KCC Core | www.kcc.edu
The core websites for the KCC website redesign project
This project's version of Ruby: ruby-3.1.3.
The Development of new KCC website is based off of designer mockups and uses open source technologies.
This site uses KCC's own gem-based jekyll-theme—developed in-house!
You can find the kcc-gem-theme at https://rubygems.org/gems/kcc-gem-theme and on GitHub at https://github.com/KankakeeCommunityCollege/kcc-gem-theme/
This README assumes you are using a modern macOS system
The same setup can be achieved on Windows and Linux however, the requirements are different.
- Jekyll & Bundler:
$ gem install jekyll
$ gem install bundler- Nodejs/npm - We use NVM (Node Version Manager): https://github.com/creationix/nvm
- .nvmrc file in this repo will make NVM use the Node version listed in
.nvmrc(to avoid compatibility issues) - Or, if you must - Use the Nodejs installer: https://nodejs.org/
- .nvmrc file in this repo will make NVM use the Node version listed in
- Webpack 5
- Clone (via ssh) the project and
cdinto the new project folder - Install the gem and npm dependencies
git clone [email protected]:KankakeeCommunityCollege/core.git
cd core
npm i && bundle i ## Or `npm install && bundle install` if you like typing moreDo NOT push dev builds to the GitHub repo.
Development changes should be made in the master branch. Be sure you have the latest changes first to avoid merge conflicts:
git checkout master
git pull origin masterTo run a development build use:
$ npm run development
# This alias in your dotfiles is convenient:
alias npm-d="npm run development"The development npm script sets the NODE_ENV environment variable to "development". Webpack checks the NODE_ENV and, if its set to development, uses style-loader to inject styling into the document's <head> as inline styling (<style>...</style>.)
According to Webpack's docs, injecting inline styles into the document <head> provides a faster development environment.
Webpack will also set its mode (production/dev) depending on what the NODE_ENV variable is set to. In development the bundle is not minified and is easier to debug.
Only production builds should be pushed to the GitHub repo.
Check the production build in a browser before pushing it to GitHub!
Most of the KCC websites are setup to use the master branch to stage changes. To make them live, the changes are then brought into the publish branch and pushed GitHub.
Development should have been started in the master branch. Production builds should also happen in the master branch. Once changes are finalized they can be pushed (git push -u origin master.) To publish the changes to the live website, checkout the publish branch and make sure it is current (git checkout publish && git pull origin publish.) Next, merge your changes of the master branch into the publish branch and push to GitHub: git merge master, accept the default commit message and git push -u origin publish. Lastly, switch back to the master branch so that the project is ready for the next time it needs editing.
If you accidentally developed in the production branch its ok! Just finish up your development, push the production build to publish, and then bring those changes into the master branch and push them. This ensures the master branch stays even with the publish branch.
To run a production build use:
$ npm run production
# Another convenient alias:
alias npm-p="npm run production"The production build still watches for file changes and creates a local server for previewing. After previewing the production build in your browser, use the [control ^] + c key-combination to kill the running processes. If everything looks ok, you can git add ..., git commit, and git push ... the changes to GitHub.
A production build sets the NODE_ENV variable to "production". Webpack then uses the mini-css-extract-plugin to generate, and output, a CSS file stylesheet. The stylesheet's <link> tag is only included in the DOM in production builds (development builds inject inline styling.) Webpack also minifies the bundle in production mode.
Note: Webpack outputs the stylesheet file into the /assets/js/dist folder.
IMPORTANT: if any SCSS/CSS or JS is modified, be sure to commit and push the _data/hash.yml file along with modified SCSS/CSS/JS files.
Not including hash.yml will break the site's main JS and CSS files!
The kcc-gem-theme
You will notice this GitHub repo has nothing in it's _layouts/ dir and no assets/img/ dir. Yet, when you build the project, images are there and it obviously has a layout. That's thanks to KCC's gem-based jekyll-theme.
Having a theme gem allows us to make changes (to the shared theme elements) across multiple sites, in one place.