Hugo Theme SK2 (Skeleton 2) is a fully functional Hugo theme that renders static websites with minimum CSS and zero JavaScript, created by John Sing Dao Siu as a tutorial/demo theme built on top of the CSS-free, JavaScript-free hugo-theme-sk1. It sits in the middle of a three-theme SK family, between SK1, which uses no CSS and no JavaScript, and SK3, which adds Google AdSense support.
What is Hugo Theme SK2?
Hugo Theme SK2 is a minimal Hugo theme that takes standard Hugo site content, such as Markdown posts and a config.toml file, and produces a static website with a card list, horizontal menu, horizontal pagination, and a collapsible table of contents. It runs on the Hugo static site generator and is released under the MIT License, with John Sing Dao Siu as the sole listed contributor. The theme includes a demo site at sk2.jsiu.dev, populated with content from the hugoBasicExample repository.
Key Features
SK2's feature set is intentionally small, and every feature is demonstrated on the sk2.jsiu.dev demo site.
- Card list — Posts render as cards on listing pages, with the main card section controlled by the mainSections parameter in the site config.
- Collapsible table of contents — A TOC that expands and collapses, enabled through the toc parameter in config.toml.
- Copyright start year — The footer copyright year begins from the startdate parameter, set to 2012-12-02 in the demo config.
- Git modify date — Page modification dates come from the site repository's Git history, so they update automatically when content changes.
- Horizontal menu — Navigation links appear in a horizontal bar at the top of the layout.
- Horizontal pagination — Paginated post lists use a horizontally aligned set of page links.
- Minimum CSS — Only the small amount of CSS needed for layout is included, and the theme ships with no JavaScript at all.
- Sub-title and summary — The subtitle parameter sets a site subtitle, and the summary flag controls whether post summaries display.
Who is it for?
SK2 suits anyone who wants a simple, JavaScript-free Hugo site, and its tutorial origins make it a useful teaching example of how a minimal theme is structured.
- Hugo beginners — Developers learning how Hugo themes are put together can read through SK2's minimal layout, config parameters, and template files as a working example.
- Course or tutorial readers — People following the SK theme series can use SK2 as the second step from the CSS-free SK1 theme toward the full-featured SK3 theme.
- Site owners who want lightweight output — Anyone running a blog or documentation site who wants a fast, dependency-free theme with a card list, TOC, and pagination can deploy SK2 as-is.
What can you do with Hugo Theme SK2?
The theme supports local demoing, parameter-driven customization, and favicon management without editing template code.
- Run the demo locally: clone hugo-theme-sk2 with its hugoBasicExample submodule, then start hugo server using the supplied config.demo.toml to browse the theme with sample content.
- Configure the site from config.toml: set the subtitle, startdate, mainSections, summary, and toc parameters to change the subtitle, copyright start year, which sections appear as cards, summary visibility, and TOC behavior.
- Swap or remove the default favicon: copy a custom favicon.ico into the site's static folder to override the bundled default, or create an empty static/favicon.ico to disable it.
How does Hugo Theme SK2 work?
SK2 installs into a Hugo site's themes directory through git clone or git submodule add, then reads a small set of parameters from config.toml. The included config.demo.toml documents each available option. Because the theme loads no JavaScript, interactive elements such as the collapsible TOC rely on CSS-only techniques, keeping the generated output purely static HTML with minimal stylesheet weight.
Pricing
SK2 is free and open source under the MIT License, with no paid tiers or premium features listed in the repository.
FAQ
Is Hugo Theme SK2 free?
Yes, SK2 is released under the MIT License, so it is free to use, copy, modify, and redistribute, including in commercial projects, provided the original copyright and permission notice are kept.
Does Hugo Theme SK2 use JavaScript?
No. The theme explicitly ships with zero JavaScript. Interactive features like the collapsible table of contents are implemented with minimum CSS only, keeping the rendered site fully static.
What is the difference between SK1, SK2, and SK3?
SK1 is a basic Hugo theme with no CSS and no JavaScript; SK2 adds minimum CSS while still excluding JavaScript; and SK3 is the full-feature theme in the family with Google AdSense support.
How do I install Hugo Theme SK2?
In the site directory, run git clone https://github.com/J-Siu/hugo-theme-sk2 themes/sk2, or add the same repository as a git submodule with git submodule add. The theme then activates by setting theme = 'sk2' in config.toml.
