JekyllBlog

the-plain — Jekyll Blog Template

By heiswayi

The Plain is a minimalist Jekyll blog theme developed by heiswayi and released under the MIT license, suitable for personal blogs focused on text reading.

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Recorded 2026-09-30View source

What stands out

A quick read of the recorded project description.

Minimalist Jekyll blog theme with pages centered on text reading

Repository provides an online demo and actual screenshots for desktop, mobile, and inner pages

Supports two integration methods: theme gem or GitHub Pages remote_theme plugin

Repository contains a standard MIT license file, allowing modification, commercial use, and distribution

Template Details

The Plain is a Jekyll theme. The repository describes it as a minimalist design for personal blogs, aiming to reduce page distractions so authors can focus on writing. The theme is inspired by Leonard Lamprecht's leo theme. The repository provides an online demo page and includes actual screenshots of the desktop homepage, mobile homepage, and inner pages.

There are two ways to use it: on hosts that support arbitrary Jekyll themes, you can include the-plain in the Gemfile and set theme in _config.yml; on GitHub Pages, because only a limited set of built-in themes is supported, you need to use the third-party plugin jekyll-remote-theme and pull the theme directly from the GitHub repository via remote_theme: heiswayi/the-plain. Both approaches require referring to the repository's own _config.yml to copy and modify configuration items.

Regarding licensing, the repository contains a standard MIT license file, permitting free use, modification, commercial use, and distribution of this version of the code, provided the copyright notice and license notice are retained when distributing; the code is provided as is. Third-party assets such as demo images, fonts, and icons need to be checked separately for their licenses. External services such as domains and hosting may incur separate charges.

JekyllBlog

Is it right for your project?

Use Cases

Building a personal blog focused on article reading
Using the theme on GitHub Pages via jekyll-remote-theme
Including the theme as a gem on hosts that support arbitrary Jekyll themes
As a reference for minimalist typographic style in Jekyll themes or a base for further modification

Suitable For

Personal bloggers who write with Jekyll and want a clean interface
Users who need to deploy a blog on GitHub Pages
Sites that prefer a pure text reading experience and do not need complex interactions
Developers who want to modify an MIT-licensed theme themselves

Getting started & customization

Use these recorded setup notes alongside the repository instructions for your chosen version.

1
On hosts that support arbitrary Jekyll themes, add gem 'the-plain' to the Gemfile and run bundle install, then set theme: the-plain in _config.yml
2
On GitHub Pages, switch to the jekyll-remote-theme plugin, add that gem to the Gemfile, and configure plugins and remote_theme: heiswayi/the-plain in _config.yml
3
Both approaches require referring to the repository's _config.yml to copy and modify configuration items
4
GitHub Pages does not support setting this theme directly via theme:; you must use the remote_theme path
5
Third-party assets such as demo images, fonts, and icons need to be checked separately under their respective licenses

Read repository instructions

License & source material

Usage conditions & limitations

Free to use · keep license notice

This entry covers the free version under the MIT license in the public repository; the free scope is this version of the code and does not imply that external services or third-party assets are free.

Must comply with when using

Permits free use, modification, commercial use, and distribution of this version of the code.
When distributing copies or substantial portions of the code, retain the original author's copyright notice and the full MIT license notice.
The code is provided as is; warranties and limitations of liability are governed by the original license and applicable law.

Additional costs & items to verify

When using the gem method on hosts that support arbitrary Jekyll themes, that method does not apply to GitHub Pages; on GitHub you must switch to the jekyll-remote-theme plugin and remote_theme setting.
GitHub Pages only supports a limited set of built-in themes and cannot use this theme directly via the theme: setting; it relies on the third-party plugin jekyll-remote-theme.
Using this theme on GitHub requires the third-party plugin jekyll-remote-theme and the remote_theme configuration item instead of theme.
Demo images, fonts, icons, and other third-party assets need to be checked under their respective licenses and cannot be judged solely by the code's MIT license.
External services such as domains, hosting, databases, payments, or AI may incur separate charges.

View Original Text Basis

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge
Original License Text

This does NOT work on GitHub, see the next section.
Original README

GitHub - for your user account pages or repository gh-pages - only supports a limited set of themes.
Original README

you need to use the 'remote\_theme:' setting instead of 'theme:', which is supported by [a 3rd party plugin]
Original README

https://github.com/heiswayi/the-plain/blob/master/LICENSE https://github.com/heiswayi/the-plain/blob/master/README.md

Compiled by DeepSeek based on repository license and README ·2026-10-01. Results only cover the materials read; dependencies, images, fonts, and subsequent term changes are subject to their respective original texts.

Project checks & description sources

Template Information

Source platforms: GitHub
Documentation and maintenance reference score: More documented · 76 / 100
Technologies: Jekyll
Website type: Blog

How this score is calculated

Our heuristic uses license records (up to 30), a demo link (12), a preview (10), stars (15), recorded maintenance (15), description completeness (8), feature records (5) and classification data (5). It is not a code, security or performance test, or a Google score. A link does not establish tested functionality.

What to verify for this project

Repository update recorded: 2024-09-01
Screenshot last checked: 2026-10-01

A demo link is listed. Check it with your own content and viewport sizes; its presence does not confirm that forms, authentication or payments work.

The catalog identifies Jekyll as the primary stack. Check the actual dependency manifest and lockfile for versions and hosting requirements. These notes use recorded metadata, not a code audit or a deployment test.

Use a selection guide →

How this description was prepared

AI-assisted description based on catalog records and repository material. Repository authors are not automatically the reviewers of this description.

Automatically checked against source and license rules; no manual editorial review.

Inspect the recorded source material

SHA-256: cf86c26ec5c30e1d53c772a1463093d58dc233d192ae18a40c23a7d083327b48

2026-10-01T15:00:55.788Z

Source file / repository

# The Plain

> The Plain is a minimalist Jekyll theme, ideally designed for your personal blog use. This Jekyll theme provides a minimum distraction so you can focus on writing that matters to you and your readers. This theme is originally inspired from [Leonard Lamprecht's _leo_ theme](https://github.com/leo/leo.github.io).

[![LICENSE](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](LICENSE) ![GENERATOR](https://img.shields.io/badge/made_with-jekyll-blue.svg) ![VERSION](https://img.shields.io/badge/current_version-4.0-green.svg) ![TRAVIS-CI](https://travis-ci.org/heiswayi/the-plain.svg?branch=master)

- **Demo:** https://heiswayi.github.io/the-plain/

![SCREENSHOT](https://i.imgur.com/FITKN1H.png)

## Usage

### On an unlimited Jekyll host

> **NOTE** This does NOT work on GitHub, see the next section.

Put this in your *Gemfile*:

	gem 'the-plain'

and run `bundle install` to install the plugin.

Add this to your sites *_config.yml* file:

	theme: the-plain

Then copy some of the settings from this repo's *_config.yml* file to your own, and modify them.

### On GitHub

GitHub - for your user account pages or repository gh-pages - only supports a limited set of themes.

Therefore, you need to use the 'remote\_theme:' setting instead of 'theme:', which is supported by [a 3rd party plugin](https://github.com/benbalter/jekyll-remote-theme).

Put this in your *Gemfile*:

	gem 'jekyll-remote-theme'

and run `bundle install` to install the plugin.

Add the following to your site's *_config.yml* to activate the plugin and to select this theme:

	plugins:
	  - jekyll-remote-theme

	remote_theme: heiswayi/the-plain

This will grab the theme directly from the GitHub repo.

Now copy some of the settings from this repo's *_config.yml* file to your own, and modify them.

## Authors

- [**Heiswayi Nrird**](https://heiswayi.nrird.com)

See also the list of [contributors](https://github.com/heiswayi/the-plain/graphs/contributors) who participated in this project.

## License

[MIT](LICENSE)

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