create

Create Authors

Author Management Guide for Snowlake Jekyll Theme

Overview

The Snowlake Jekyll Theme supports a robust author management system using Jekyll’s collections feature. This guide will walk you through creating, configuring, and displaying author profiles.

1. Author Collection Configuration

Configuration in `_config.yml`

collections:
  authors:
    output: true

Key Points:

output: true generates individual pages for each author
Enables dynamic author profile generation

2. Creating Author Files

File Location

Create author files in the _authors directory with the following naming convention:

Filename: firstname-lastname.md
Example: john-doe.md

Author File Structure

---
# Mandatory Fields
name: "John Doe"
email: "[email protected]"
avatar: "/assets/images/authors/john-doe.jpg"

# Optional Fields
bio: "Software engineer and tech enthusiast"
website: "https://johndoe.com"
twitter: "@johndoe"
linkedin: "johndoe"
github: "johndoe"

# Social Media Links (Optional)
social:
  - platform: "twitter"
    url: "https://twitter.com/johndoe"
  - platform: "linkedin"
    url: "https://linkedin.com/in/johndoe"

# Expertise Tags
tags:
  - "web development"
  - "javascript"
  - "design"

# Publication Details
publications:
  - title: "Advanced Web Design"
    year: 2022
    publisher: "Tech Books Inc."

# Speaking Engagements
speaking:
  - event: "Web Summit"
    year: 2021
    location: "Lisbon, Portugal"
---

## About Me

Write a detailed markdown biography here. You can use **rich text formatting**, include *italics*, and even add code snippets.

3. Author Page Template

Create a layout for author pages in _layouts/author.html:

---
layout: default
---
<div class="author-profile">
  <img src="{{ page.avatar }}" alt="{{ page.name }}" class="author-avatar">
  
  <h1>{{ page.name }}</h1>
  
  <div class="author-bio">
    {{ page.bio }}
  </div>
  
  <div class="author-social-links">
    {% for social in page.social %}
      <a href="{{ social.url }}" target="_blank">
        {{ social.platform }}
      </a>
    {% endfor %}
  </div>
  
  <div class="author-content">
    {{ content }}
  </div>
  
  {% if page.publications %}
    <h2>Publications</h2>
    <ul>
      {% for pub in page.publications %}
        <li>{{ pub.title }} ({{ pub.year }}) - {{ pub.publisher }}</li>
      {% endfor %}
    </ul>
  {% endif %}
  
  {% if page.speaking %}
    <h2>Speaking Engagements</h2>
    <ul>
      {% for talk in page.speaking %}
        <li>{{ talk.event }} ({{ talk.year }}) - {{ talk.location }}</li>
      {% endfor %}
    </ul>
  {% endif %}
</div>

4. Displaying Authors in Posts

In Post Front Matter

---
title: "My Awesome Blog Post"
author: john-doe
---

Author Display Snippet

{% assign author = site.authors | where: "name", page.author | first %}
{% if author %}
  <div class="post-author">
    <img src="{{ author.avatar }}" alt="{{ author.name }}">
    <p>{{ author.bio }}</p>
    <a href="{{ author.url }}">More by {{ author.name }}</a>
  </div>
{% endif %}

5. Author Listing Page

Create authors.html in the root directory:

---
layout: default
title: Our Authors
permalink: /authors/
---
<div class="authors-grid">
  {% for author in site.authors %}
    <div class="author-card">
      <img src="{{ author.avatar }}" alt="{{ author.name }}">
      <h3>{{ author.name }}</h3>
      <p>{{ author.bio }}</p>
      <a href="{{ author.url }}">View Profile</a>
    </div>
  {% endfor %}
</div>

Best Practices

Use consistent avatar image sizes
Write concise, engaging author bios
Include professional social media links
Keep author files well-organized
Use meaningful tags and categories

Performance Considerations

Optimize avatar images
Limit the number of author details
Use lazy loading for images
Cache author pages

Troubleshooting

Ensure unique author filenames
Validate front matter syntax
Check avatar image paths
Verify collection configuration

Version Compatibility

Tested with:

Jekyll 4.x
Liquid 4.x