alinbobolea.github.io

Personal website for Nick Bobolea, built with Hugo and the PaperMod theme.

Production site: https://alinbobolea.github.io/

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Site Structure

The homepage is a consolidated split-identity layout combining what was previously three separate pages (Home, About, Contact) into one. Navigation has two items:

Section	Path	Description
Homepage	/	Identity (name, bio, contact) + selected projects + recent writing
Blog	/blog/	Technical articles, essays, notes
Projects	/projects/	Project index

There are no standalone About or Contact pages — those are sections of the homepage. Project reference documentation is served directly from static/docs/<project>/ (currently /docs/htcie/ and /docs/pygotm/); there is no Hugo-rendered /docs/ landing page.

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Tech Stack

• Hugo static site generator (v0.160.0, Extended)
• PaperMod theme (git submodule at themes/PaperMod)
• TOML configuration in hugo.toml
• GitHub Pages hosting
• GitHub Actions deployment (.github/workflows/hugo.yml)

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Repository Layout

hugo.toml                  — main site configuration
content/
  _index.md                — homepage content + front matter (projects, bio, contact links)
  blog/                    — blog posts
  projects/                — projects index
  docs/                    — docs index
layouts/
  index.html               — custom split-identity homepage layout (overrides PaperMod default)
assets/
  css/extended/
    split-home.css         — homepage split layout styles
  icons/                   — custom SVG icon set
static/
  docs/htcie/              — pre-built Sphinx docs for htcie (served as static files)
themes/PaperMod/           — PaperMod theme (git submodule)
archetypes/                — content templates for new blog posts and docs
.github/workflows/hugo.yml — GitHub Pages CI/CD pipeline

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Homepage Content

Homepage content lives entirely in content/_index.md as structured front matter:

headline:       # h1 headline (supports markdown for emphasis)
bio:            # sidebar bio paragraph
contactLinks:   # list of {label, url, icon} contact entries
projects:       # list of project cards {name, status, description, tags, url}

The body of _index.md (below the front matter) renders as the intro body paragraph.

To add or update a project on the homepage, edit the projects: list in content/_index.md.

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Configuration

Main config: hugo.toml

Key settings:

• baseURL — https://alinbobolea.github.io/ — do not change casually
• params.defaultTheme = "auto" — respects system light/dark preference; user can toggle
• params.socialIcons — GitHub and LinkedIn
• menu.main — Blog (10), Projects (20), Docs (30)

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Local Development

# Start dev server (shows draft posts too)
hugo server -D

# Production build
hugo --minify

Open: http://localhost:1313/

Hugo Extended is required (used for asset pipeline). The GitHub Actions workflow uses Hugo v0.160.0 Extended.

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Custom Layout Notes

The homepage uses a custom layouts/index.html that completely overrides PaperMod's default home template. It renders a split layout:

• Left column (fixed): name, title, bio, contact links — stays in view as content scrolls
• Right column (scrolls): // intro, // selected work (project cards), // writing (recent blog posts)

Styling lives in assets/css/extended/split-home.css. This file is automatically included by PaperMod's asset pipeline. It uses PaperMod's existing CSS variables (--primary, --secondary, --border, --entry) and adds .dark body-class overrides for status badge colors.

On mobile (< 768px) the sidebar stacks above the content column.

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Content Authoring

Add a blog post

hugo new blog/YYYY-MM-DD-my-post.md

Match existing front matter: title, date, tags, categories, draft, description.

Add a project to the homepage

Edit projects: in content/_index.md. Fields:

• name — display name
• status — complete or dev
• description — one-paragraph description
• tags — list of tech/keyword tags
• url — internal link (leave empty string if no docs yet)

Add or refresh project documentation

Project docs are pre-built Sphinx HTML trees served as static files (no Hugo content pipeline). To refresh them, run scripts/sync-docs.sh — it rsyncs each project's docs/build/html into static/docs/<project>/, excluding sphinx artifacts (.doctrees, .buildinfo, .cache) and any superpowers planning material.

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Deployment

Deployed automatically to GitHub Pages on push to main via .github/workflows/hugo.yml.

The workflow:

1. Checks out repo with recursive submodules (for PaperMod)
2. Configures GitHub Pages
3. Sets up Hugo Extended v0.160.0
4. Builds with hugo --minify
5. Uploads artifact and deploys via actions/deploy-pages

Do not manually edit anything in public/ — it is generated output.

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Maintainer Checklist

Before making structural changes:

• Read hugo.toml and content/_index.md first
• Preserve the baseURL — wrong value breaks all assets
• Do not edit generated output in public/
• Update this README if the site structure or workflow changes