Zixian Wang

Zixian Wang

He/Him

PhD Student at UIUC | LLM Training & Systems

Your Site Structure Explained

Your Site Structure Explained

Three Main Files Control Your Website

1️⃣ _config.yml (Controls Sidebar)

Location: /Users/wangzixian/zixianwang2022.github.io/_config.yml

This file controls what appears in the LEFT SIDEBAR of your website.

What you see on the website:

┌─────────────────┐
│ [PHOTO]         │ ← avatar field
│                 │
│ Zixian Wang     │ ← author.name field
│                 │
│ He/Him          │ ← author.pronouns field
│                 │
│ First-year PhD  │ ← author.bio field
│ student at UIUC │
│ advised by...   │
│                 │
│ 📧 Email icon   │ ← author.email creates link
│ 🐙 GitHub icon  │ ← author.github creates link
│ etc.            │ ← all profile URLs
└─────────────────┘

What you’re updating:

  • author.name = Your name on sidebar ✅ Set to “Zixian Wang”
  • author.bio = Short description ✅ Set to PhD student bio
  • author.pronouns = ✅ Already “He/Him”
  • author.email = ✅ Already “zixianw4@illinois.edu”
  • author.avatar = Profile picture filename ⏳ Needs image file

Still TODO in _config.yml:

  • All the academic profile URLs (Google Scholar, arXiv, ORCID, etc.) - leave blank if you don’t have them

2️⃣ _pages/about.md (Controls Main Content)

Location: /Users/wangzixian/zixianwang2022.github.io/_pages/about.md

This file controls what appears in the CENTER/MAIN AREA of your website.

What you see on the website:

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Welcome to My Academic Portfolio

About Me
I am a first-year PhD student...
(Your existing text)

Research Interests
My research focuses on...
✅ Just filled in

Education
Ph.D. in Computer Science...
✅ Just filled in

Experience
Graduate Research Assistant...
✅ Just filled in

News & Updates
(Can be empty or add announcements)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

What’s in this file:

  • Markdown text with ## headings
  • Your About Me text
  • Research Interests ✅ Filled
  • Education ✅ Filled
  • Experience ✅ Filled
  • News & Updates ⏳ Empty (optional)

3️⃣ _data/navigation.yml (Controls Top Menu)

Location: /Users/wangzixian/zixianwang2022.github.io/_data/navigation.yml

This file controls the TOP NAVIGATION BAR.

What you see on the website:

┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Publications | Blog Posts | CV      │
└────────────────────────────────────┘

Current links:

  • Publications → /publications/ (shows your research papers)
  • Blog Posts → /year-archive/ (your blog, currently empty)
  • CV → /cv/ (your curriculum vitae)

Other Important Directories

_publications/ - Your Research Papers

What shows: Publications page at /publications/

Currently has 5 sample files. You’ll replace these with your actual publications.

_posts/ - Your Blog Posts

What shows: Blog archive at /year-archive/

Currently empty (you deleted the samples). Add .md files here if you want blog posts.

images/ - Your Pictures & Files

What shows: Profile picture and other images

You’ll add profile.png here (300×300px).

files/ - PDFs and Downloads

What shows: Downloadable resources

Place PDFs of your papers, CV, etc. here and link to them.

The Complete Website Layout

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│              https://zixianwang2022.github.io/                  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Publications  |  Blog Posts  |  CV                              │
│  ↑ From _data/navigation.yml                                     │
├──────────────────────┬──────────────────────────────────────────┤
│   LEFT SIDEBAR       │         MAIN CONTENT                     │
│ (from _config.yml)   │    (from _pages/about.md)                │
│                      │                                           │
│ [Photo]              │  # Welcome to My Academic Portfolio       │
│                      │                                           │
│ Zixian Wang          │  ## About Me                              │
│                      │  I am a first-year PhD student...        │
│ He/Him               │                                           │
│                      │  ## Research Interests                    │
│ First-year PhD       │  My research focuses on...               │
│ student at UIUC      │                                           │
│ advised by...        │  ## Education                             │
│                      │  Ph.D. in Computer Science...             │
│ 📧 Email             │                                           │
│ 🐙 GitHub            │  ## Experience                            │
│ 🔗 Scholar           │  Graduate Research Assistant...          │
│                      │                                           │
└──────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────┘

File Edit Workflow

When you edit _config.yml:

  1. ✏️ Edit in VS Code
  2. 💾 Save
  3. 📤 Commit & push to GitHub
  4. ⏳ Wait 30 seconds
  5. 🌐 Visit website - sidebar shows your changes!

When you edit _pages/about.md:

  1. ✏️ Edit in VS Code
  2. 💾 Save
  3. 📤 Commit & push to GitHub
  4. ⏳ Wait 30 seconds
  5. 🌐 Visit website - main content shows your changes!

What’s Currently Set Up ✅

  • ✅ Site name: “Zixian Wang”
  • ✅ Author name in sidebar: “Zixian Wang”
  • ✅ Bio: “First-year PhD student at UIUC advised by Prof. Minjia Zhang”
  • ✅ Pronouns: “He/Him”
  • ✅ Email: “zixianw4@illinois.edu”
  • ✅ GitHub: “zixianwang2022”
  • ✅ About Me section: Written
  • ✅ Research Interests: Filled in
  • ✅ Education: Filled in
  • ✅ Experience: Filled in
  • ✅ Navigation: Clean (3 main pages)

What Still Needs Work ⏳

  • Profile picture: Add images/profile.png
  • Academic profiles: Fill in Google Scholar, arXiv, ORCID if you have them
  • News & Updates: Can stay empty or add updates
  • Publications: Replace sample files with your actual papers
  • CV: Update /pages/cv.md with your full CV

Next Steps

  1. Add profile picture:
    • Save your photo as 300×300 pixels
    • Name it profile.png
    • Place in /images/ folder
    • Commit and push
  2. Add publications:
    • Replace files in _publications/ with your papers
    • Or delete sample files and leave empty for now
  3. Update CV:
    • Edit _pages/cv.md with your full curriculum vitae
  4. Add optional social links:
    • Fill in Google Scholar, arXiv, LinkedIn, etc. in _config.yml
    • Leave blank if you don’t have them

How to Check Your Changes

Visit: https://zixianwang2022.github.io/

After pushing changes, wait 30 seconds and refresh. You should see:

  • Left sidebar with your name and bio
  • Main content with About, Research Interests, Education, Experience
  • Top menu with Publications, Blog Posts, CV

That’s it! Your site is now live with your information! 🎉