Site configuration

In addition to the usual Jekyll configuration options, there are many options specific to Open SDG. These are detailed below, along with usage examples. All of these settings go in the _config.yml file. Alternatively, you can add any/all of these settings to a site_config.yml file in your data folder (usually data/site_config.yml).

This document covers the "site configuration", which is distinct from "data configuration". See more details on data configuration.

Note about "strings": Many of the settings detailed here contain human-readable "strings" (ie, text). In most cases, they can be replaced by translation keys for better multilingual support. For example, "Indicator" could be replaced with "general.indicator".

To see many of these options in action, the site starter repository contains an example config file.

accessible_charts¶

Optional: This setting can be set to true to enable chart functionality that is intended to increase accessibility by adding support for screenreaders and keyboard navigation. If omitted, this defaults to false, however setting this to true is recommended.

accessible_charts: false

accessible_tabs¶

Optional: This setting can be set to true to enable tab functionality that is compliant with the WAI-ARIA best practices. This adds improved keyboard navigation of the tabs. If omitted, this defaults to false, however setting this to true is recommended.

accessible_tabs: false

analytics¶

Optional: This setting can contain another (indented) setting, ga_prod, which should be a Google Analytics tracking ID. If these settings are used, usage statistics will be sent to Google Analytics. For more information about this, see the analytics page.

analytics:
  ga_prod: 'paste ID here'

breadcrumbs¶

Optional: This setting can contain breadcrumb settings for each of the supported collection types: goal, indicator, and post. Each should have a list of label/path objects. For example, the following configuration would add the breadcumbs Home > Updates at the top of each post:

breadcrumbs:
  post:
    - label: Home
      path: /
    - label: Updates
      path: /news

Or with the addition of translation keys for multilingual sites:

breadcrumbs:
  post:
    - label: general.home
      path: /
    - label: menu.updates
      path: /news

Here is a full exmaple including goal and indicator as well:

breadcrumbs:
  post:
    - label: general.home
      path: /
    - label: menu.updates
      path: /news
  goal:
    - label: general.home
      path: /
    - label: general.goals
      path: /goals
  indicator:
    - label: general.home
      path: /
    - label: general.goals
      path: /goals

Note that indicator will automatically add a final item, which is a link to the goal that the indicator belongs to. You do not need to specify this, since it is done dynamically and automatically.

contrast_type¶

Optional: This setting allows you to change the type of contrast button your site uses. By default there are two buttons containing 'A'. If you use this option one single button will be displayed with the text 'High contrast' / 'Default contrast', depending on which mode of contrast is active.

contrast_type: long

country¶

Required: This setting should contain two more (indented) settings: name and adjective. This are intended to allow the platform to refer to the country (or if appropriate, locality or organisation) using the platform.

country:
  name: Australia
  adjective: Australian

create_config_forms¶

Optional: This setting can be used to automatically create the configuration form pages. Without this setting, you will need to maintain your site and indicator configuration using a text editor. This setting should include another (indented) setting indicating the Jekyll layout to use for the config form pages (usually config-builder). After setting this, you will have a site configuration form available through a link in the footer, as well as indicator configuration forms available in the "Edit" tab.

create_config_forms:
  layout: config-builder

create_goals¶

Optional: This setting can be used to automatically create the goal pages. Without this setting, you will need a file for each goal (per language), in a _goals folder. This setting should include another (indented) layout setting indicating the Jekyll layout to use for the goals.

Additionally, there can be a goals item that includes an array of objects, each with a content field. Use this to specify specific content for goal pages, which can include Markdown, or can be a translation key.

create_goals:
  layout: goal
  goals:
    - content: My content for goal 1
    - content: My content for goal 2 with a [link](https://example.com)
    - content: custom.my_translation_key_for_goal_3

create_indicators¶

Optional: This setting can be used to automatically create the indicator pages. Without this setting, you will need a file for each indicator (per language), in an _indicators folder. This setting should include another (indented) setting indicating the Jekyll layout to use for the indicators.

create_indicators:
  layout: indicator

create_pages¶

Optional: This setting can be used to automatically create 4 platform-dependent pages:

• the home page
• the indicators.json page
• the search results page
• the reporting status page

Without this setting, you will need a file for each of these 4 pages (per language), in a _pages folder. This setting can include more advanced settings (see this jekyll-open-sdg-plugins code) but can also simply be set to true.

create_pages: true

If you would like to use the alternative frontpage (frontpage-alt) alongside a dedicated "goals" page, you can used this configuration:

create_pages:
  - folder: /
    layout: frontpage-alt
  - folder: /goals
    layout: goals
  - folder: /reporting-status
    layout: reportingstatus
  - filename: indicators.json
    folder: /
    layout: indicator-json
  - folder: /search
    layout: search

The folder property is required, and controls the URL path of the page. The filename property is optional, and is needed only in the rare case where your page needs an unusual filename (such as "indicators.json" in the example above). All other properties are treated like "frontmatter" in a regular Jekyll page, such as the layout properties above.

custom_css¶

Optional: This setting can be used to load additional CSS files on each page. It should be a list of relative paths to CSS files.

custom_css:
  - /assets/css/custom.css

NOTE: This approach is deprecated. It is recommended to instead put your custom styles into a _sass folder.

custom_js¶

Optional: This setting can be used to load additional JavaScript files on each page. It should be a list of relative paths to JavaScript files, or remote paths to third-party Javascript files.

custom_js:
  - /assets/js/custom.js
  - https://example.com/index.js

data_edit_url¶

Required: This setting controls the URL of the "Edit Data" that appear on the staging site's indicator pages. It should be a full URL. Note that you can include [id] in the URL, and it will be dynamically replaced with the indicator's id (dash-delimited).

data_edit_url: http://prose.io/#my-org/my-repo/edit/develop/data/indicator_[id].csv

date_formats¶

Optional: This setting can be used to control date formats for use in the site, such as in the news/category/post layouts. Any number date formats can be entered, and each must have an arbitrary type, such as "standard". Make sure that each type has a variant for each of your languages. For example, here is how you might configure a "standard" date format:

date_formats:
  - type: standard
    language: en
    format: "%b %d, %Y"
  - type: standard
    language: es
    format: "%d de %b de %Y"

The % variables in the formats correspond to the variables listed in this Ruby DateTime documentation.

Note that the "standard" type is used in Open SDG's news/post functionality. Additional format types can be added for custom purposes.

disclaimer¶

Optional: This setting controls the content of the disclaimer that appears at the top of each page. If you are not happy with the default ("ALPHA: This is a development website. We welcome your feedback.") then you can use something like the following example configuration:

disclaimer:
  phase: BETA
  message: This is my disclaimer message.

The above configuration would result in: "BETA: This is my disclaimer message."

If you only want to change the phase (to "BETA" for example), you can omit the message like so:

disclaimer:
  phase: BETA

As always, you can use translation keys.

email_contacts¶

Required: This setting should contain three more (indented) settings for email addresses: questions, suggestions, and functional. This allows the platform to direct users to appropriate inboxes from various parts of your site.

email_contacts:
  questions: test@example.com
  suggestions: test@example.com
  functional: test@example.com

environment¶

Required: This setting should be either staging or production. Certain features of the platform, such as data management links, will only appear on staging. Typically you will have this set to staging in the _config.yml file, and set to production in the _config_prod.yml file.

environment: staging

footer_language_toggle¶

Optional: This setting controls the type of language toggle to be used in the footer. Possible settings are dropdown, links, and none. If this is omitted, the default is none.

footer_language_toggle: none

footer_menu¶

Required: This setting controls the footer menu for the platform. It should contain a list of menu items, each containing a path and a translation key.

The following example provides a footer menu matching older versions of Open SDG, which included options for social media and email contacts.

footer_menu:
  - path: mailto:my-email-address@example.com
    translation_key: menu.contact_us
  - path: https://twitter.com/MyTwitterAccount
    translation_key: general.twitter
  - path: https://facebook.com/MyFacebookAccount
    translation_key: general.facebook
  - path: /faq
    translation_key: menu.faq
  - path: /cookies
    translation_key: menu.cookies

Note that the path of an item can be a translation key itself. This is useful if you want the link to go to different URLs depending on what language is active (for example if you have multiple language-specific Twitter accounts).

frontpage_cards¶

Optional: This setting is only used in the frontpage-alt layout. It can display any number of "cards" in 3-column rows, beneath the grid of goal tiles. It should be a list of cards. Each configuration is optional, and here is an displaying one card with all of the options:

frontpage_cards:
    -
      # This controls the color of the line at the top of the card.
      rule_color: orange
      # This sets the title of the card.
      title: My card title
      # This sets the content of the card. Markdown is supported. Note that all
      # internal links should be relative to the frontpage. For example, instead
      # of [link](/path) you should use [link](path).
      content: |
        * List item
        * List item with [link](https://example.com)
      # This displays any file in the `_includes` folder.
      include: components/download-all-data.html
      # This controls the text for a call-to-action button.
      button_label: My button text
      # This controls the URL the button links to.
      button_link: https://example.com
    -
      title: My second card
      etc...

frontpage_goals_grid¶

Optional: This setting is only used in the frontpage-alt layout. It can display a title and description above the grid of goal tiles. It can be configured in the following way:

frontpage_goals_grid:
    title: title goes here
    description: description goes here

Markdown is supported in the description. However note that all internal links should be relative to the frontpage. For example, instead of [link](/path) you should use [link](path).

frontpage_heading¶

Optional: This setting can control the heading that appears on the front page. This setting is only used in the frontpage layout.

frontpage_heading: Australian data for Sustainable Development Goal indicators

frontpage_instructions¶

Optional: This setting can control the instructions that appear on the front page. This setting is only used in the frontpage layout.

frontpage_instructions: Click on each goal for Australian statistics for Sustainable Development Goal global indicators.

frontpage_introduction_banner¶

Optional: This setting adds a banner to your site's homepage, in order to introduce your users to your site. This setting is used in both the frontpage and frontpage-alt layouts. To add a banner update the _config.yml file with these settings:

frontpage_introduction_banner:
    title: title goes here
    description: description goes here

goal_image_base¶

Optional: This setting controls the base URL for downloading the imagery for the goal images. The platform will use this as a base, and complete the URLs (behind the scenes) by adding a language and number. For example, if you set this to https://example.com, then the platform will try to download the Spanish image for Goal 4 at: https://example.com/en/4.png.

If omitted, the following default will be used:

goal_image_base: https://open-sdg.org/sdg-translations/assets/img/goals

goal_image_extension¶

Optional: This setting controls the type of file (the file "extension") that will be used for the goal images. If omitted, the default will be png. The precending dot (eg, .png) is not needed.

goal_image_extension: png

NOTE: Please ensure that files of this type are available at the location specified in goal_image_base in each language that you use. For example, if your goal_image_base is https://example.com, and your goal_image_extension is svg, and your language is French, the goal 5 icon should be available at: https://example.com/fr/5.svg.

goals_page¶

Optional: This setting controls certain aspects of the goals layout. The available settings are:

• title: Controls the title of the goals page. Defaults to "Goals".
• description: Controls the introductory text under the title. If omitted there will be no introductory text.

Here is an example of using these settings:

goals_page:
    title: title goes here
    description: description goes here

As always, for multilingual support, these settings can refer to translation keys, and the description can include Markdown.

graph_color_set¶

Optional: This setting can be used to customize the color set used in the charts. There are four possible entries: Use graph_color_set: 'default' for using the 6 default colors, graph_color_set: 'sdg' to use the 17 SDG colors in all charts, graph_color_set: 'goal' to use shades of the color of the current indicator's goal, graph_color_set: 'custom' to use a set of customized colors. In this case, write the hexadecimal color codes of the colors you want to use to the list in graph_color_list (see below).

NOTE: Whatever color scheme you choose here, please ensure that all colors satisfy the accessibility (minimum contrast) standards in your region. These colors will need to be visible on white and black backgrounds.

graph_color_list¶

Optional: This setting can be used to define a set of colors to be used in the charts. Precondition is graph_color_set to be custom. Enter a list of hexadecimal color codes.

graph_color_list': ['3fd64f','cfd63f','4eecec','ec4ed9']

graph_color_number¶

Optional: This setting can be used to limit the length of the list of colors selected via graph_color_set. The maximum value for graph_color_set: 'default' is 6, for graph_color_set: 'sdg' is 17, for graph_color_set: 'goal' is 9 and for graph_color_set: 'custom' the length of graph_color_list. If nothing is defined here, the corresponding maximum is used. Be aware that the number selected here affects how many datasets can be displayed simultaneously in the charts (2 times this value - once as a normal line or bar and once as a dashed line or bar).

header_language_toggle¶

Optional: This setting controls the type of language toggle to be used in the header. Possible settings are dropdown, links, and none. If this is omitted, the default is dropdown. The general recommendation is to use dropdown if you have more than 3 languages, and otherwise to use links.

header_language_toggle: dropdown

hide_empty_metadata¶

Optional: This setting can be used to hide any metadata fields that are empty. In other words, this setting can ensure that if an indicator has no data for a particular metadata field, that field will not display at all. The default behavior if for all metadata fields to be displayed, regardless of whether the indicator has the required data.

hide_empty_metadata: true

indicator_config_form¶

Optional: This setting controls the behavior of the indicator config forms. The available settings are:

• dropdowns: This can be used to convert any string field into a dropdown. Each item should have these properties:

  • jsonschema: The path into the jsonschema's properties object, to the property that you would like to convert into a dropdown. In most cases this is simply the name of the property, but in nested situations, you can use dot-syntax to drill down into the jsonschema object.
  • values: A list of values for the dropdown.
  • labels: An optional list of human-readable labels, corresponding to the values list.

For example, the following would convert the reporting_status property into a dropdown:

  site_config_form:
    dropdowns:
      - jsonschema: reporting_status
        values:
          - complete
          - notstarted

languages¶

Required: This setting controls the languages to be used on the site. This should be a list of language codes, and the first is assumed to be the default.

languages:
  - es
  - en

languages_public¶

Optional: This setting can be used if you are not happy with any of the standard language codes. For example, if the standard code for a language is xyz but you would prefer that it show up in your URLs as abc, then you could do the following:

languages_public:
  - language: xyz
    language_public: abc

metadata_edit_url¶

Required: This setting controls the URL of the "Edit Metadata" that appear on the staging site's indicator pages. It should be a full URL. Note that you can include [id] in the URL, and it will be dynamically replaced with the indicator's id (dash-delimited).

metadata_edit_url: http://prose.io/#my-org/my-repo/edit/develop/meta/[id].md

metadata_tabs¶

Optional: This setting can control the metadata tabs which appear on the indicator pages. This is directly tied to the "schema" of your data repository (ie, the _prose.yml file). The "scope" in each object must correspond to the "scope" of the fields in that schema file. The following configuration is assumed if this setting is omitted:

metadata_tabs:
  - scope: national
    title: indicator.national_metadata
    description: indicator.national_metadata_blurb
  - scope: global
    title: indicator.global_metadata
    description: indicator.global_metadata_blurb
  - scope: sources
    title: indicator.sources
    description: ''

About the "Sources" tab:

While the "scopes" above, such as "national" and "global", are arbitrary, the "sources" scope is special. The "Sources" tab will only display if the scope under metadata_tabs is specifically sources.

menu¶

Required: This setting controls the main navigation menu for the platform. It should contain a list of menu items, each containing a path and a translation key.

menu:
  - path: /reporting-status
    translation_key: menu.reporting_status
  - path: /about
    translation_key: menu.about
  - path: /faq
    translation_key: menu.faq

news¶

Optional: This setting can be used to control the behavior of the news and post layouts. The available settings are:

• category_links: Whether you would like the categories of posts to generate links to dedicated category pages. Default is true, but set to false to disable category links.

non_global_metadata¶

Optional: This setting can be used to control the text of the tab containing non-global metadata. The default text is "National Metadata", but if you are implementing a sub-national platform, you could use "Local Metadata", or similar. Note that using a translation key is recommended for better multilingual support.

non_global_metadata: indicator.national_metadata

NOTE: This approach is deprecated. It is now possible to have complete control over all the metadata tabs using the metadata_tabs configuration setting (see above).

plugins¶

Required: This is a general Jekyll setting, but it is mentioned here to indicate the required plugins. At a minimum you should include the following:

plugins:
  - jekyll-remote-theme
  - jekyll-open-sdg-plugins

remote_data_prefix¶

Required: This setting tells the platform where to find your hosted data repository.

remote_data_prefix: https://my-github-org.github.io/my-data-repository

Note that this is typically a remote URL, but it also works as a relative path to a local folder on disk. For example:

remote_data_prefix: my-data-build-folder

remote_theme¶

Required: This is not specific to Open SDG, but it is very important to always use a specific version of Open SDG (as opposed to using the latest version). For example, to use version 0.8.0 of the platform, use the following:

remote_theme: open-sdg/open-sdg@0.8.0

This is far safer and more recommended than using the latest version, such as the following (which is not recommended):

remote_theme: open-sdg/open-sdg

reporting_status¶

Optional: This setting controls certain aspects of the reporting status page. The available settings are:

• title: Controls the title of the reporting status page. Defaults to "Reporting status".
• description: Controls the introductory text under the title. If omitted there will be no introductory text.
• disaggregation_tabs: Whether or not to display disaggregation status tabs. If omitted, this defaults to false. If you enable this setting, you should also use "expected_disaggregations" in your indicator configuration, in order to provide the disaggregation status report with useful metrics. For more information see expected_disaggregations.

Here is an example of using these settings:

reporting_status:
    title: title goes here
    description: description goes here
    disaggregation_tabs: true

As always, for multilingual support, the title/description settings can refer to translation keys, and description can include Markdown.

search_index_boost¶

Optional: This setting can be used to give a "boost" to one or more fields in the search index. The boost number should be a positive integer. The higher the number, the more "relevant" that field will be in search results. If omitted, the following defaults will be used:

search_index_boost:
  - field: title
    boost: 10

The following example shows additional fields that can be boosted:

search_index_boost:
  # The title of the indicator, goal, or page.
  - field: title
    boost: 10
  # The content of the indicator, goal, or page.
  - field: content
    boost: 1
  # The id number of the indicator or goal.
  - field: id
    boost: 5

Additionally, any fields set in the search_index_extra_fields setting may also be boosted. For example:

search_index_boost:
  # Assumes that "national_agency" was set in "search_index_extra_fields".
  - field: national_agency
    boost: 5

search_index_extra_fields¶

Optional: This setting can be used to "index" additional metadata fields in your indicators, for the purposes of affecting the site-wide search. For example, if you have a metadata field called national_agency and you would like the sitewide search to include that field, add it in a list here, like so:

search_index_extra_fields:
  - national_agency

series_toggle¶

Optional: This setting enables the special treatment of the "Series" column in the data. If set to true, when an indicator's data includes a "Series" column, it will be displayed above "Units" as radio buttons. If omitted or false, the normal behavior is that the "Series" column will display below "Units" as checkboxes. Example:

series_toggle: true

site_config_form¶

Optional: This setting controls the behavior of the site config form. The available settings are:

• dropdowns: This works the same as in the indicator_config_form setting.

sharethis_property¶

Optional: This setting creates a ShareThis widget along the left side of every page. It should be the property id for your ShareThis account. For more information about this, see the sharing page.

validate_indicator_config¶

Optional: This setting, if true, will run a validation of each indicator's configuration during the site build. This defaults to false.

validate_site_config¶

Optional: This setting, if true, will run a validation of the site configuration during the site build. This defaults to false.