eleventy-classic-blog-starter is an opinionated Eleventy starter repository that generates a classic-themed blog website with a Hyde-inspired design, syntax highlighting, and responsive images.
What is eleventy-classic-blog-starter?
eleventy-classic-blog-starter is a starter repository for building a blog with Eleventy (11ty), the static site generator. It takes Markdown content and produces a static HTML site using Nunjucks templates that are a port of the Hyde theme by @mdo, with nearly identical CSS and WCAG contrast corrections. The project is maintained by tigersway and reached v2.0.0 at the end of 2022, with a complete rewrite that removed Gulp and its plugins in favor of a simpler Eleventy-native pipeline.
Key Features
- Hyde theme port — Nunjucks layouts based on Hyde by @mdo, with near-identical CSS and accessibility corrections for WCAG contrast.
- Eleventy-based — Uses @11ty/eleventy as the core static site generator, so content is written in Markdown and rendered to static HTML.
- Responsive images — markdown-it-eleventy-img plugin handles image optimization and responsive sizing within Markdown content.
- Syntax highlighting — highlight.js is integrated for code block highlighting.
- Self-hosted fonts — Fontsource is used to include fonts locally, improving performance and privacy.
- PostCSS processing — CSS is processed with PostCSS during the build.
- Multi-platform deployment — Demo deployments are provided for Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Render, and Vercel, showing this starter works on all major static hosts.
- Lighthouse 100 — Version 1.0.0 achieved 4x100% Lighthouse scores, confirming excellent performance and accessibility out of the box.
- RSS feed — Included since v1.0.0, making it easy to syndicate blog posts.
Who is it for?
eleventy-classic-blog-starter is aimed at developers and bloggers who want a minimal, fast static blog without the complexity of a dynamic CMS. It suits those already familiar with Eleventy or looking to evaluate it, and anyone who appreciates a classic sidebar-based theme similar to Hyde. The starter is also for developers who want a project with clean build tooling, as the v2 rewrite removed Gulp and its plugins to simplify the setup.
What can you do with it?
- Launch a classic blog — Write posts in Markdown and generate a full blog with RSS, syntax highlighting, and responsive images.
- Deploy to any static host — The demo links show working deployments on Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Render, and Vercel, so you can pick the host you prefer.
- Customize the theme — Edit Nunjucks templates and PostCSS to change the design, while retaining accessibility corrections and performance.
- Learn Eleventy workflow — Use the starter as a reference for organizing content, layouts, CSS, fonts, and image handling in an Eleventy project.
How does it work?
The starter uses Eleventy to transform Markdown content and Nunjucks layouts into static HTML. During the build, markdown-it-eleventy-img processes images, PostCSS compiles CSS, and Fontsource provides self-hosted fonts. The v2.0.0 rewrite removed Gulp, so the build pipeline is handled entirely by Eleventy and its plugins, making the setup more straightforward.
Pros and cons
- Pro: Lighthouse 100% scores and WCAG contrast corrections indicate a high-quality, accessible baseline.
- Pro: The v2 rewrite removes Gulp dependencies, simplifying maintenance.
- Con: The author explicitly calls it "a very opinionated one" and "forever, a work in progress," so you may need to adapt it to your tastes.
Alternatives
If you want a more minimal official starting point, eleventy-base-blog is the default Eleventy starter maintained by the 11ty team. Other blog starters built on different static site generators, such as Astro or Hugo, exist as well.
FAQ
Does eleventy-classic-blog-starter use a CMS?
No, it is a static site generator starter. Content is written in Markdown files, and Eleventy renders them to HTML. There is no built-in CMS, though the changelog mentions that earlier FrontAid CMS files were deleted, with CMS tests to be done later.
Which template language does it use?
The layouts are written in Nunjucks, ported from the Hyde theme's Liquid templates. This is a key difference from the original Hyde and gives you access to Nunjucks features.
Is there support for RSS?
Yes, an RSS feed was added in v1.0.0, so you can syndicate your blog posts out of the box.
Can I use this starter with my existing Markdown files?
Yes, Eleventy reads Markdown content from directories you configure. The starter includes example content and demonstrates the expected structure.
Does it work with Cloudflare Pages?
Yes, there is a live demo on Cloudflare Pages, and the changelog notes a specific "Cloudflare Pages v3" update. The v2.0.2 changelog entry mentions updating dependencies for "Smart Hosters" and Cloudflare Pages v3.
