blog-theme — Jekyll Blog Template

SHA-256: 65e4d82d5ec9271c0eb83107a50103167751a3e6ae80c1dc884748378de448a5

2026-10-03T18:05:46.728Z

# Blog Theme

![Default Blog Theme](assets/img/blog-theme-home.PNG) 


A free and open-source [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com) theme. Great for blogs and easy to customize.

[Demo](https://beedcode.github.io/blog-theme/)

## Usage

1. Fork and clone the [Blog Theme repo](https://github.com/beedcode/blog-theme): `git clone https://github.com/beedcode/blog-theme`
2. [Install Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/installation/): `gem install jekyll`
3. Install the theme's dependencies: `bundle install`
4. Customize the theme (see below)
5. Run the Jekyll server: `jekyll serve`

## Customizing Type Theme

Open `_config.yml` in a text editor to change most of the blog's settings.

If a variable in this document is marked as "optional", disable the feature by removing all text from the variable. For example, to prevent the avatar from rendering in the header, the avatar line should read:

```yml
theme:
  title: Blog Theme
  avatar:
  gravatar:
```
Notice the avatar variable is left intentionally blank.

Below is a summary of the configuration options in Type Theme.

### Site configuration
The most common configurations, included here for guidance, are:

Jekyll website *without* a subpath (such as a GitHub Pages website for a given username):

```yml
# SITE CONFIGURATION
baseurl: ""
url: "https://username.github.io"
```

Jekyll website *with* subpath (like the Type Theme demo page):

```yml
# SITE CONFIGURATION
baseurl: "/sub-directory"
url: "https://username.github.io/"
```

Please configure this in `_config.yml` before using the theme.

### Meta

Meta variables hold basic information about your Jekyll site which will be used throughout the site and as meta properties for search engines, browsers, and the site's RSS feed.

Change these variables in `_config.yml`:

| Variable    | Example                          | Description                                                                                                                    | Optional |
| ----------- | -------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | -------- |
| title       | My Jekyll Blog                   | Name of website                                                                                                                | Yes      |
| avatar      | assets/img/avatar-smiley.png     | Path of avatar image, to be displayed in the theme's header                                                                    | Yes      |
| gravatar    | f9879d71855b5ff21e4963273a886bfc | [MD5 hash of your email address](https://secure.gravatar.com/site/implement/hash/) to load your Gravatar in the theme's header | Yes      |
| description | My blog posts                    | Short description, primarily used by search engines                                                                            | Yes      |

### Header and footer text

Change these variables in `_config.yml`:


| Variable                  | Example                             | Description                                                             | Optional |
| ------------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- |
| header_text               | Welcome to my Jekyll blog           | HTML (shown below the navigation) with a background colour for emphasis | Yes      |
| header_text_feature_image | assets/img/blackboard.png           | Background image for the header text                                    | Yes      |
| footer_text               | Copyright 2014                      | HTML (shown at end of the site) with lighter text                       | Yes      |

### Icons

Add your username on selected websites in the icon section of the `_config.yml` file to display the site's icon from [Font Awesome](https://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/) in the header navigation. All icon variables should be your username enclosed in quotes (e.g. "username"), except for the following variables:


| Variable       | Example                                         | Description                                            | Optional |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | -------- |
| rss            | true                                            | Takes boolean value (true/false) to show RSS feed icon | Yes      |
| email_address  | [email protected]                                | Email address                                          | Yes      |
| linkedin       | https://www.linkedin.com/in/FirstLast           | Full URL to profile on LinkedIn                        | Yes      |
| stack_exchange | https://stackoverflow.com/users/0000/first-last | Full URL to profile on Stack Exchange                  | Yes      |

### Scripts

Change these variables in `_config.yml`:


| Variable         | Example      | Description                                                                                                                         | Optional |
| ---------------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------- |
| google_analytics | UA-123456-01 | Google Analytics [tracking ID](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1032385?hl=en)                                           | Yes      |
| disqus_shortname | shortname    | Disqus [shortname](https://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466208-what-s-a-shortname-)                                     | Yes      |
| katex            | true         | Takes boolean value (true/false) to conditionally load [KaTeX](https://khan.github.io/KaTeX/) scripts required for math typesetting | Yes      |

Scripts listed here are only loaded if you provide a value in the `_config.yml` file.

### Localization strings

Change localization string variables in `_config.yml`.

English text used in the theme (such as the "continue reading" label) has been grouped  so you can quickly translate the theme or change labels to suit your needs.

### Colours, typography, padding

![A selection of colours set in Blog Theme by modifying the CSS](assets/img/Blog-Posts-CSS.png)


| Variable     | Example                    | Description                          | Optional                                                     |
| ------------ | -------------------------- | ------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| google_fonts | "Playfair+Display:400,700\ | PT+Sans:400,700,700italic,400italic" | [Google Fonts](https://www.google.com/fonts) to load for use |

Navigate to the `_sass > base` directory and open `_variables.scss` to change colours, typography and padding used in the theme with CSS.

Once you have loaded a Google Font in `config.yml`, you can integrate the fonts into your CSS by changing the font-family in `_variables.scss`. For example, after loading the Playfair Display and PT Sans fonts from Google:

```css
// Typography
$font-family-main: 'PT Sans', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
$font-family-headings: 'Playfair Display', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
```

Mozilla's [ColorPicker](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Colors/Color_picker_tool) is a helpful tool to get your preferred colours in hexadecimal or RGBA form for use in `_variables.scss`.

### Customize style when using the remote_theme

If you're using Type Theme as a `remote_theme`, you can override variables and styles.
To do so, simply create a `assets/css/main.scss` file on your website with the following content:

```scss
// assets/css/main.scss
---
---

@import "blog-theme";
```

`@import "blog-theme";` includes the theme styles, so you can add custom imports before and after it, depending on your needs.
Best practice is to put your custom files in the `_sass` folder of your project. Jekyll will automatically look for them there.
For example, say you wanted to override some theme variables and add some custom styles, you can create the following files:

```scss
// _sass/_variables.scss
$background-color: black;
```

```sass
// _sass/_custom.sass

// SASS is supported as well, just note the file extension is .sass
.feature-image header
  height: 300px
```

Then import them both into `main.scss`:

```scss
// assets/css/main.scss
---
---

@import "variables";
@import "blog-theme";
@import "custom";
```

## Posts and pages in Type Theme
Please refer to the [Jekyll docs for writing posts](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/posts/). Non-standard features are documented below.

### Math typesetting
Wrap math expressions with `$$` signs in your posts and make sure you have set the `katex` variable in `_config.yml` to `true` for math typesetting.

For inline math typesetting, type your math expression on the *same line* as your content. For example:

```latex
Type math within a sentence $$2x^2 + x + c$$ to display inline
```

For display math typesetting, type your math expression on a *new line*. For example:

```latex
$$
  \bar{y} = {1 \over n} \sum_{i = 1}^{n}y_i
$$
```

Type Theme makes use for [KaTeX](https://khan.github.io/KaTeX/) for typesetting.

### Feature images

![Posts with feature images](assets/img/feature-img.PNG)

Add a feature image by specifying a path to an image in the [front matter](http://jekyllrb.com/docs/frontmatter/) in the form of `feature-img: "img/PATH_TO_IMAGE.png"`.

For example:

```yml
---
layout: post
title: Title
feature-img: "assets/img/blackboard.jpg"
---
```

By default, the page title is displayed on top of the feature image, as well as on the browser's tab. You can change the feature image's displayed title by specifying a `feature-title` in the front matter:

```yml
---
layout: post
title: Title
feature-title: Markdown and HTML
feature-img: "assets/img/blackboard.jpg"
---
```

### Hiding pages from navigation

In the front matter of a page, add `hide: true` to prevent the page from showing up in the header's navigation bar (visitors can still visit the URL through other means).

For example:

```yml
---
layout: page
title: "Error 404: Page not found"
permalink: /404.html
hide: true
---
```

### Sorting pages in navigation

You can configure this theme to **sort your pages** in the header's navigation bar.

- Set `site_navigation_sort` in theme settings to a property name e.g. `'order'`
- In the front matter of a non-hidden page, add `order: n`

For example:

```yml
---
layout: page
title: Team
permalink: /team/
order: 4
---
```

### Tags

Post tags should be placed between `[]` in your post metadata. Separate each tag with a comma.

For example:

```yml
---
layout: post
title: Markdown and HTML
tags: [sample, markdown, html]
---
```

A tags listing will be automatically generated using the `tags.html` file provided in Type Theme. If you're not using the tags feature it is safe to delete `tags.html`.

### Search

The search feature can be activated in the `_config.yml` file by changing its value from `false` to `true`.

```yml
  #Scripts
  search: true
```

Once activated, the search bar will appear in the header. This feature uses [Lunr](https://lunrjs.com/) and searches through the title, tags and content of your posts.

### Subtitles
A subtitle can be displayed below your title on permalink post pages.

To enable this feature, add `subtitle` to your post metadata.

For example:

```yml
---
layout: post
title: "This is a title"
subtitle: "This is a subtitle"
---
```

## License
[The MIT License (MIT)](https://github.com/beedcode/blog-theme/blob/master/LICENSE)