9th Caulfield Scout Group

Contributing to This Website

You don't need to be a developer to help keep the site up to date.

This site is open for contributions from group members, parents, and volunteers. Whether you’ve never touched code before or you’re a seasoned developer, there’s a level here that’ll suit you.

Before you start: get access

The site lives on GitHub. You’ll need a free GitHub account and write access to the repository. To request access, email Mark Smith with your GitHub username and he’ll add you as a collaborator.

Don’t have a GitHub account yet? Head to github.com and sign up — it takes about two minutes.

Level 1 — Edit in your browser (no setup required)

GitHub has a built-in editor that works entirely in your browser. It’s perfect for updating text, adding events or newsletters, or uploading images — no software to install, no command line.

Edit existing content

  1. Go to the repository on GitHub and navigate to the file you want to change (e.g. events.md for the events page).
  2. Click the pencil icon (Edit this file) in the top-right corner of the file view.
  3. Make your changes in the editor.
  4. Scroll to the bottom and click Commit changes. Add a short description of what you changed, then click Commit changes again to save.

The site rebuilds automatically within a minute or two. Refresh the live site to see your update.

Add a new event

Events live in events.md. Each event is a ## heading followed by Markdown text. To add one, edit events.md and copy the pattern of an existing event — add your new ## heading and description wherever it fits chronologically.

Add a newsletter

Newsletters are individual files inside the _newsletters/ folder, named YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md (e.g. 2026-03-01-autumn-term.md). To add one:

  1. Navigate to the _newsletters/ folder in the repository.
  2. Click Add file → Create new file.
  3. Name the file using the date format above.
  4. Paste this starter block at the top, then write the newsletter content below it:
---
layout: newsletter
title: "Your Newsletter Title"
date: 2026-03-01
---

Newsletter content goes here...
  1. Commit the file. The newsletter will appear automatically on the Newsletters page.

Upload an image

  1. Navigate to assets/images/ in the repository.
  2. Click Add file → Upload files.
  3. Drag your image in (JPG or PNG), then commit.
  4. Reference it in a page with /assets/images/your-file.jpg.

Level 2 — Edit locally with VS Code

Working locally means you can preview changes before they go live. This takes a little setup but is much more comfortable for larger edits.

What you’ll need

Set up Ruby on Mac

The site requires Ruby 3.3.7 specifically — Ruby 4 is not compatible with Jekyll 4. The easiest way to manage Ruby versions on a Mac is rbenv.

  1. Install Homebrew if you don’t have it already.

  2. Install rbenv:

    brew install rbenv ruby-build
rbenv init

  3. Follow the instruction rbenv prints — it will ask you to add a line to your shell profile (.zshrc or .bash_profile). Do that, then open a new terminal window.

  4. Install Ruby 3.3.7:

    rbenv install 3.3.7

    This takes a few minutes. Once done, the .ruby-version file in the project will tell rbenv to use 3.3.7 automatically whenever you’re in the project folder.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/ideapod/9thcaulfield.git
cd 9thcaulfield

Set up Jekyll locally

With Ruby 3.3.7 installed via rbenv, run the following in the project folder:

gem install bundler
bundle install

For a more detailed Jekyll setup walkthrough, the official Jekyll docs are the best reference.

Preview the site

bundle exec jekyll serve

Open http://localhost:4000 in your browser. The server watches for file changes and rebuilds automatically — just refresh your browser.

Make changes and push

Edit files in VS Code, check the preview, then commit and push:

git add -A
git commit -m "Brief description of what you changed"
git push

The live site updates automatically once your push lands on main.

Level 3 — Use Claude Code

Claude Code is an AI coding assistant that can make changes to the site based on plain English instructions. It’s great when you want to do something more involved — restructure a page, tweak the styling, or add a new section — but you’re not sure exactly how to write the code.

What it looks like in practice

You open the project folder in the Claude Code desktop app and describe what you want:

“Add a new section to the Events page for the end-of-year camp. It should have a heading, a two-paragraph description, and link to the contact page for registrations.”

Claude Code reads the relevant files, makes the edits, and shows you a diff before anything is saved. You can review, ask it to adjust, and then commit when you’re happy.

Getting started

Download the Claude Code desktop app and sign in with an Anthropic account. Once installed, open the app and use File → Open Folder to open your local copy of the site repository. Then just describe what you’d like to change in plain English.

Questions or stuck at any step? Email Mark Smith.