Carte Noire is a free, open-source Jekyll blog theme that turns Markdown posts into a static, searchable website with comments, syntax highlighting, and a responsive menu.
What is Carte Noire?
Carte Noire is a simple Jekyll theme created from scratch by Jacob Tomlinson and licensed under GPLv3. It runs on Jekyll, a static site generator that compiles Markdown content and Liquid templates into a stand-alone HTML site. The theme takes your blog posts as input and outputs a homepage, article pages, and an archive grouped by year. The GitHub repository for Carte Noire has over 300 stars, indicating its adoption among the Jekyll community.
Key Features
- JavaScript search — Uses Simple Jekyll Search to add client-side, no-server search so readers can filter posts instantly.
- Disqus comments — Integrates Disqus to add discussion threads to every article without building your own comment system.
- Posts grouped by year — The All Posts page organizes your posts chronologically by year, making archives easy to browse.
- mmenu navigation — The responsive menu relies on the mmenu jQuery plugin, giving a mobile-friendly slide-out experience.
- Bootstrap and Font Awesome — The layout is built on Bootstrap for responsiveness and uses Font Awesome for vector icons.
- Syntax highlighting — HighlightJS highlights code blocks in posts, which benefits tech-focused blogs.
- Social sharing and analytics — AddThis provides social share buttons, and Google Analytics can be integrated for visitor tracking.
- Favicon support — The theme incorporates Real Favicon Generator output so your site has a complete set of favicons.
Who is it for?
- Personal bloggers — who want a clean, no-frills Jekyll theme with essential functions like search and comments.
- Developers — who prefer writing in Markdown and deploying static sites, and appreciate the GPLv3 open-source license.
- Self-hosting users — who want to run their blog on their own infrastructure with open-source tools, including jQuery, Bootstrap, and Disqus.
Use cases
- Tech bloggers: Publish tutorials and code snippets, using HighlightJS for language-aware syntax highlighting and the provided search to help readers find posts.
- Journal writers: Maintain a chronological diary and use the year-grouped archive to let readers navigate by year.
- Jekyll learners: Study a complete, from-scratch Jekyll theme whose code is minimal and readable, as the author notes the code is his own.
Pricing
Carte Noire is free to use and modify under the GPLv3 license. The complete source code is available on GitHub, and the author welcomes pull requests from contributors.
Alternatives
- Minimal Mistakes
- Hyde
FAQ
Is Carte Noire free?
Yes, Carte Noire is licensed under GPLv3, meaning you can freely use, modify, and redistribute it as long as derivative works stay under the same license.
Does Carte Noire support comments?
Yes, it integrates Disqus, a third-party commenting service. You'll need to create a Disqus account and configure it for your site.
Can I add search to my blog?
Yes, the theme includes JavaScript search via Simple Jekyll Search, which runs entirely in the browser and doesn't require a server-side search index.
How do I contact the author?
The theme page lists three ways: raise an issue on GitHub, tweet at @_jacobtomlinson, or email [email protected].
What libraries does Carte Noire depend on?
The theme uses jQuery, mmenu, HighlightJS, Simple Jekyll Search, Bootstrap, Font Awesome, AddThis, Disqus, and Google Analytics, as listed under Tools and Libraries.
