Hexo Theme Oranges is a minimal open-source blog theme for the Hexo static site generator, created by zchengsite, that renders Markdown posts into clean, lightweight HTML pages with optional dark mode and dozens of toggleable integrations.
What is Hexo Theme Oranges?
Hexo Theme Oranges is a minimal open-source blog theme for the Hexo static site generator, created by zchengsite and released under the MIT license. It takes Hexo blog content written in Markdown and produces a fast, static HTML site with a clean article-focused layout. The theme ships with built-in i18n strings for English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese, and it works with standard Hexo commands such as hexo new page.
Key Features
- Dark mode — Add
colorSwitch: enable: trueto your_config.oranges.ymlto display a theme toggle in the bottom-right corner. - Comment systems — Enable comments globally with
comments: enable: trueand choose between Valine, Gitalk, or Disqus by setting their respective keys. - Local search — Integrates the
hexo-generator-searchplugin to build asearch.xmlindex and a search box with a customizable placeholder. - Post encryption — Support for the
hexo-blog-encryptplugin, letting you password-protect individual posts by adding apasswordfield in front-matter. - Pinned posts — Use
hexo-generator-index-pin-topso posts withtop: truestay at the top of the homepage list. - RSS feed — Works with
hexo-generator-feedto publish an Atom feed atatom.xml, with an optional footer icon. - Catalog and anchors — An in-post table of contents that follows scrolling, plus H1–H6 heading anchors.
- Custom navigation and pages — Configure a custom navbar in YAML and generate tags, categories, friends, and about pages by setting a
typefield in the page front-matter. - Lazy image loading — Offload images with the
hexo-lazyload-imageplugin, configured from the project root. - Extra niceties — Code copy buttons, smooth scrolling, and optional Twitter sharing on post pages.
Who is it for?
Hexo Theme Oranges is aimed at Hexo bloggers who want a minimal, readable design without a heavy theme. It suits developers who are comfortable editing YAML configuration files to enable the exact features they need, and it is also a good fit for multilingual sites because of its built-in English, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese translations.
What can you do with Hexo Theme Oranges?
- Personal bloggers: publish Markdown posts with tags, categories, pinned posts, and optional RSS, search, and comments.
- Technical writers: create article-style documentation with a scroll-following catalog, heading anchors, and code copy buttons.
- Privacy-conscious publishers: password-protect sensitive posts with
hexo-blog-encryptand enable lazy image loading to reduce bandwidth.
How does Hexo Theme Oranges work?
Install the theme as a Git submodule into themes/oranges, set theme: oranges in the project _config.yml, and copy the theme's _config.yml to _config.oranges.yml in the blog root. All feature toggles live in that file. Pages are created with hexo new page tags (or categories, friends, about) and the proper type value. Update the theme by running git pull inside the theme directory.
FAQ
Is Hexo Theme Oranges free?
Yes, the theme is open source under the MIT license, so you can use, modify, and redistribute it freely, including in commercial projects.
How do I enable dark mode?
Add colorSwitch: enable: true to your _config.oranges.yml. A toggle will appear in the bottom-right corner of the page.
Which comment systems are supported?
Valine, Gitalk, and Disqus are supported. Enable comments globally with comments: enable: true, then supply the provider-specific settings such as appId and appKey for Valine.
Can I password-protect a post?
Yes, install the hexo-blog-encrypt plugin and add a password field to the post front-matter. The post content will be encrypted and requires the password to view.
Does the theme include Google Analytics?
Yes, set gtag: enable: true and provide your gtagkey (for example, UA-xxxxxxx-x) in _config.oranges.yml.
