AfterAI Weekly - Improved Content Management System

Overview

The AfterAI Weekly issues have been refactored from individual HTML files with duplicated code into a data-driven template system. This dramatically reduces code duplication and makes content management much more efficient.

New Structure

Before (Problems)

• ❌ 8 separate HTML files with 100+ lines each
• ❌ Massive code duplication for navigation, headers, transcriptions
• ❌ Manual updates needed in multiple places
• ❌ Hard to maintain consistency across issues

After (Solutions)

• ✅ Single template (_layouts/weekly_issue.html) for all issues
• ✅ Centralized data file (_data/weekly_issues.yml) with all content
• ✅ Each issue file is now just 4 lines of front matter
• ✅ Easy to add new issues and maintain existing ones

File Structure

_data/
  └── weekly_issues.yml          # All issue content and metadata
_layouts/
  └── weekly_issue.html          # Single template for all issues
weekly/
  ├── vol1.html                  # 4 lines: just front matter
  ├── vol2.html                  # 4 lines: just front matter
  └── ...                        # etc.
generate_weekly_issues.rb        # Script to regenerate all issue files
add_new_issue.rb                # Script to add new issues

How It Works

1. Data File (_data/weekly_issues.yml): Contains all issue content including titles, descriptions, transcriptions, and quotes in both English and Japanese.

2. Template (_layouts/weekly_issue.html): A single Jekyll template that dynamically renders any issue based on the slug parameter.

3. Issue Files (weekly/vol*.html): Minimal files with just front matter that specify which issue to render.

Managing Content

Adding a New Issue

Use the interactive script:

ruby add_new_issue.rb

Or manually:

1. Add issue data to _data/weekly_issues.yml
2. Create a minimal HTML file in weekly/ folder
3. Add corresponding images to img/weekly/en/ and img/weekly/ja/

Editing Existing Issues

Just edit the content in _data/weekly_issues.yml — no need to touch individual HTML files.

Regenerating All Issue Files

If you need to recreate all the minimal HTML files:

ruby generate_weekly_issues.rb

Benefits

1. DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself): Template logic exists in one place
2. Easy Maintenance: Update navigation or styling once, applies everywhere
3. Content Focus: Writers focus on content, not HTML structure
4. Consistency: Impossible to have inconsistent layouts between issues
5. Scalability: Adding issue #100 is as easy as adding issue #9

Migration Notes

• All existing functionality is preserved
• URLs remain the same (/weekly/vol1.html, etc.)
• Bilingual support continues to work
• Navigation between issues is automatically generated
• Archive page now dynamically lists all issues

Example Data Structure

- number: 1
  slug: vol1
  title:
    en: "Hello, Handwritten World!"
    ja: "こんにちは、手書きの世界！"
  description:
    en: "Our very first issue..."
    ja: "人間中心のAIインサイト..."
  transcription:
    en: |
      Paragraph 1...
      
      Paragraph 2...
    ja: |
      段落 1...
      
      段落 2...
  quote:
    en: "The future isn't about replacing..."
    ja: "未来は人間的タッチを..."

This system makes the AfterAI Weekly much more maintainable and scalable! 🚀