ACCESS-2026 Website

This repository contains the source for the static ACCESS-2026 website, built with Hugo and blogdown.

Github CI workflow

Commits to the source branch automatically trigger rebuilding, and a Github Action is triggered upon completion that publishes the website on the specified subdomain.

.github/workflows/deploy.yaml contains info on how to build the website from this repo.

Secrets (i.e. Google service JSON key) is injected via Github's account management system system (Settings > Secrets and variables > Actions).

Local Installation and Build

You can also build the website locally, to test features before pushing to the remote.

Prerequisites

• Install R (latest stable version from cran.r-project.org).
• Install Hugo (version 0.101.0; run Rscript -e 'blogdown::install_hugo("0.101.0")' after R setup).
• Install system dependencies (see below for OS-specific instructions).
• Set up environment variables (see explanation below).

Install Dependencies

1. Run the provided R script to install packages: Rscript install_packages.R
2. Install system dependencies using the CLI instructions below.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

Run these commands in a terminal:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y libcurl4-openssl-dev libfontconfig1-dev libharfbuzz-dev libfribidi-dev libfreetype6-dev pandoc golang-go

Windows

• Install pandoc: Download the installer from pandoc.org/installing.html and add it to your PATH.
• Install GO: https://go.dev/dl/
• For system libraries: These are typically handled by R during package installation. Ensure Rtools is installed (download from cran.r-project.org/bin/windows/Rtools) for compilation support.

Secrets management

• GOOGLE_SERVICE_JSON_KEY: This is the JSON content of a Google Cloud service account key. To get it:
  • Go to the Google Cloud Console.
  • Create or select a project.
  • Enable the Google Sheets API.
  • Create a service account (IAM & Admin > Service Accounts).
  • Generate a JSON key for the service account.- - Copy the JSON content and set it as the env var (e.g., in a .secret file or system env).
• PEOPLE_GOOGLE_SHEET_ID: The ID of the Google Sheet containing people data. To get it:
  • Open the Google Sheet in your browser.
  • The ID is the long string in the URL (e.g., after /d/ and before /edit).
  • Share the sheet with the service account email (from the key above) with read access.
  • Set the ID as the env var.

Store these in a .secret file (sourced via source .secret) to avoid committing sensitive data. Ensure the service account has read-only access to the sheet.

Ensure your .secret file is formatted as:

GOOGLE_SERVICE_JSON_KEY=path_to_your_private_JSON_key_here
PEOPLE_GOOGLE_SHEET_ID=your_google_sheet_id_here

Trying to paste the content of the JSON private key file into the .secret file and parse it as an environmental variable creates all sorts of issues; better to serve it this way and keep the R script aligned with the CI workflow.

The correct Google Sheet is under ACCESS-2026 > 01_website > Contributors_for_people_pages.

Make sure the spreadsheet is shared with the service account email, with at least Viewer permissions.

Build and Serve Locally

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

source .secret && Rscript _preprocess.R && Rscript -e 'blogdown::build_site(build_rmd = TRUE)' && Rscript -e 'blogdown::serve_site()'

Windows

build.bat

If successful, Hugo should serve the website on localhost address that you can open in your browser.

Minimal notes on Blogdown / Hugo

Everything that is in static/ will be copied to a dir named public/ during website building. Specifically, new media should be added under static/img/ or static/video/.

To modify the website pages, you should only need to edit the .md files contained in content/. In addition to the markdown files, there is an .Rmd file that generate the HTML picture gallery with slickR.

Finally, the script _preprocess.R reads in a spreadsheet with contributors info using googlesheets4, and creates the respective profiles under content/people/.

Under config/ there are YAML file that define various parameters like base URL, menus, language, theme, SEO type, datetime format and so on. In config/menus.yaml, you can modify the menu at the top of the page; the "weight" parameter determines the display order, and "name" must match a filename in content/home/ (caps-sensitive).