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Editing the Das Lab website

Lab members can update people, news, and publications without leaving the browser — no terminal, no git commands. All content lives in plain markdown files in this repo. Edit them via the GitHub web UI and the site rebuilds automatically in ~30 seconds.

You'll need a (free) GitHub account, and Rhiju (or any DasLab org admin) needs to add you to the org as a member or to the repo as a collaborator. Once added, you'll see an "Edit" pencil icon at the top right of any file when you open it on github.com.

How content is organized

Folder What's in it When to edit
_people/ One .md file per person (current + alumni in the same folder) Adding a new lab member, moving someone to alumni, fixing a role/photo
_news/ One .md file per news item, filename starts with the date Adding lab news
_publications/ One .md file per paper Adding a new paper, marking one as featured
assets/images/people/ Lab member portraits Uploading a new photo
assets/images/news/ Photos for news posts Uploading a thumbnail for a news item

Adding a new lab member

  1. Pick or upload a photo. Open assets/images/people/ on github.com, click "Add file → Upload files", drag the photo in, then "Commit changes". Use a short, lowercase filename like chaitanya-joshi.jpg (no spaces).

  2. Open _people/, click "Add file → Create new file".

  3. Name the file <firstname>-<lastname>.md (lowercase, hyphens). Example: jane-doe.md.

  4. Paste this template and fill it in:

    ---
name: Jane Doe
role: Postdoctoral Fellow, Biochemistry
photo: /assets/images/people/jane-doe.jpg
status: current
last_name: doe
---

  5. Click "Commit changes" at the bottom.

The last_name is used for sorting (alphabetical, case-insensitive) — write it lowercased. Members are listed alphabetically by last_name. The principal investigator is pinned to the end (see below).

Optional fields

  • cv_url: — link to a CV (e.g., a Dropbox link)
  • profile_url: — link to a Stanford profile page
  • pi: true — pins this person to the end of the current-members list. Only the principal investigator should have this.
  • visible: false — temporarily hides this person from the people page without deleting the file or moving them to alumni. Useful for, e.g., a rotation student who hasn't decided whether to stay long-term. Remove the line (or set to true) to show them again.

Hiding someone temporarily (without making them alumni)

If you need to hide someone from the people page but they're not alumni — say a rotation student who hasn't decided whether to stay — open their _people/<name>.md file and add this line to the frontmatter:

visible: false

The page will leave them out on the next rebuild. To bring them back, delete that line (or change to visible: true). This works for both current members and alumni.

Moving someone to alumni

When a lab member leaves, you only edit one file — no need to move it between folders.

  1. Open their file in _people/.

  2. Click the pencil icon (edit).

  3. Change two lines in the frontmatter:

    status: alumnus
end_year: 2026

    end_year is the year they left. (You can also remove pi, cv_url, etc. if no longer relevant — but last_name should stay; it sorts within their year.)

  4. Update the role line to include the date range, e.g.:

    role: Ph.D. Student, 2021-2026

  5. Click "Commit changes".

The alumni list is automatically sorted by end_year (newest first), then alphabetically. They'll show up in the right place automatically.

Adding a news item

  1. (Optional) Upload an image to assets/images/news/. Same process as people photos.

  2. Open _news/, click "Add file → Create new file".

  3. Name it with today's date in front: YYYY-MM-DD-short-title.md. Example: 2026-05-15-chaitanya-joins-lab.md.

  4. Paste this template:

    ---
title: Chaitanya joins the lab
date: 2026-05-15
image: /assets/images/news/chaitanya-joshi.jpg
---

Welcome to **Chaitanya Joshi**, our newest postdoctoral fellow!
Chaitanya joins us after developing the first RNA deep learning
design methods at the University of Cambridge.

<a class="read-more" href="https://example.com/announcement">Read more →</a>

  5. Commit.

The news index shows the 10 most recent posts; older ones tuck under "Previous news" automatically.

Adding a publication

  1. (Optional) If the paper is "featured" — meaning you want it shown with a thumbnail at the top of its year — upload the figure to assets/images/publications/ and note the path.

  2. Open _publications/, click "Add file → Create new file".

  3. Name it <year>-<short-title-slug>.md. The <year>- prefix is what keeps publications grouped by year.

  4. Paste this template:

    ---
title: A descriptive title without surrounding quotes
year: 2026
authors: Doe, J., Smith, K., Das, R.
journal: Nature Communications
pdf: https://example.com/paper.pdf      # link to the PDF
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-...  # link to the journal
---

  5. Optional fields:

    • featured: true — paper appears with a thumbnail and pale-teal background highlight

    • thumb: /assets/images/publications/myfigure.png — figure for featured papers

    • link_labels: and link_urls: — extra labeled links (Preprint, Server, Code, etc.):

      link_labels:
  - "Preprint"
  - "Code"
link_urls:
  - "https://biorxiv.org/..."
  - "https://github.com/..."

  6. Commit.

Publications sort newest year first; within a year, files sort alphabetically by filename — name your files starting with a <year>- prefix and they'll group cleanly.

A few tips

  • Preview before committing: at the top of the editor, click the "Preview" tab to see a rough render of your markdown.
  • Mistakes are fixable: every commit is reversible. If the site looks wrong after your change, open the file, click the history icon, and revert. Or just edit again.
  • Build status: click the Actions tab on github.com to see whether your last commit successfully deployed. A green check means the live site is updating; a red X means there's a syntax error in your frontmatter (often a missing colon or quote).
  • Commit messages: GitHub auto-fills a reasonable default like "Update jane-doe.md". You can leave it.

If you get stuck, ask Rhiju or another lab member.