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A two-column Jekyll theme built on Poole and Hyde for master-detail content layouts with a scrolling sidebar.
BlackDoc is a two-column Jekyll theme built on Poole and Hyde that presents content in a master-detail layout with a scrolling sidebar.
BlackDoc is a free, open-source Jekyll theme by Karlo Espiritu, derived from the Poole starter and the Hyde theme. It takes standard Jekyll content — markdown posts and pages with front-matter — and renders it as a two-column site where the sidebar lists content and the main area shows the selected item. The theme runs on any Jekyll 4.x installation and is distributed as a GitHub repository under the MIT license.
theme-base-08 to the body element.layout-reverse class to the body flips the sidebar and main column orientation.page layout in a page's front-matter to include it in the sidebar nav, ensuring the home link stays first.BlackDoc suits developers and content creators who need a Jekyll-based site with a master-detail browsing pattern. Documentation maintainers can use it to present guides and API references in a sidebar-driven layout. Bloggers who want a two-column archive with a visible list of posts will find the scrolling sidebar useful. Designers can quickly prototype a documentation or portfolio site because theming is done via body classes and the included base16 palettes.
To start, clone the repository or download the zip, install Ruby 3.3.0 or higher, then run gem install bundler and bundle install to fetch dependencies. After that, jekyll serve builds and serves the site locally at the default Jekyll address. Content is written as standard markdown files with front-matter, and Jekyll's page/post system drives the sidebar list.
Yes, BlackDoc is open source and released under the MIT license, so you can use, modify, and redistribute it freely for personal or commercial projects.
The theme's quick start instructions call for Ruby 3.3.0 or higher. You can check your version with ruby --version before building the site.
Add one of the eight base16 theme classes to the <body> element in the default.html layout, such as theme-base-08. You can also copy an existing theme's CSS and create your own colors.
Add the layout-reverse class to the <body> element in the default.html layout. This flips the sidebar and main content columns so the sidebar appears on the right instead of the left.
