Jekyll Theme Minimalistic

Jekyll Theme Minimalistic is a free, minimal responsive Jekyll theme that adds a sidebar navigation and automatic light/dark mode to GitHub Pages sites, installable as a remote theme or Ruby gem. It is maintained by vaibhavvikas and builds on the Minimal theme by GitHub and the Minimalist theme by BDHU, giving you a clean base for personal sites, blogs, and documentation.

What is Jekyll Theme Minimalistic?

Jekyll Theme Minimalistic is a Jekyll theme that transforms a Jekyll site's Markdown content and _config.yml variables into a static HTML website with a responsive layout, sidebar, and theme-aware code highlighting. It runs on any Jekyll 3.5+ setup and is designed to work with GitHub Pages through the jekyll-remote-theme plugin, or as a conventional gem-based theme. The theme's configuration controls the site title, description, Google Analytics ID, color scheme (auto/light/dark), logo image, favicon, sidebar platforms, and navigation hierarchy.

Key Features

• Auto light/dark mode — The theme switches between light and dark palettes based on the visitor's system preference; you can force a scheme by setting color-scheme: auto, light, or dark in _config.yml.
• Sidebar with nested navigation — Define a navigation list in _config.yml with name and link entries, plus an optional sublist for one level of sub-items, letting you link to pages or anchors.
• Syntax highlighting — Code blocks are highlighted in both light and dark modes, so your examples stay readable regardless of theme.
• GitHub Pages integration — Use the jekyll-remote-theme gem and set remote_theme: vaibhavvikas/jekyll-theme-minimalistic in your config to deploy with GitHub Pages; the repository also publishes a Ruby gem via GitHub Actions.
• Logo and favicon support — You can specify a logo path (for example, /assets/img/logo.png) and enable a favicon.ico by adding favicon: true and placing the file in the repo root.
• Card component — A small HTML snippet (a div with class card) creates a clickable card with a title, body text, and link, useful for highlighting projects or links.
• Responsive layout — The theme is fully responsive with mobile support, so links and navigation wrap appropriately on small screens.
• Custom styles overrides — Create assets/css/style.scss in your site with an @import of the theme to add your own CSS or change Sass variables.

Who is it for?

• Jekyll bloggers — Set up a minimal blog with sidebar social links, a logo, and dark mode without designing CSS from scratch.
• GitHub Pages users — Deploy a personal or project site on GitHub Pages with one line in _config.yml through the remote-theme plugin.
• Technical documentation maintainers — Use the navigation sublist feature to build multipage docs with nested links and section anchors.
• Developers wanting a simple starting point — The theme's code is minimal, based on the Minimal theme, so it's easy to read, customize, and extend.

Use cases

• Personal blogger: Add posts in Markdown, configure platforms with GitHub and LinkedIn icons, and get a responsive blog with auto dark mode.
• Documentation site: Create .md files in the root directory, set their front matter to layout: default, and define a navigation list with sublists to link between pages.
• Project showcase: Use the logo option to display a project logo and the card snippet to create an attractive grid of project links.

How does it work?

1. Add gem "jekyll-remote-theme" to your Gemfile and run bundle install.
2. In _config.yml, add plugins (or gems if Jekyll is older than 3.5.0) with the plugin name, then set remote_theme: vaibhavvikas/jekyll-theme-minimalistic.
3. Configure optional variables like title, description, google_analytics, color-scheme, logo, favicon, platforms, and navigation.
4. Run bundle exec jekyll serve to preview locally, or commit and push to GitHub Pages to build the site.

FAQ

Is Jekyll Theme Minimalistic free?

The theme is open source; the repository welcomes all contributions and suggestions. It is distributed as a free Ruby gem and via GitHub Pages remote theme, and the README documents no paid tiers or pricing models.

Does it support dark mode?

Yes. The theme offers automatic light/dark mode that follows the visitor's system theme, and you can override it by setting color-scheme in _config.yml to auto, light, or dark.

How do I add navigation to the sidebar?

Define a navigation list in _config.yml with name and link entries. Use sublist to add one level of nested links, treating every Markdown file as an HTML page (for example, xyz.md becomes xyz.html).

Can I use this theme on GitHub Pages without building locally?

Yes. GitHub Pages supports jekyll-remote-theme, so you only need to add the plugin and set remote_theme: vaibhavvikas/jekyll-theme-minimalistic in _config.yml, then push to your repository. The theme also includes a local preview workflow with script/bootstrap and bundle exec jekyll serve.

How do I customize the styling?

Create assets/css/style.scss in your site, add an @import of the theme (placing new Sass variable values before the @import line), and then write your own CSS or Sass after it.