NYRG Website Editing Guide (for collaborators)

This guide explains how to safely update the NYRG website. You do not need to be a developer to make most changes.

If something here feels unclear, stop and ask before editing.

Quick map: what to edit

Most collaborators will only touch these files:

• Home page copy and embeds: index.md
• Gallery page copy (cards are auto-rendered): gallery.md
• Jobs page copy (jobs are auto-rendered): jobs.md
• Mentorship page copy + embedded Google Form: mentorship.md

Site-wide layout files (edit with care):

• Shared header/nav: _includes/header.html
• Shared footer: _includes/footer.html
• Base layout wrapper: _layouts/default.html
• Styling: assets/style.css
• Client-side behavior: assets/site.js

Generated data files (usually do not edit by hand):

• data/instagram.json (Instagram feed URLs)
• data/gallery.json (Gallery events + thumbnails)
• data/jobs.json (Jobs board data)

What you can safely edit

• Text content on pages (index.md, gallery.md, jobs.md, mentorship.md)
• Links (URLs) and button text
• The embedded Google Form URL on the mentorship page
• High-level styling tweaks in assets/style.css (colors, spacing, font sizes)

What you should NOT edit (unless you are a maintainer)

• data/*.json (these are generated)
• Anything inside scripts/ (automation)
• _config.yml (Jekyll configuration)

1) Instagram posts on the Home page

You do NOT manually update Instagram embeds.

Instagram content is updated automatically using a script that:

• Visits the NYRG Instagram profile
• Extracts the latest posts
• Updates data/instagram.json

The website then reads data/instagram.json at runtime and renders embeds with safe fallbacks (links), even if embeds are blocked.

If Instagram looks broken on the site

This can happen due to:

• Browser privacy settings
• Ad blockers
• Instagram blocking embeds

This is expected and OK.

Visitors will still see:

• A Follow button
• Clickable fallback links to posts

Do not try to “fix” this by editing HTML unless instructed.

2) Updating the photo gallery

You normally update gallery content by updating the Google Drive folders, then running the gallery JSON generator.

The Gallery page renders cards from: data/gallery.json

Folder naming recommendation (helps sorting)

Use a month + year in the folder name, for example:

• Feb 2026 - Event Name
• Feb2026 Event Name

Hiding a folder from the website

Prefix the folder name with:

• (not for website)

3) Updating the Mentorship Google Form

File to edit:

• mentorship.md

Look for the <iframe> under the signup section.

How to update it

1. Open the Google Form
2. Click Send
3. Choose the embed tab (<>)
4. Copy the iframe src="..." URL
5. Replace the existing src URL in the file

If the form looks cut off:

• Adjust the height="..." value until it looks right

4) Updating Job Postings

Jobs are submitted via a Google Form and reviewed in a Google Sheet.

Important: the Jobs sheet uses a Google Apps Script layer to:

• add a Status dropdown to Form_Responses
• copy approved rows into For Show
• optionally email reviewers about pending submissions

The site’s jobs board renders from: data/jobs.json (generated from the For Show tab).

Maintainer documentation:

• docs/jobs-pipeline.md

5) Previewing your changes

Branch previews (recommended)

If you push a branch (not main), GitHub Actions will deploy a preview at:

https://newyorkromaniangroup.github.io/<branch-name>/

This is the easiest way to review changes without affecting production.

Local preview (optional)

You can run Jekyll locally if you have Ruby/Jekyll installed. Maintainers can document that workflow as needed.

Final reminder

This site is designed to be:

• Simple
• Stable
• Easy to maintain

If something feels risky, stop and ask before committing.