc notes, exam notes, documentation, or any future note category.

Example structure:

boards:
  - title: "B.Sc Notes"
    aria_label: "B.Sc semester material"
    board_class: "current-board"
    item_class: ""
    item_type: "Lecture notes"
    visible_limit: 4
    items:
      - category: "bsc-i"
        label: "Sem-I"
      - category: "bsc-ii"
        label: "Sem-II"

Each board controls one notice-board section.

Important fields:

• title controls the board heading.
• aria_label gives the accessibility label.
• board_class controls the board style.
• item_class adds an extra class to each item box.
• item_type controls the small description inside each box.
• visible_limit controls how many boxes appear before the “More” section.
• items contains the categories that will be searched in posts.

Each item has two parts:

- category: "exam-quantum"
  label: "Quantum"

The category must match the post category:

categories:
  - exam-quantum

The label is the visible name shown on the Notes Archive page.

Adding A New Notes Category

To add a new exam group, add one item under the Exam Notes board:

- category: "exam-astrophysics"
  label: "Astrophysics"

Then use the same category in the post front matter:

categories:
  - exam-astrophysics

The page will automatically collect all posts with that category.

Removing A Notes Category

Remove the item from _data/notes_archive.yml.

Example:

- category: "exam-waves"
  label: "Waves"

If removed, the group box will no longer appear on the Notes Archive page.

The posts themselves are not deleted. They simply stop appearing through that data-controlled board.

The repeated rendering logic should stay inside:

_includes/notes-board.html

The editable list of boards and categories should stay inside:

_data/notes_archive.yml

This keeps the page clean and makes future updates possible without touching the page layout.

Header Contact Icons

Edit:

_data/header_icons.yml

Example:

- name: whatsapp
  label: WhatsApp group
  href: "https://chat.whatsapp.com/example"
  icon: /assets/icons/icon-whatsapp-nav.svg

The href can be a mail link, normal URL, or group invite link.

Share Icons

Edit:

_data/share_icons.yml

The heading and share buttons are controlled here.

heading: Share This Page
icons:
  - name: instagram
    label: Share or copy link for Instagram
    action: copy
    icon: /assets/icons/icon-instagram-share.svg

Supported actions are:

• copy for copying the current page link
• facebook for Facebook sharing
• whatsapp for WhatsApp sharing

When To Use Posts Instead

Use _posts for content that should be an article, note, quiz, problem sheet, or dated documentation entry.

Use _data for small structured lists that many templates can reuse.

Small Rules

• Keep _data files as valid YAML.
• Quote URLs that contain :, ?, or &.
• Use site-relative paths beginning with /assets/ for local icons, PDFs, and images.
• Keep text content in _posts when it is a full article.
• Run bundle exec jekyll build after changing _data or _config.yml.