Guide: Updating the People page

Everyone on the People page — current members and alumni — comes from one file: _data/people.yml. You never edit HTML. One entry per person. The page builds all three groups from the fields on each entry:

A person can be in more than one group at once. Someone who did a PhD here and then a postdoc here has both phd: and postdoc: on their single entry and shows up in both alumni grids automatically — no duplication.

Add a new student (one person) — edit by hand

The simplest path for a single person.

1. Open _data/people.yml.

2. Copy the Example Person block from the bottom of the file, paste it under the # ── Current members ── header, and fill it in. Delete any line you do not have a value for.

- name: Nina Somchai
  status: current
  role: PhD student
  since: 2025
  topic: Solid electrolytes for sodium batteries.
  photo: nina-somchai.jpg
  link: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789

Leave out phd, thesis, postdoc, now — those are for alumni only.

3. Photo (optional). A square JPEG in img/people/, named to match the photo: line. No photo? Delete the photo: line and a grey placeholder shows.

4. GitHub Desktop → Commit → Push. Wait 1–2 minutes, hard-refresh (Cmd + Shift + R). The card appears under “Current members.”

Field reference

Add several people at once — form + script

Better when a whole intake arrives together.

1. Send member_form.docx to the new members.

2. Collect the returned forms and one photo each. Drop every file — forms and photos, any filenames — into a folder called inbox/ at the top of the repo. (inbox/ is git-ignored; it never gets committed.)

3. Run the script:

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/Test
pip install python-docx pyyaml pillow
python tools/make_people.py

4. It crops each photo to a square, adds the people to people.yml as current members, shows you a diff, and asks before writing. Type y. It never removes alumni — it only adds or updates current members.

5. Read the YAML, then Commit → Push.

When a student graduates (current → alumni)

Do not create a new entry. Edit their existing one:

1. Change status: current → status: alumnus.
2. Add phd: 2027 and a thesis: line.
3. Delete the current-only lines (role, since, topic).
4. If they leave for another institution, add now: University X, Country. If they stay at Chulalongkorn, omit now.

# before
- name: Nina Somchai
  status: current
  role: PhD student
  since: 2025
  topic: Solid electrolytes for sodium batteries.
  photo: nina-somchai.jpg
  link: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789

# after
- name: Nina Somchai
  status: alumnus
  phd: 2029
  thesis: Solid electrolytes for high-energy sodium batteries
  now: Chiang Mai University, Thailand      # omit this line if still at Chulalongkorn
  photo: nina-somchai.jpg
  link: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789

They move from “Current members” to “Doctoral graduates” automatically.

When a graduate starts a postdoc here

Add one line to their existing alumni entry — do not duplicate them:

  postdoc: "2029–2031"

They now appear in both the Doctoral graduates and Postdoctoral alumni grids from the same entry. (If they are actively in the lab again, you can also set status: current and add back role/since/topic — they will then show in all relevant groups at once.)

When an alumnus changes jobs

Add or update the now: line on their entry. That’s the whole edit.

Photos

• Square JPEG, saved in img/people/, filename matching the entry’s photo:.
• The site shows every photo greyscale until hover, so mismatched phone snaps still look like one set.
• The make_people.py script crops photos to a square automatically. Hand-added photos should be roughly square — anything wildly off will look cropped.
• No photo yet? Omit the photo: line. A placeholder shows; add the real photo later.

Common mistakes

Person does not appear at all → Check status:. Only current shows in Current members. Alumni need phd: or postdoc: to land in an alumni grid.

Two cards for the same person → You created a second entry instead of adding a field to the existing one. Merge them into one entry — one person is always one entry.

Card shows in the wrong group → It follows the fields, not the section the entry sits in. phd: sends them to Doctoral graduates wherever the entry physically is in the file.

YAML won’t build → Indentation must be two spaces, and every - name: starts a new entry. If a value contains a colon (:), wrap it in quotes: topic: "Batteries: a review".

Running make_people.py reformatted the file → Expected. The script regenerates the comments and grouping every run. Your data (including hand-edited alumni) is preserved; only layout is normalized.