Website Redesign Plan
Goals
- Make the website more concise, clearer, and more visually polished.
- Remove template/demo content that makes the site feel unfinished.
- Reorganize the site around a few strong pages: home, research, publications, projects, CV, and contact.
- Improve readability with better spacing, hierarchy, and section-based layout.
Execution Plan
1. Content cleanup
- Remove or hide template-heavy pages from the main user journey.
- Replace placeholder CV and publication content with concise, real content or external links.
- Rewrite the homepage so it quickly explains who Zijia is, what he works on, and what to click next.
- Simplify the top navigation.
- Add dedicated pages for research, projects, and contact.
- Keep publications and CV easy to find.
3. Homepage redesign
- Add a short hero/introduction.
- Add clear call-to-action buttons.
- Add focused sections for research areas, selected work, and recent updates.
- Reduce long paragraphs and empty sections.
4. Visual refresh
- Increase whitespace and improve section rhythm.
- Add card-style sections for highlights.
- Modernize typography, buttons, and archive lists.
- Reduce visual clutter from the default template.
5. Validation
- Build the Jekyll site locally.
- Fix any layout or content regressions.
Deliverables
- Updated site configuration and navigation
- Rewritten homepage and core pages
- Refreshed styles
- Cleaner user-facing site structure
