Brian Cohn's Personal Website

A Jekyll-powered personal website showcasing ML research, tools, and technical guides.

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Ruby 3.0+
• Node.js 18+
• Bundler

Development Setup

# Install Ruby dependencies
bundle install

# Install Node.js dependencies (for testing)
npm install

# Start development server
bundle exec jekyll serve
# Site available at http://localhost:4000

Alternative Setup with UV (Python)

uv venv
source .venv/bin/activate
uv add -p 3.12 @playwright/test
bundle install

🛠️ Development Commands

# Development
bundle exec jekyll serve          # Start dev server with auto-reload
bundle exec jekyll serve --drafts # Include draft posts

# Testing  
npm test                          # Run Playwright visual tests
npm run test:ui                   # Run tests with UI

# Building
bundle exec jekyll build          # Generate static site to _site/
JEKYLL_ENV=production bundle exec jekyll build  # Production build

📁 Project Structure

├── _config.yml           # Jekyll configuration
├── _layouts/             # Page templates
├── _includes/            # Reusable components
├── _pages/               # Static pages
├── _posts/               # Blog posts & guides
├── _sass/                # Stylesheets
├── assets/               # Static assets
├── img/                  # Optimized images
├── tests/                # Playwright tests
└── scripts/              # Build & optimization scripts

🎯 TODO: Repository Improvements

High Priority

• Consolidate Image Assets: Merge /img and /assets directories
• Optimize Jekyll Configuration: Remove unused plugins and streamline config
• Implement Content Strategy: Organize posts by category/type
• Add Development Tooling: Pre-commit hooks, linting, automated formatting
• Performance Optimization: Implement lazy loading, optimize images

Medium Priority

• Testing Infrastructure: Expand visual regression tests
• SEO Enhancement: Improve structured data and meta tags
• Accessibility Audit: Ensure WCAG compliance
• Content Management: Add front matter validation
• Build Optimization: Implement asset minification pipeline

Low Priority

• Documentation: Add contributing guidelines
• Automation: GitHub Actions for deployment and testing
• Analytics: Implement privacy-focused analytics
• Progressive Enhancement: Add offline capabilities
• Internationalization: Prepare for multi-language support

Code Quality

• Lint Configuration: Add Jekyll linting rules
• Asset Pipeline: Modernize CSS/JS handling
• Error Handling: Improve 404 and error pages
• Security: Add CSP headers and security.txt

🔧 Configuration

Environment Variables

• JEKYLL_ENV: Set to production for production builds

Key Configuration Files

• _config.yml: Main Jekyll configuration
• Gemfile: Ruby dependencies
• package.json: Node.js dependencies and scripts
• playwright.config.js: Test configuration

🌐 Deployment

Site is deployed to briancohn.com and hosted on Cloudflare Pages.

Manual Build

JEKYLL_ENV=production bundle exec jekyll build

🤝 Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests: npm test
5. Submit a pull request

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

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Links: Live Site • GitHub