Hugo Simple.css is a minimal Hugo theme (a boilerplate for static sites) that applies Simple.css classless styling to your content, producing clean, semantic HTML pages with no JavaScript, tracking, or external resources.
What is Hugo Simple.css?
Hugo Simple.css is a bare-minimum theme for the Hugo static site generator, available on GitHub at splch/hugo-simplecss. It takes Hugo content written in Markdown and renders static HTML pages styled with Simple.css, a classless CSS framework that styles semantic HTML elements directly. The theme pulls in Simple.css as a Git submodule, so the styling code is kept in sync with the upstream project. The author's own blog at slc.is serves as a live demo.
Key Features
- No JavaScript — the theme ships zero JavaScript files, so all pages render without client-side scripting.
- No tracking or external resources — there are no analytics scripts, external fonts, or CDN requests; all CSS comes from the local submodule.
- Classless styling — Simple.css styles standard HTML elements (headings, paragraphs, tables, forms) without requiring CSS utility classes in your markup.
- Bare-minimum template structure — the theme provides only the essential Hugo templates needed to render a blog or basic content site, giving you a small foundation to extend.
- Simple installation — installation requires only
git clonefollowed bygit submodule update --init --recursiveto fetch Simple.css. - Working demo — the theme is actively used on slc.is, giving you a real-world example of its output.
Who should use it?
- Hugo developers who want a clean starting point — the theme is a thin base you can build upon instead of removing features from a large prebuilt theme.
- Privacy-conscious site owners — because there is no JavaScript, tracking, or external calls, the site makes fewer requests and shares less data with third parties.
- Writers comfortable with git — anyone who uses Hugo and Git can get a readable, classless layout without writing CSS from scratch.
What can you do with it?
- Publish a personal blog — the demo site shows the theme rendering blog posts with Simple.css's default typography.
- Build a lightweight documentation site — use semantic HTML with styled tables and forms for reference content.
- Create a static portfolio — showcase work with zero client-side dependencies, which can help on low-bandwidth connections.
How does it work?
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/splch/hugo-simplecss.git - Initialize the submodule:
cd hugo-simplecss && git submodule update --init --recursive - Add your Markdown content under Hugo's standard content directory and run
hugoto generate the static site.
FAQ
Is Hugo Simple.css free?
Yes. The theme is publicly hosted on GitHub and can be cloned, modified, and used for personal or commercial sites without payment.
Does Hugo Simple.css include JavaScript?
No. The theme uses no JavaScript whatsoever, so pages function without any scripting.
How does the styling get applied?
The styling comes from Simple.css, which the theme includes as a Git submodule. After cloning, you must initialize the submodule to fetch the CSS files before building the site.
What tools do I need to use this theme?
You need the Hugo static site generator and Git (to clone the repo and initialize the submodule). No other build tools or package managers are required.
Can I customize the look of the theme?
Yes. Since Simple.css is a submodule, you can override its CSS rules in your own files or edit the theme's templates to change the HTML structure.
