Hexo Theme Clean Dark is a simple, dark-themed blog template for the Hexo static site generator, adapted from the Jekyll Clean Dark theme. It transforms Markdown posts into a clean, dark-styled website with configurable widgets and third-party integrations.
What is Hexo Theme Clean Dark?
Hexo Theme Clean Dark is an open-source Hexo theme maintained by howardliu-cn, originally ported from Pavel Makhov's Jekyll Clean Dark. It is a minimal dark theme that works with Hexo's standard post and page structure, accepting Markdown content as input and generating static HTML output. The theme is installed by cloning the GitHub repository into the themes directory of a Hexo project and setting the theme name in the root configuration file.
Key Features
- SASS styling — Styles are written in SASS, requiring the hexo-renderer-sass plugin to compile them into CSS during generation.
- Valine comments and page views — The Valine integration provides both comment functionality and page-view counting through the same configuration option.
- Baidu and Google Analytics — Both analytics services can be enabled by adding your site's analytics ID to the theme configuration.
- Configurable widgets — The sidebar widgets include categories, tag cloud, tags, archives, recent posts, recent comments, and friend links, each toggleable in the theme config.
- Menu customization — The menu items can be shown/hidden and new items added through the menu configuration.
- Social links — Footer social icons support GitHub and StackOverflow by default.
- Favicon and email — The favicon path and email address shown in the footer and SEO metadata are both configurable.
- Friend links — A dedicated links section lists friend sites with title and URL pairs.
Who is it for?
- Hexo bloggers who prefer a dark, minimal aesthetic and want a theme with built-in comment and analytics support.
- Developers who want a lean codebase to customize, since the theme's SASS files and configuration options are straightforward to modify.
- Bloggers migrating from Jekyll who recognize the Clean Dark design from the Jekyll ecosystem and want the same look on Hexo.
What can you do with Hexo Theme Clean Dark?
- Set up a personal blog quickly: install the theme, configure Valine for comments, and publish Markdown posts with a dark UI.
- Track visitors: enable Baidu Analytics, Google Analytics, or both from the theme configuration without editing template files.
- Organize content navigation: toggle widgets like tag cloud and archives to help readers browse older posts.
- Add a blogroll: maintain a friend-links section in the config to display other sites you want to recommend.
How does it work?
The theme is installed with a git clone into the themes folder, then the hexo-renderer-sass plugin is installed via npm. After setting the theme name in the Hexo root config, you can optionally edit the theme's own config file to enable comments, analytics, widgets, social links, and more. The theme then renders your Hexo content at build time, generating static HTML styled by the compiled SASS.
FAQ
Is Hexo Theme Clean Dark free?
Yes, the theme source code is publicly available in the GitHub repository, so you can download, use, and modify it freely. No pricing information is provided, and it is distributed as an open-source project.
How do I install Hexo Theme Clean Dark?
Clone the repository into your Hexo themes directory, install the hexo-renderer-sass package with npm, then set the theme in the root _config.yml to hexo-theme-clean-dark. You can then customize settings in the theme's own config file.
Does it support comment systems?
Yes, it integrates Valine for comments and page views. You configure the Valine options under the comment section of the theme config, and both features are enabled together.
Can I change which widgets appear?
Yes, each sidebar widget—categories, tag cloud, tags, archives, recent posts, recent comments, and friend links—can be individually enabled or disabled through the widgets setting in the theme configuration.
What analytics services are supported?
Both Baidu Analytics and Google Analytics are supported. You just need to add the corresponding tracking ID in the theme configuration for the services you want to use.
Is the theme mobile-friendly?
The repository description and demo blog do not explicitly guarantee responsiveness, but the author provides a QR code for viewing the blog on a phone, suggesting the theme has a mobile layout. You can check the live demo at the author's blog to see how it renders on your device.
