- I'm a Senior at the University of Michigan pursuing dual B.S.E..'s in
- Mechanical Engineering and
- Computer Science. I expect to graduate with both
- Bachelor's degrees in December 2020 and plan on continuing my education with a Master's in Robotics.
+ I'm a Senior at the University of Michigan pursuing dual B.S.E.'s in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. I expect to graduate with both Bachelor's degrees in December 2020 and plan on continuing my education with a Master's in Robotics.
- My professional and academic interests are in robotics, mechatronics, autonomous systems, and controls. I am currently
- looking for robotics related internships for the Summer (May - August) of 2020.
-
- My personal interests include video games, podcasts, music, cooking, football, soccer, and personal / project management software. You can
- check out some of my favorite video games, podcasts,
- music, and software on the Personal page.
+ My professional and academic interests are in robotics, mechatronics, autonomous systems, and controls. I am currently looking for robotics related internships for the Summer (May - August) of 2020.
+
+ My personal interests include video games, podcasts, music, cooking, football, soccer, and personal / project management software. You can check out some of my favorite video games, podcasts, music, and software on the Personal page.
My favorite sports teams, in ranked order, are:
- University of Michigan Sports
- Arsenal F.C. (Premier League) -
- New England Patriots (NFL) +
- New England Patriots (NFL)
- Detroit Sports Teams
Contact Me
- Feel free to reach out to me via email if you have any questions about my website, college education, professional experience, or anything else. - If you have suggestions for the website or would like to see the source files, check out my - GitHub repository. If you would like to connect with me on LinkedIn, use the link below. I will do my best to respond to any communication - in a timely manner. + Feel free to reach out to me via email if you have any questions about my website, college education, professional experience, or anything else. If you have suggestions for the website or would like to see the source files, check out my GitHub repository. If you would like to connect with me on LinkedIn, use the link below. I will do my best to respond to any communication in a timely manner.
- My idea for this website started simply as a way for me to present my professional portfolio. As I started learning
- HTML and looking at other websites for inspiration, I decided to make
- it my own and add in the personal page with some of my recommendations and favorite things. Additionally, I noticed
- that very few people had any documentation on how/where they learned web design. While git repos were generally made
- public, it was hard for someone to understand what was going on if they weren't already familiar with the framework
- or language being used. Thus, I decided to create a documentation page which will hopefully help others who are interested
- in making their own website do so using what I have learned from friends I have talked to. It also helps me save
- some useful links in a way that others can see and understand the use case for.
+ My idea for this website started simply as a way for me to present my professional portfolio. As I started learning HTML and looking at other websites for inspiration, I decided to make it my own and add in the personal page with some of my recommendations and favorite things. Additionally, I noticed that very few people had any documentation on how/where they learned web design. While git repos were generally made public, it was hard for someone to understand what was going on if they weren't already familiar with the framework or language being used. Thus, I decided to create a documentation page which will hopefully help others who are interested in making their own website do so using what I have learned from friends I have talked to. It also helps me save some useful links in a way that others can see and understand the use case for.
- This website was originally designed in HTML with some
- CSS for styling. However, I ran into issues with scalability and mobile
- browser support. See Web Design below for my current implementation method
- and some other cool things that I have discovered through my learning process that you may find interesting.
+ This website was originally designed in HTML with some CSS for styling. However, I ran into issues with scalability and mobile browser support. See Web Design below for my current implementation method and some other cool things that I have discovered through my learning process that you may find interesting.
Purchasing a Domain Name
- Per Yash Vesikar's recommendation, I used - Google Domains to purchase the - sravanbalaji.com domain for $12 per year. + Per Yash Vesikar's recommendation, I used Google Domains to purchase the sravanbalaji.com domain for $12 per year.
Hosting Website
- There are a couple of options I have found for hosting my website (for free). As a U of M student, I am able to create my own UM Web Page hosted on U of M Servers - or create a personal site hosted by Google through the U-M Google collaboration. I have not looked into - the Google Sites option, but there is documentation available if you are interested. - I originally opted to create my own site and host it on U of M Servers. Information on how to do this can be found on the - UMICH Information and Technology Services website. Some limitations I found - with this were that I would have to manually upload my website files to the afs directory as the SFTP process described did not work for me. Additionally, - the domain name for U of M hosted websites take the form http://www-personal.umich.edu/~youruniqname/ which is clearly not ideal. You can sort of - get around this by enabling web forwarding on Google Domains. - All this does is redirect traffic from your custom domain to the U of M domain. This might be ok for you, but I would prefer to have my website show - up at the domain I purchased. Per Yash Vesikar's recommendation, I looked into GitHub Pages - to host my website directly from a GitHub repository. This comes with the added benefit that changes are live as soon as you push them to the master branch - of your <username>.github.io repository. I found Trent Yang's post - about setting up Google Domains for GitHub pages very useful. + There are a couple of options I have found for hosting my website (for free). As a U of M student, I am able to create my own UM Web Page hosted on U of M Servers or create a personal site hosted by Google through the U-M Google collaboration. I have not looked into the Google Sites option, but there is documentation available if you are interested. I originally opted to create my own site and host it on U of M Servers. Information on how to do this can be found on the UMICH Information and Technology Services website. Some limitations I found with this were that I would have to manually upload my website files to the afs directory as the SFTP process described did not work for me. Additionally, the domain name for U of M hosted websites take the form http://www-personal.umich.edu/~youruniqname/ which is clearly not ideal. You can sort of get around this by enabling web forwarding on Google Domains. All this does is redirect traffic from your custom domain to the U of M domain. This might be ok for you, but I would prefer to have my website show up at the domain I purchased. Per Yash Vesikar's recommendation, I looked into GitHub Pages to host my website directly from a GitHub repository. This comes with the added benefit that changes are live as soon as you push them to the master branch of your <username>.github.io repository. I found Trent Yang's post about setting up Google Domains for GitHub pages very useful.
Web Design
Bootstrap Framework
- When I first made this website, it was implemented in HTML and CSS without the use of a framework. This gave me a lot of custom control over every - aspect, but it made some things unnecessarily tedious and difficult. One example of this is the navigation bar. Trying to implement that without - a framework is more difficult than it needs to be. Another issue I ran into was compatibility with mobile browsers. Per - Tianhong (Sam) Wen's recommendation, I looked into - Bootstrap. This has built-in "responsive" classes that can auto adjust - the size and placement of elements based on the screen size. It also provides an easy way to implement some cool features - like the navbar, accordion-like cards, and a grid layout to easily place images and text around your website's viewport. + When I first made this website, it was implemented in HTML and CSS without the use of a framework. This gave me a lot of custom control over every aspect, but it made some things unnecessarily tedious and difficult. One example of this is the navigation bar. Trying to implement that without a framework is more difficult than it needs to be. Another issue I ran into was compatibility with mobile browsers. Per Tianhong (Sam) Wen's recommendation, I looked into Bootstrap. This has built-in responsive classes that can auto adjust the size and placement of elements based on the screen size. It also provides an easy way to implement some cool features like the navbar, accordion-like cards, and a grid layout to easily place images and text around your website's viewport.
Reusing HTML
+Reusing HTML
- The easiest way I found to reuse HTML code is via JavaScript as described in - Page Headers And Footers. This is by no - means the most elegant or automated, but it was the only method I could get to actually work. If you don't want to go through the hassle of manually - removing line breaks, you can use this handy online text converter from Text Fixer. + The easiest way I found to reuse HTML code is via JavaScript as described in Page Headers And Footers. This is by no means the most elegant or automated, but it was the only method I could get to actually work. If you don't want to go through the hassle of manually removing line breaks, you can use this handy online text converter from Text Fixer.
Display Resume PDF in Website using GitHub
+Display Resume PDF in Website using GitHub
- I have the latest version of my resume stored in a public - GitHub repository, but I wanted an easy way to share it directly on my website. This led me to look for ways to embed a PDF in HTML. - This works great for local files, but not so great for PDFs stored in a repository. The trick is to get the link to the raw PDF file - from GitHub and to use Google Drive PDF Viewer. This is outlined in - Kekayan's Medium post. + I have the latest version of my resume stored in a public GitHub repository, but I wanted an easy way to share it directly on my website. This led me to look for ways to embed a PDF in HTML. This works great for local files, but not so great for PDFs stored in a repository. The trick is to get the link to the raw PDF file from GitHub and to use Google Drive PDF Viewer. This is outlined in Kekayan's Medium post.
Aesthetics
Color Scheme
+
+ - I used the color scheme outlined in University of Michigan - Style Guide: Colors - when choosing colors for the various elements of my website such as the background and text color. + I used the primary palette colors from University of Michigan Design Resources and generated a cool color scheme using coolors.
+ 
+ 
- I designed my logo for free on hatchful. My main purpose for this was to have a nice looking - favicon for my website on browsers as well as for the home page icon in the navbar. + I designed my logo for free on hatchful. My main purpose for this was to have a nice looking favicon for my website on browsers as well as for the home page icon in the navbar.
Welcome
Welcome!
- Welcome to my personal website! For information on how this website was created and hosted,
- please see the documentation page.
+ Welcome to my personal website! For information on how this website was created and hosted, please see the documentation page.
- This website is currently a work in progress and updates will be made as I find time.
- You can follow development and make suggestions on GitHub.
+ This website is currently a work in progress and updates will be made as I find time. You can follow development and make suggestions on GitHub.
Fences
-Platform: Windows
+Visual Studio Code
+Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac
- Fences is a desktop management software that allows you to group your desktop icons into "fences". - These fences can be rolled up so they are tucked away neatly into a corner, allowing you to view - your desktop wallpaper while still being able to access your shortcuts when you need to. - I really like Fences because it keeps my desktop clutter-free and I get to look at my amazing - wallpaper (see Wallpaper Engine). I purchased Fences on - Steam, but you - can also get it directly from Stardock's website. - Would definitely recommend getting it if you have a cluttered desktop. -
-
-
- Start10
-Platform: Windows
-- I wasn't actually interested in Start10 when I first got it. I got it in a bundle with Fences. - The gist of Start10 is that it allows you to customize the way your taskbar looks and the style of start menu - you would like. The options are Windows 7, Windows 10, or Modern. Windows 7 has the classic - searchbar and list of applications. Windows 10 has the list of programs and start menu "tiles" - introduced in Windows 10. Modern style is a bit of a hybrid. It has the application list from - Windows 7, but the theme looks more like Windows 10. I personally prefer Windows 10 style because - of the "tiles" that easily let you launch your favorite apps. I wouldn't necessarily recommend - getting Start10 on its own as I don't see much value in it, but it is a nice addition if you have - ever wanted to change the look of your taskbar or start menu. -
-
-
- Wallpaper Engine
-Platform: Windows
-- Wallpaper Engine is amongst my favorite programs on this list. If you have ever seen live wallpapers on phones - and thought "can I get that on my PC?", this is the program for you. At a regular price of $3.99, I - cannot recommend this enough. Fair warning, this will drain your battery and RAM if you plan on running - it at its highest settings with animations and other compute heavy settings. I usually run this on my laptop - so the wallpaper is static when unplugged, but animated and reactive when plugged in. There are some memory - saving options that can pause the program when another program is in full-screen and in-focus to improve - battery life and performance. + Visual Studio Code is currently my favorite editor for most programming applications I work on. I have previously tried Sublime Text, Notepad++, and Vim as my primary text editors, but I was never fully satisfied with their functionality. When I first started using VS Code, I wasn't convinced by it either. It looked like just another text editor with no special features. Over time, Microsoft has done a great job of improving stability, speed, and functionality. The feature that finally made the decision for me was the community support for extensions. If you are a die hard Vim user for example, there's a Vim emulation extension that should ease the transition. I just love the overall aesthetic, auto-completion, and sheer number of features available. It runs on every platform you could conceivably develop on and it looks great! Don't plan on switching editors any time soon! Check out some of my favorite extensions below.
+Notion
Platform: Web App, Mac, Windows, iOS, Android
- This is my current favorite productivity app. I use it to keep track of things like homework, personal tasks, - gift ideas, shopping lists, personal wish lists, upcoming video games, etc. I previously used - Trello and Google Keep - to track tasks and random bits of information, but Notion has been a game changer. While the - full experience is locked behind a paywall, you can get the paid tier for free if you have a university (.edu) email. - If you haven't already, I would suggest giving it a try. Use this - referral link to get - some free credit on your account to use if you decide to use any of the paid tiers. + This is my current favorite productivity app. I use it to keep track of things like homework, personal tasks, gift ideas, shopping lists, personal wish lists, upcoming video games, etc. I previously used Trello and Google Keep to track tasks and random bits of information, but Notion has been a game changer. While the full experience is locked behind a paywall, you can get the paid tier for free if you have a university (.edu) email. If you haven't already, I would suggest giving it a try. Use this referral link to get some free credit on your account to use if you decide to use any of the paid tiers.
Clatter
Platform: Windows
- Have you ever wondered if there was an app to combine all of your messaging apps into 1? Well, Clatter - is the answer. I used to keep multiple tabs and programs open so I could see all of my messaging services - at once, but with Clatter, they are all neatly packaged in one application. Any messaging service with a web - app can be accessed through Clatter. Give it a try, I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I do. + Have you ever wondered if there was an app to combine all of your messaging apps into 1? Well, Clatter is the answer. I used to keep multiple tabs and programs open so I could see all of my messaging services at once, but with Clatter, they are all neatly packaged in one application. Any messaging service with a web app can be accessed through Clatter. Give it a try, I'm sure you will enjoy it as much as I do. +
+
+
+ Windows Terminal
+Platform: Windows
++ If you have ever felt that the default windows terminal could use a refresh, you are in luck! Microsoft has been working on an updated version of Windows Terminal that provides tabs for Command Prompt, PowerShell, and WSL. It also offers a faster, better looking, windows terminal experience. At the time of writing, Windows Terminal is still in preview, but hopefully the full version will be released to everyone soon.
Chocolatey
Platform: Windows
- Chocolatey is Windows's answer to Homebrew. It is essentially a package manager that allows you to easily track
- and upgrade/install/uninstall programs on Windows. My process when installing apps is to check if there is a
- Windows app on the Microsoft Store. If not, I check Chocolatey. More times than not, it's available there.
- You can easily install any programs you need via command prompt and avoid the tedious installation wizard.
+ Chocolatey is Windows's answer to Homebrew. It is essentially a package manager that allows you to easily track and upgrade/install/uninstall programs on Windows. You can easily install any programs you need via command prompt and avoid the tedious installation wizard. Just search chocolatey's list of packages, run terminal as Administrator, and run choco install package_name.
+
+
+ Wallpaper Engine
+Platform: Windows
++ Wallpaper Engine is amongst my favorite programs on this list. If you have ever seen live wallpapers on phones and thought can I get that on my PC?, this is the program for you. At a regular price of $3.99, I cannot recommend this enough. Fair warning, this will drain your battery and RAM if you plan on running it at its highest settings with animations and other compute heavy settings. I usually run this on my laptop so the wallpaper is static when unplugged, but animated and reactive when plugged in. There are some memory saving options that can pause the program when another program is in full-screen and in-focus to improve battery life and performance. +
+
+
+ Fences
+Platform: Windows
++ Fences is a desktop management software that allows you to group your desktop icons into fences. These fences can be rolled up so they are tucked away neatly into a corner, allowing you to view your desktop wallpaper while still being able to access your shortcuts when you need to. I really like Fences because it keeps my desktop clutter-free and I get to look at my amazing wallpaper (see Wallpaper Engine). I purchased Fences on Steam, but you can also get it directly from Stardock's website. Would definitely recommend getting it if you have a cluttered desktop. +
+
+
+ Start10
+Platform: Windows
++ I wasn't actually interested in Start10 when I first got it. I got it in a bundle with Fences. The gist of Start10 is that it allows you to customize the way your taskbar looks and the style of start menu you would like. The options are Windows 7, Windows 10, or Modern. Windows 7 has the classic + search bar and list of applications. Windows 10 has the list of programs and start menu tiles introduced in Windows 10. Modern style is a bit of a hybrid. It has the application list from Windows 7, but the theme looks more like Windows 10. I personally prefer Windows 10 style because of the tiles that easily let you launch your favorite apps. I wouldn't necessarily recommend getting Start10 on its own as I don't see much value in it, but it is a nice addition if you have ever wanted to change the look of your taskbar or start menu.
Pocket Casts
Platform: Web App, iOS, Android
- This is my preferred Podcast app. I have it on my Android phone and I use the Windows app on my desktop - and laptop. I purchased the web app and android app prior to the new "subscription" model that Pocket Casts - has implemented. While I don't agree with this new pay structure, I appreciate that they have implemented a - free tier that has the majority of features that most people will need. + This is my preferred Podcast app. I have it on my Android phone and I use the Windows app on my desktop and laptop. I purchased the web app and android app prior to the newsubscription model that Pocket Casts has implemented. While I don't agree with this new pay structure, I appreciate that they have implemented a free tier that has the majority of features that most people will need.
