Adding Genealogy to Navigation and Refactoring Health Content Architecture

Today I made some structural improvements to laverty.io focused on content organization and navigation. Quick updates, but meaningful for site architecture.

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Adding Genealogy to the Navigation Bar

The Genealogy section has been growing with content about family history research, but it wasn’t discoverable from the main navigation. That needed to change.

The Problem

The top navigation bar (defined in apps/web/src/components/TopHeader.astro) had categories for VR, Fitness, Vibe Coding, Systems, and Personal — but Genealogy wasn’t included in the categoryHubMap.

This meant:

• Genealogy content existed but wasn’t easily accessible
• Users would need to stumble upon genealogy posts through search or the homepage
• The category didn’t have equal visibility with other content pillars

The Fix

Added Genealogy to the navigation map:

const categoryHubMap: Record<string, { label: string; href: string }> = {
  'VR': { label: 'VR & WebXR', href: '/vr/' },
  'Fitness': { label: 'Fitness', href: '/fitness/' },
  'Vibe Coding': { label: 'Vibe Coding', href: '/vibe-coding/' },
  'Systems': { label: 'Systems', href: '/systems/' },
  'Personal': { label: 'Personal', href: '/personal/' },
  'Genealogy': { label: 'Genealogy', href: '/genealogy/' },  // <- Added
};

Now Genealogy appears in the main navigation alongside all other content hubs.

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Updating the Genealogy Description

The default description for the Genealogy category was generic:

“Tracing ancestral lineages, documenting family stories, and exploring heritage through historical records and DNA analysis.”

That’s fine for a general genealogy site, but this one has a specific focus.

Making It Specific

Updated the description in apps/web/src/pages/[category]/index.astro to reflect the actual content:

'Genealogy': {
  intro: 'Genealogy & Family History',
  detail: 'Exploring the Laverty and McGree families from Taylors Arm, NSW, and their ancestors. Sharing historical information, family photos, and documents discovered through genealogical research.',
},

This is better because:

• It’s honest about what readers will find
• It signals specificity (Laverty and McGree families from Taylors Arm, NSW)
• It sets expectations for the type of content (photos, documents, research findings)

If someone is researching these specific families, they’ll know immediately this is relevant to them.

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Refactoring Fitness to Health

The Fitness category was initially created for training, nutrition, and longevity content. But as the content grew, it became clear the scope was broader than just “fitness.”

Posts covered:

• Longevity science
• Nutrition and metabolic health
• Sleep optimization
• Environmental health (air quality, incense risks)
• Disease prevention (vaccines, cancer risk factors)

“Fitness” was too narrow. “Health” better captures the scope.

What Changed

1. Renamed the page file:

apps/web/src/pages/fitness.astro -> apps/web/src/pages/health.astro

2. Updated blog post categories:

Changed category frontmatter from Fitness to Health in posts like:

• 2025-06-09-nutrient-dense-instant-pot-meals-for-longevity-2.mdx
• Multiple new posts on health habits, incense risks, holiday eating, vaccines, and exercise effectiveness

3. Navigation update will follow

The navigation map still points to /fitness/ for now, but that will be updated in a future commit to point to /health/ instead.

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Why These Changes Matter

Better Content Discoverability

Adding Genealogy to navigation means family history content gets the same visibility as VR, coding, and health content. It’s no longer hidden.

Clearer Categorization

Renaming Fitness to Health better reflects the actual content and makes it easier for readers to know what they’ll find. If someone is looking for longevity research or nutrition science, “Health” is a clearer signal than “Fitness.”

Maintaining the Hub-and-Spoke Model

These changes reinforce the site’s content architecture:

• Each topic gets a dedicated hub (category page)
• Navigation clearly shows all available hubs
• Content is organized by topic for SEO and user experience

This structure makes it easy to:

• Add new topics in the future
• Keep content organized as the site grows
• Give each topic area equal visibility

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What’s Next

A few follow-up tasks remain:

1. Update the navigation link from /fitness/ to /health/
2. Add redirects from old /fitness/ URLs to /health/ to avoid breaking existing links
3. Consider whether any other categories need refinement

For now, though, Genealogy is discoverable, Health content is properly categorized, and the site structure is cleaner.

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Implementation Notes

These changes demonstrate a key principle of building in public: iterate based on actual usage.

The site started with one set of categories, but as content grew, it became clear some adjustments were needed:

• Genealogy content existed but wasn’t prominent enough
• Fitness was too narrow for the scope of health content

Making these adjustments now prevents bigger refactoring later.

Small, incremental improvements to content structure compound over time.

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That’s it for today’s updates. Simple changes, but they improve the overall structure and usability of the site.