just-the-docs-template
This is a bare-minimum template to create a Jekyll site that:
- uses the Just the Docs theme;
- can be built and published on GitHub Pages;
- can be built and previewed locally, and published on other platforms.
More specifically, the created site:
- uses a gem-based approach, i.e. uses a
Gemfile
and loads thejust-the-docs
gem; - uses the GitHub Pages / Actions workflow to build and publish the site on GitHub Pages.
To get started with creating a site, just click "use this template"!
After completing the creation of your new site on GitHub, update it as needed:
Replace the content of the template pages
Update the following files to your own content:
index.md
(your new home page)README.md
(information for those who access your site repo on GitHub)
Changing the version of the theme and/or Jekyll
Simply edit the relevant line(s) in the Gemfile
.
Adding a plugin
The Just the Docs theme automatically includes the jekyll-seo-tag
plugin.
To add an extra plugin, you need to add it in the Gemfile
and in _config.yml
. For example, to add jekyll-default-layout
:
-
Add the following to your site's
Gemfile
:gem "jekyll-default-layout"
-
And add the following to your site's
_config.yml
:plugins: - jekyll-default-layout
Note: If you are using a Jekyll version less than 3.5.0, use the gems
key instead of plugins
.
Publishing your site on GitHub Pages
-
If your created site is
YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-SITE-NAME
, update_config.yml
to:title: YOUR TITLE description: YOUR DESCRIPTION theme: just-the-docs url: https://YOUR-USERNAME.github.io/YOUR-SITE-NAME aux_links: # remove if you don't want this link to appear on your pages Template Repository: https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/YOUR-SITE-NAME
-
Push your updated
_config.yml
to your site on GitHub. -
In your newly created repo on GitHub:
- go to the
Settings
tab ->Pages
->Build and deployment
, then selectSource
:GitHub Actions
. - if there were any failed Actions, go to the
Actions
tab and click onRe-run jobs
.
- go to the
Building and previewing your site locally
Assuming Jekyll and Bundler are installed on your computer:
-
Change your working directory to the root directory of your site.
-
Run
bundle install
. -
Run
bundle exec jekyll serve
to build your site and preview it atlocalhost:4000
.The built site is stored in the directory
_site
.
Publishing your built site on a different platform
Just upload all the files in the directory _site
.
Customization
You're free to customize sites that you create with this template, however you like!
Browse our documentation to learn more about how to use this theme.
Licensing and Attribution
This repository is licensed under the MIT License. You are generally free to reuse or extend upon this code as you see fit; just include the original copy of the license (which is preserved when you "make a template"). While it's not necessary, we'd love to hear from you if you do use this template, and how we can improve it for future use!
The deployment GitHub Actions workflow is heavily based on GitHub's mixed-party starter workflows. A copy of their MIT License is available in actions/starter-workflows.