Athena is an open-source, mobile-first Jekyll theme built for text-heavy blogs and sites, distributed as a Ruby gem under the MIT License.
What is Athena Jekyll Theme?
Athena is a simple and elegant theme for Jekyll and GitHub Pages, created by broccolini. It takes Jekyll site content — pages, posts, and data — and renders it as a responsive blog or content site with bold typography, homepage summaries, and previous/next post navigation. The theme is installed as the jekyll-athena gem.
Key Features
- Mobile-first design — The theme prioritizes performance on mobile screens and scales to desktop without extra effort.
- Built for written content — Includes bold typography, homepage summaries, and previous/next snippets for blogs and text-heavy sites.
- HTML and Markdown support — Handles a wide range of HTML elements and Markdown content.
- Reusable styles — Flexible styles in Sass files under
_sasscan be reused for customization without adding additional CSS. - Dynamic navigation — Navigation links are generated dynamically; docs show how to add pages with specific post category for-loops.
- GitHub Pages ready — Designed to work on GitHub Pages, using the built-in Jekyll support.
- Open source — Released under the MIT License, with source available on GitHub.
Who is it for?
- Bloggers and writers — who want a clean, typography-focused theme without visual clutter.
- Developers — who need a minimal Jekyll starting point and want to customize layouts and Sass variables.
- GitHub Pages users — who want to publish a personal or project site with a gem-based theme managed through Bundler.
What can you do with Athena Jekyll Theme?
- Publish a personal blog — Add Markdown posts and get a responsive site with summaries and navigation, deployable to GitHub Pages.
- Build a content or documentation site — Use support for HTML elements and flexible styles to structure long-form text.
- Create a customized theme — Override styles in
_sassor edit layouts in_layoutsand_includesto match your brand.
How does Athena Jekyll Theme work?
Install the gem by adding gem "jekyll-athena" to your Gemfile and setting theme: jekyll-athena in your Jekyll config. Then run bundle or gem install jekyll-athena. To develop locally, run bundle exec jekyll serve and view the site at http://localhost:4000.
Pricing
Athena is free and open source under the MIT License, with no paid tiers.
FAQ
Is Athena Jekyll Theme free?
Yes, Athena is released under the MIT License, so you can use, modify, and distribute it freely, including in commercial projects.
How do I install Athena?
Add gem "jekyll-athena" to your Gemfile, set theme: jekyll-athena in your Jekyll configuration, and run bundle. You can also install it directly with gem install jekyll-athena.
Does Athena work with GitHub Pages?
Yes, Athena is designed for Jekyll and GitHub Pages. Specify it as your theme in the Jekyll configuration, and GitHub Pages will build the site automatically.
What files are included in a release?
When the theme is released, only files tracked in _layouts, _includes, and _sass are included in the packaged gem.
Can I customize the theme?
Yes, you can modify the Sass files in _sass, override layouts in _layouts, and use includes in _includes. The theme's flexible styles let you adapt it without additional CSS.
