DataTalks.Club Website

This repository contains the source code and content for datatalks.club, a Rustkyll-built community website for data science, machine learning, AI, and data engineering practitioners.

What this repository is

• Static website built with Rustkyll
• Content-first structure: markdown, data files, and reusable templates
• Main entities are modeled as collections (_posts, _podcast, _books, _people, etc.)
• Navigation, events, announcements, and sponsors are managed via YAML files in _data

Main pages on the website

URL	Source file	What it means	How it works
/	index.md	Main landing page for the community	Uses Liquid loops to aggregate data from multiple sources: upcoming events (_data/events.yaml), latest podcast episodes (_podcast), latest posts (_posts), sponsors (_data/sponsors.yaml), and active books (_books).
/articles.html	articles.md	Full article index	Iterates over site.posts and links to each article with author references from _people.
/podcast.html	podcast.md	Podcast hub page	Lists all episodes by season from _podcast; each episode gets its own detail page via collection permalink rules.
/books.html	books.md	"Book of the Week" program	Splits books into upcoming vs archive using date filters (book.end > site.time and book.end < site.time).
/events.html	events.md	Public events calendar page	Reads _data/events.yaml and divides events into upcoming and past based on event timestamp relative to site.time.
/people.html	people.md	Community people directory	Renders all person profiles from _people, each with an auto-generated profile URL.
/slack.html	slack.md	Slack onboarding page	Uses subscribe.html include for invite flow and documents key channels and participation guidelines.
/support.html	support.md	Community support and sponsorship page	Static content page for funding model, sponsor principles, and contact details.
/tools.html	tools.md	Open-source spotlight page	Iterates through _tools collection entries (tool links, demos, maintainers).
/blog/guide-to-free-online-courses-at-datatalks-club.html	Post in _posts	Primary courses landing page in navigation	The top nav "Courses" item points here; individual Zoomcamp pages live mostly in _posts plus legacy _courses docs.

Website architecture (at a glance)

Layer	Folder/files	Responsibility
Content pages	*.md in repo root	Entry pages and hubs (index.md, events.md, podcast.md, etc.).
Blog posts	_posts/*.md	Long-form articles, course landing pages, and announcements; rendered under /blog/:title.html.
Domain collections	_podcast, _books, _people, _courses, _tools, _conferences	Structured content types with dedicated layouts and permalinks.
Data sources	_data/*.yaml	Site-wide data for menus, events, sponsors, and header announcements.
Layouts	_layouts/*.html	High-level page skeletons (home, page, post, podcast, book, author).
Reusable components	_includes/*.html	Shared snippets (header/footer, authors, event cards, subscribe blocks, etc.).
Assets	images, assets	Static media, styles, and supporting files.
Generated output	_site	Local build output generated by Rustkyll.

How it works

Content model

Type	Location	URL shape	Typical usage
Posts	_posts/*.md	/blog/:title.html	Articles, guides, Zoomcamp pages, editorial content.
Podcast episodes	_podcast/*.md	/podcast/:title.html	Episode pages linked from /podcast.html and homepage.
Books	_books/*.md	/books/:title.html	Book of the Week detail pages and archive entries.
People	_people/*.md	/people/:title.html	Author/speaker profiles used across posts, episodes, and events.
Courses	_courses/*.md	/courses/:title.html	Legacy standalone course pages; many newer course pages are posts.
Tools	_tools/*.md	/tools/:title.html	Open-source tool spotlights.
Conferences	_conferences/*.md	/conferences/:title.html	Conference-specific pages.

Global data file	Purpose	Used by
_data/navigation.yaml	Top and bottom navigation links	header.html, footer.html includes
_data/events.yaml	Event records and metadata	index.md, events.md, event include
_data/header.yaml	Optional announcement bar	header.html include
_data/sponsors.yaml	Sponsor names/logos/links	Homepage sponsors section

Templating and layouts

• Shared page layouts live in _layouts (home, page, post, podcast, book, author)
• Reusable fragments live in _includes (header, footer, authors, event, subscribe forms, etc.)
• Pages and collection documents combine front matter + markdown/html + Liquid loops/filters

Routing and permalink rules

• The global permalink rule in _config.yml is /blog/:title.html for posts.
• Collections define their own permalinks in _config.yml (/:collection/:title.html).
• This means each content type can have both:
  • a hub/list page (e.g. podcast.md -> /podcast.html)
  • item detail pages (e.g. _podcast/*.md -> /podcast/<slug>.html)

Local development

Prerequisites

• Rustkyll release binary for site builds
• Python environment manager (uv) for helper scripts

Running locally

Install the pinned Rustkyll release binary:

make install

Run the development server:

make serve

Open http://localhost:4000.

Common contributor workflows

Task	Edit this	Notes
Publish a new article	_posts	Include front matter (title, description, authors, tags, layout, date).
Publish a new podcast episode	_podcast	Make sure season and episode are set for correct grouping on /podcast.html.
Add/update event	_data/events.yaml	Event type controls styling (webinar, podcast, workshop, conference).
Add/update person profile	_people	Required for author/speaker linking across pages and includes.
Add/update a book	_books	start/end dates determine upcoming vs archived display.
Update top menu links	_data/navigation.yaml	Header links are rendered from top entries.
Update homepage blocks	index.md	Homepage sections are manually structured and data-driven via Liquid.
Update announcement bar	_data/header.yaml	Shown in header only when announcement data exists.

Content and maintenance scripts

Install script dependencies:

uv sync
cd previews
npm install
cd ..

Run helper creator script:

uv run python scripts/create.py

This script helps create/update content entities such as people, books, and events from templates.

Script quick reference

Script/command	Purpose
uv run python scripts/create.py	Interactive helper to create people, books, and events using templates.
uv run python scripts/pandoc_full.py ...	Generate post draft content from a DOCX source.
scripts/generate-book-preview.sh (called internally)	Creates book preview assets for newly added books.

Generate a post from DOCX

uv run python scripts/pandoc_full.py \
  --input ~/Downloads/template.docx \
  --author angelicaloduca \
  --tags "mlops,devops,process"

Where to edit common things

• Add/edit article: _posts
• Add/edit podcast episode: _podcast
• Add/edit person profile: _people
• Add/edit book discussion: _books
• Add/edit event: _data/events.yaml
• Edit top menu/footer links: _data/navigation.yaml
• Edit homepage content blocks: index.md
• Edit global page structure/header/footer: _layouts and _includes

Deployment notes

• Site URL is configured in _config.yml as https://datatalks.club
• GitHub-specific files (like .github) are excluded from Rustkyll output
• Generated site output is in _site during local builds

Important implementation details

• The repository includes many pages written in markdown with embedded HTML and Liquid; this is expected and used heavily for SEO and rich formatting.
• Author references across posts/podcast/books depend on _people records; missing person entries usually cause broken attribution links.
• Event rendering logic is date-driven (site.time comparisons), so event timestamp format consistency in _data/events.yaml is important.
• Navigation is fully data-driven from _data/navigation.yaml, which keeps menu edits separate from template code.