Personal Start Page Creator

Live website: https://markbeachill.github.io/start-page-builder
GitHub repository: https://github.com/markbeachill/start-page-builder

A static GitHub Pages website for creating standalone personal browser start pages. The site lets people choose a jump-start template, customise sections and links in the browser, then export a self-contained HTML start page that can be used locally or published online.

What it does

• Builds personal start pages made from grouped link sections.
• Loads ready-made templates for everyday, education, work, business, creative, life and hobby use cases.
• Imports and exports menu configurations as JSON.
• Imports link lists from Markdown, CSV and plain text.
• Exports standalone HTML pages that do not depend on this website after saving.
• Provides example pages for completed templates.

Quick start

Open the live builder:

https://markbeachill.github.io/start-page-builder/builder.html

Or run the site locally from the repository:

cd docs
python3 -m http.server 8000

Then open:

http://localhost:8000/

Publishing model

This repository is designed to publish GitHub Pages from:

/docs

For a user's own exported start page, the simplest publishing rule is to rename the saved file to index.html and place it at the top of the chosen GitHub Pages publishing source:

/index.html        if publishing from the repository root
/docs/index.html   if publishing from /docs

Repository structure

README.md                 project overview and entry point
CHANGELOG.md              stage-by-stage project history
CONTRIBUTING.md           maintainer workflow and validation notes
TEMPLATE_GUIDE.md         how to write and update templates
ARCHITECTURE.md           how the static site and builder work
RELEASE_CHECKLIST.md      repeatable checks before publishing changes

.github/
  workflows/
    validate.yml           manually check templates, examples and local links
    generate-examples.yml  manually regenerate example pages and commit changes

tools/
  generate-examples.js     regenerate public example pages from template JSON
  validate-templates.js    validate catalogue, templates, examples and local links

docs/
  .nojekyll
  index.html              public home page
  templates.html          jump-start template catalogue
  why-start-page.html     explanation of custom start pages
  ai-menu-help.html       AI-assisted menu workflow
  github-pages.html       publishing guide
  about.html              about this tool
  help.html               help and notes
  builder.html            browser-based builder app

  assets/
    site.css              public site styling
    start-page-renderer.js shared renderer/export logic

  templates/
    catalog.json          public template catalogue metadata
    *.json                builder template definitions

  examples/
    README.md             index of example pages
    *.html                exported demo start pages

Main project docs

• Architecture explains how the static site, builder, templates and exported pages fit together.
• Template Guide explains the content and technical rules for creating new templates.
• Contributing explains the recommended editing and validation workflow.
• Release Checklist gives a repeatable checklist for template batches and builder changes.
• Changelog contains the previous stage history.

Maintainer tools

The repository includes dependency-free Node tools for template maintenance:

node tools/generate-examples.js
node tools/generate-examples.js --check
node tools/validate-templates.js

generate-examples.js uses the shared renderer to regenerate docs/examples/*.html from the available entries in docs/templates/catalog.json. validate-templates.js checks catalogue metadata, template JSON shape, builder/template-page consistency, generated examples and local links.

The same checks are available from GitHub Actions as manual workflows:

• Validate site runs the syntax, generation check and validation commands without changing the repository.
• Generate examples runs the example generator from the template JSON files, validates the result and commits changed example files back to the branch.

Current status

The current repository stage is Stage 1.36 — manual GitHub Actions tooling.

The public site has integrated informational pages, a browser-based builder, a jump-start template catalogue, completed example pages for ready-to-use templates, import/export tools, AI-list paste support, stable section column placement and standalone exported start pages with embedded reload configuration.

Design rule

The public informational pages use the integrated site design. The builder uses a lighter wrapper around a wide editor and preview workspace. Exported start pages remain standalone HTML and do not depend on the website design.

The classic menu structure is protected: sections, headers, buttons, search bar and collapse behaviour are preserved. Shared renderer/export logic lives in docs/assets/start-page-renderer.js so the browser builder and maintainer tooling can create the same standalone HTML from the same JSON. The renderer supports controlled 2–5 column layouts, primary/pastel colour styles, optional title display, namespaced exported classes and embedded reload config.