Migration Notes - Hugo to Jekyll

Migration Summary

Successfully migrated from Hugo to Jekyll using the academicpages template on November 22, 2025.

What Was Done

Backup Created
- Original Hugo site backed up to branch: backup-hugo-site
- Local backup also created in: ../hugo-backup/
Template Installation
- Cloned academicpages Jekyll template
- Replaced all Hugo files with Jekyll template
Configuration
- Updated _config.yml with personal information:
  - Name: Muhammad Rifai
  - Bio: “Computer Science ~ Learning to develop is a life changing experience”
  - Repository: rifaimartin/rifaimartin.github.io
  - GitHub: rifaimartin
  - LinkedIn: rifaimartin
Clean Setup
- Removed example blog posts
- Removed example publications, talks, teaching materials
- Ready for custom content

Next Steps

1. Setup Local Development Environment

Install Ruby and Jekyll to test locally:

# Install Ruby (if not installed)
# Windows: Download from https://rubyinstaller.org/
# Mac: brew install ruby
# Linux: sudo apt-get install ruby-full

# Install Bundler
gem install bundler

# Install dependencies
bundle install

# Run local server
bundle exec jekyll serve

# Open browser to http://localhost:4000

2. Customize Content

Update About Page

Edit _pages/about.md with your personal information.

Add Profile Picture

Replace images/profile.png with your own photo.

Create Blog Posts

Create new posts in _posts/ with format: YYYY-MM-DD-title.md

Example:

---
title: 'My First Jekyll Post'
date: 2024-11-22
permalink: /posts/2024/11/my-first-post/
tags:
  - jekyll
  - blog
---

Your content here...

Edit _data/navigation.yml to modify menu items.

3. Content Migration (Optional)

If you want to migrate old Hugo blog posts:

Find original Hugo markdown files (should be in backup)
Convert Hugo front matter to Jekyll format
Copy to _posts/ with proper naming

4. GitHub Pages Deployment

The site should automatically deploy via GitHub Pages:

Go to repository Settings → Pages
Ensure source is set to “Deploy from a branch”
Branch should be: master / / (root)
Wait ~5 minutes for deployment
Visit: https://rifaimartin.github.io

5. Remove Unused Collections (Optional)

Since this is mainly a blog, you might want to remove:

_publications/ - Delete example publications
_talks/ - Delete example talks
_teaching/ - Delete example teaching materials
_portfolio/ - Delete example portfolio items

Or keep them if you plan to use these features!

6. Customize Further

Theme: Change site_theme in _config.yml (options: “default”, “air”)
Social Links: Update in _config.yml under author: section
Analytics: Add Google Analytics in _config.yml if needed
Comments: Enable Disqus or other comment system in _config.yml

Useful Commands

# Development server with live reload
bundle exec jekyll serve --livereload

# Build site only
bundle exec jekyll build

# Clean built files
bundle exec jekyll clean

Resources

Rollback Instructions

If you need to rollback to Hugo:

# Switch to backup branch
git checkout backup-hugo-site

# Or create new branch from backup
git checkout -b restore-hugo backup-hugo-site
git push origin restore-hugo

Notes

Old Hugo posts were in posts/ directory (now deleted)
Hugo used different front matter format than Jekyll
Original images were in posts/images/ (may need to be recovered from backup)

Muhammad Rifai