IEEE ISMAR Website Repository

This repository hosts multiple years of the IEEE ISMAR conference website. The 2024 site is a static HTML website, while from 2025 onward, the site is managed using Jekyll to enable dynamic page generation, templating, and easier maintenance.

The website is available at: https://www.ieeeismar.net/.

For any questions, please contact: ieeeismarpublicity@gmail.com.

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Website Structure

• ISMAR 2024 (/2024): A static HTML site that is served as-is. No Jekyll processing is applied.
• ISMAR 2025 and beyond: Jekyll processes markdown files in each year's folder (e.g., 2025/), automatically generating HTML pages based on their filenames and directory structure.

Year-specific components such as layouts, includes, and structured data are stored in dedicated directories (_layouts/2025, _includes/2025, _data/2025), allowing customization for each conference year while maintaining a shared structure.

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Editing Common Website Elements for a Specific Year

To modify shared website elements such as headers, footers, or navigation menus for a given year, update the corresponding files in the _includes/<year>/ directory.

For example, to edit the header for 2025, modify:

_includes/2025/header.html

Changes here will automatically apply to all pages that use the header.html include.

Similarly, to modify the layout of all pages for a specific year, update the appropriate file in _layouts/<year>/. For example:

_layouts/2025/default.html

This file determines the overall structure of 2025 pages.

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Adding a New Page for a Specific Year

For years managed by Jekyll (starting with 2025), new pages are created as markdown (.md) files in the corresponding year’s folder.

1. Create a New Markdown File

To add a page for 2025, create a markdown file in 2025/, e.g.,

2025/new-page.md

2. Automatic URL Generation

Jekyll automatically determines the URL of a page based on its filename and directory. For example:

• 2025/about.md → ieeeismar.net/2025/about
• 2025/contribute/papers.md → ieeeismar.net/2025/contribute/papers

Tip

If you want the page to have a custom URL, you can define a permalink in the front matter.

3. Custom Permalinks

If a page needs a specific URL, define it in the front matter at the top of the markdown file:

---
title: "Custom Page"
layout: "default"
permalink: "/2025/custom-page"
---

4. Redirecting Old URLs

If a page’s URL structure changes but old links need to remain functional, use redirect_from:

---
title: "Legacy Page"
redirect_from:
  - "/old-page.html"
---

This ensures users visiting the old URL will be redirected to the new one.

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Adding a New Jekyll Website for a New Year

To create a new Jekyll-based website for a future conference year (e.g., 2026):

1. Create a New Year Directory

Create a new folder for the year inside the repository:

2026/

This will store all markdown pages for that year’s website.

2. Set Up Year-Specific Resources

If the new year requires custom templates or includes, create:

• _layouts/2026/ # Custom layouts for 2026
• _includes/2026/ # Custom reusable elements for 2026
• _data/2026/ # Structured data (YAML files) for 2026
• assets/2026/ # Year-specific assets (CSS, JS, images)

3. Update _config.yml to Define a New Collection

Jekyll processes pages for each year using collections. Add a new collection for the new year in _config.yml:

collections:
  year2026:
    output: true
    permalink: /2026/:path/

This ensures Jekyll correctly processes the markdown files in the 2026/ folder and assigns the correct URLs.

Important

Without adding the new collection in _config.yml, Jekyll will not generate the pages for the new year.

4. Make the New Year the Default Homepage

To automatically forward ieeeismar.net/ to the new year’s homepage, add the following front matter to 2026/index.md:

---
title: "IEEE ISMAR 2026"
redirect_from:
  - "/"
---

This ensures visitors accessing the base URL are directed to the latest conference site.

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Local Development

To preview the website locally before pushing changes:

1. Install Jekyll and Dependencies

Make sure you have Ruby and Bundler installed. Then, in the repository root, run:

bundle install

2. Start the Local Server

Run the following command to build the site and start a local server:

bundle exec jekyll serve

This will generate the website and serve it at http://localhost:4000. Any changes you make will be reflected automatically.

3. Stopping the Server

Press CTRL+C in the terminal to stop the local server.

Tip

Running Jekyll locally allows you to preview changes before pushing them to GitHub Pages.

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Important Notes for Web Chairs

Warning

If you are the web chair for a specific year’s conference, please do not edit the content of previous years.

Each year’s website is meant to remain unchanged once the conference has concluded. If an update is necessary for a past year (e.g., fixing broken links), coordinate with the repository maintainers before making changes.

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Contact

For any questions or assistance, please contact: ieeeismarpublicity@gmail.com. The initial author of this README is Nels Numan (Web Co-Chair 2025).