Californiacivicdata.org is a Jekyll-powered blog template designed as the online home of the California Civic Data Coalition, an open-source journalism project covering California government data. The template is built on Jekyll, a Ruby-based static site generator, and is hosted at both california-civic-data-coalition.github.io and the custom domain www.californiacivicdata.org.
What is Californiacivicdata.org?
Californiacivicdata.org is a static blog template that takes Markdown posts following Jekyll conventions and generates a static website. It runs on Jekyll, which requires Ruby and uses Bundler for dependency management. The site is maintained by the California Civic Data Coalition and is open-source, with its repository listed under topics such as journalism, media, open-source, and ruby.
Key Features
- Jekyll static site generator — Uses Jekyll conventions for posts, allowing content to be written in Markdown with YAML front matter and automatically converted into HTML pages.
- Bundler dependency management — All Ruby gems are declared and installed with a single
bundle installcommand. - Make-based development workflow — The
make servecommand starts a local test server for previewing posts during development. - Standard Jekyll post directory — New posts are created as files in the
_postsdirectory, using Jekyll's filename format (date-prefixed) and front matter requirements. - Open-source availability — The full repository is public on GitHub, allowing reuse, forking, and contribution.
- Custom domain publishing — The site is configured to serve at www.californiacivicdata.org, while the source lives on GitHub Pages at california-civic-data-coalition.github.io.
Who is it for?
- Journalists and newsrooms — Publish data-driven stories and explanations about California state government and civic issues.
- Civic data developers and researchers — Share analyses, tools, and open-source projects related to government data.
- Jekyll users — Use the repository as a minimal, functional example of a Jekyll blog with a Make-based workflow.
What can you do with Californiacivicdata.org?
- Publish blog posts — Write Markdown posts, drop them into
_posts, and have them appear on the site after a Jekyll build. - Run a local preview — Execute
bundle installandmake serveto test posts before publishing. - Customize and extend — Fork the open-source repository to adapt the blog's design and content for your own civic data reporting.
How does Californiacivicdata.org work?
The template follows a simple Jekyll workflow. First, install Ruby and Bundler, then run bundle install to fetch dependencies. Use make serve to start a local test server. Create a new post by adding a file to the _posts directory, formatted according to Jekyll's naming and front matter conventions.
FAQ
Is Californiacivicdata.org free to use?
The repository is open-source, and the site is hosted on GitHub Pages, which offers free static hosting for public repositories. There are no listed costs for using the template.
What are the system requirements?
Ruby and Bundler are required. The README instructs installing dependencies via bundle install and running the test server with make serve.
How do I create a new post?
Create a file in the _posts directory following Jekyll conventions: the filename starts with the date (YYYY-MM-DD-title.md) and includes YAML front matter with at least a title. Jekyll will process it automatically during the build.
Is Californiacivicdata.org a Jekyll template?
Yes, it is built using Jekyll, a Ruby-based static site generator. The repository also uses Make and Bundler for automation and dependency management.
Does the template support a custom domain?
Yes, the repository is configured to publish at www.californiacivicdata.org, while the default GitHub Pages URL is california-civic-data-coalition.github.io.
