Auto-generate people page from Excel spreadsheet

[jeremymanning]

Overview

Automatically compile the people page (people.html) from an Excel spreadsheet, with one row per person.

Spreadsheet Columns

The spreadsheet should include:

• Name - Person's name
• Role - Position/title (e.g., "graduate student", "postdoc", "undergraduate")
• Status - Active member or alumni (active / alum)
• Photo - Filename of photo in images/people/
• Bio - Short biography text
• Website - Personal website URL (optional)
• Email - Email address (optional)
• Start Year - Year joined the lab
• End Year - Year left the lab (for alumni)
• Current Position - Where they are now (for alumni)

Implementation

• Create Excel template with required columns
• Write build script to parse spreadsheet
• Generate HTML for active members grid
• Generate HTML for alumni section
• Sort active members by role/seniority
• Sort alumni by end year (most recent first)
• Handle the lab director as a special case (different layout)
• Preserve existing styling and layout

File Structure

data/
  people.xlsx         # Source spreadsheet
scripts/
  build_people.py     # Build script

Labels

enhancement, automation

[jeremymanning]

Completed. People page is now auto-generated from data/people.xlsx using scripts/build_people.py. The build system handles:

• 95 people entries (director, members, alumni in 4 categories, collaborators)
• Complex HTML preservation in bios
• Position links for alumni
• GitHub Actions workflow for automatic rebuilds

See README for documentation.