Fork Guide for Municipalities

What Is Forking?

Forking means copying a project.

You get your own version.

You can change it without affecting the original.

Goal: Get a working emergency site in hours, not months.

Why Fork This Repository?

What You Get

✅ Fully accessible - WCAG 2.2 compliant ✅ Mobile-friendly - Works on all devices ✅ Low bandwidth - Loads on weak signals ✅ Offline-capable - Works without internet ✅ Print-ready - Makes good emergency binders ✅ Plain language - Grade 6 reading level ✅ Free to use - CC-BY-4.0 license

What You Change

What Stays the Same

Quick Start (5 Steps)

Step 1: Fork on GitHub

  1. Go to: https://github.com/mgifford/inclusive-emergency-readiness
  2. Click the Fork button (top right)
  3. Choose your organization or personal account
  4. Wait for the copy to finish

Result: You now have your own copy of the repository.

Step 2: Update Local Information

Files to change:

A. Update Contact Info (_config.yml)

title: "Your City Emergency Guide"
description: "Emergency preparedness for [Your City]"
url: "https://yourcity.github.io"
baseurl: "/emergency-guide"

B. Update Emergency Numbers (index.md)

Find the section with:

Change to your local numbers.

C. Update Shelter List (_data/shelters.yml)

If this file exists, update it.

If not, create it:

shelters:
  - name: "Community Center"
    address: "123 Main St"
    phone: "555-0100"
    accessible: true
    capacity: 200
  
  - name: "High School Gym"
    address: "456 School Rd"
    phone: "555-0200"
    accessible: true
    capacity: 500

D. Update Footer Links (_includes/footer.html)

Change social media links.

Change contact email.

Keep the credits section.

Step 3: Test Locally

Option A: With Docker

docker run -v $(pwd):/site bretfisher/jekyll-serve

Open: http://localhost:4000

Option B: With Ruby

bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve

Open: http://localhost:4000

Check:

Step 4: Enable GitHub Pages

  1. Go to your repository on GitHub
  2. Click Settings
  3. Scroll to Pages (left sidebar)
  4. Set Source to: Deploy from a branch
  5. Set Branch to: main and /root
  6. Click Save

Wait 2-5 minutes.

Your site will be live at: https://[your-username].github.io/[your-repo-name]/

Step 5: Verify Deployment

Go to your new URL.

Check:

Done! You have a working emergency site.

Detailed Customization

Branding

Replace: /assets/images/IER-a11y-logo.svg

Requirements:

Tip: Keep the original as logo-original.svg for reference.

Colors

Edit: /assets/css/emergency.scss

Find:

// Emergency red
$emergency-red: #cc0000;

// High contrast
$text-color: #1a1a1a;
$bg-color: #ffffff;

Change to your city colors.

Rules:

Fonts

We use system fonts for performance.

If you must change fonts:

  1. Use only 1 or 2 font families
  2. Host fonts locally (don’t use Google Fonts)
  3. Subset fonts to reduce size
  4. Add font files to /assets/fonts/

Warning: Custom fonts increase page size.

Content Pages

Add a New Page

  1. Create a new .md file in the root or a folder
  2. Add front matter:
---
layout: default
title: "Your Page Title"
category: guides
summary: "Short description"
reading_level: "Grade 6"
---
  1. Write content in Markdown
  2. Use plain language
  3. Run readability check

Add a New Section

  1. Create a folder (e.g., _guides)
  2. Add files to that folder
  3. Update _config.yml:
collections:
  guides:
    output: true
    permalink: /guides/:name/
  1. Create an index page: guides/index.md

Data Files

Store repeated info in _data/ folder.

Example: Emergency Contacts

Create: _data/contacts.yml

emergency:
  - name: "Fire"
    number: "911"
    type: "Emergency"
  - name: "Police"
    number: "555-0100"
    type: "Non-emergency"

Use in pages:

Remove What You Don’t Need

Don’t want disability guides?

Delete the _disabilities/ folder.

Don’t want toolkits?

Delete the _toolkits/ folder.

Update navigation:

Edit: _includes/header.html

Remove menu items you don’t need.

Advanced: Custom Domain

Buy a Domain

Examples:

Point Domain to GitHub Pages

  1. In your domain registrar, add a CNAME record:
    • Name: emergency (or prepare, etc.)
    • Value: [your-username].github.io
  2. In your repository, create a file: CNAME
    • Content: emergency.yourcity.gov
  3. In GitHub Settings > Pages:
    • Custom domain: emergency.yourcity.gov
    • Check “Enforce HTTPS”

Wait 24 hours for DNS to update.

Maintenance

Weekly Tasks

Monthly Tasks

Yearly Tasks

Automated Workflows

These run automatically:

  1. Link Checker (weekly)
    • Finds broken links
    • Suggests Archive.org alternatives
  2. Readability Linter (on every push)
    • Checks reading level
    • Flags complex text

See: .github/workflows/ for details.

Getting Help

If You’re Stuck

  1. Check the docs:
  2. Open an Issue:
    • Go to the original repo
    • Click “Issues”
    • Describe your problem
    • We’ll help!
  3. Ask the community:
    • Check existing Issues
    • Read closed Pull Requests
    • Learn from others’ solutions

Common Problems

Problem: Site not showing up on GitHub Pages

Solution:

Problem: CSS not loading

Solution:

Problem: Links broken after deployment

Solution:

Sharing Your Fork

Tell Us About It

We want to know who’s using this!

Open an Issue on the original repository:

We’ll add you to a “Community Forks” page.

Share Your Improvements

Made something better?

Send a Pull Request back to the original:

  1. Create a new branch
  2. Make your improvement
  3. Write a clear description
  4. Submit to original repo

Examples of good contributions:

Attribution

You must give credit to the original.

How: Keep the footer text: “Based on Inclusive Emergency Readiness Guide”

Or add a page called “Credits.”

License

This work is CC-BY-4.0.

You can:

You must:

You cannot:

Case Studies

Example 1: Small Town (Population 10,000)

Time to deploy: 4 hours

Changes made:

Cost: $0 (GitHub Pages is free)

Example 2: County Government (Population 500,000)

Time to deploy: 2 weeks

Changes made:

Cost: Domain registration + translation services

Example 3: Indigenous Community

Time to deploy: 1 week

Changes made:

Cost: $0 (used GitHub and community translators)

Quality Checklist

Before going live, check:

Accessibility

Performance

Content

Technical

Compliance

Next Steps

  1. Fork the repository today
  2. Update local info this week
  3. Deploy to GitHub Pages this month
  4. Tell us about it when ready
  5. Share improvements as you go

“Emergency preparedness should be forkable. Start now.”