Jekyll Theme Potato Hacker

Jekyll Theme Potato Hacker is a free, open-source Jekyll theme that builds portfolio and blog sites with dropdown navigation, dark/light palettes, and configurable syntax highlighting.

What is Jekyll Theme Potato Hacker?

Jekyll Theme Potato Hacker is a Jekyll theme distributed as a Ruby gem and installable on GitHub Pages via the remote_theme tag. It takes content organized in markdown files -- index.md, _items, _posts, and _dropdown -- and generates a static site with portfolio pages, a blog index, and front-matter-driven dropdown menus. The theme comes from the GitHub user luxedo and is licensed under GPL-3.0.

Key Features

• Gem and remote theme installation - Add the gem to your Gemfile and set the theme in _config.yml, or use remote_theme: luxedo/jekyll-theme-potato-hacker for GitHub Pages.
• Four content types - The main page (index.md), portfolio items (_items), blog posts (_posts), and dropdown pages (_dropdown).
• Dropdown navigation from front matter - Each page can declare a dropdown name and priority; higher priority items appear first.
• Light and dark themes - Set theme_base to light or dark, and optionally enable the theme_switch toggle.
• Syntax highlighting themes - Choose from monokai, github, gruvbox, molokai, tulip, and others via highlighter_theme.
• Social and avatar options - Configure GitHub, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn usernames; optionally display an avatar with description.
• Collections support - Pre-configured collections for dropdown and items with output enabled.

Who is it for?

• Jekyll developers who want a ready-made theme instead of hand-coding layouts.
• Portfolio owners who need to showcase projects using the _items collection.
• Bloggers who want a blog section by enabling blog: on and adding a blog.md index.
• GitHub Pages users who want a zero-build setup with remote_theme.

Use cases

• Personal portfolio: Create item pages in _items to display projects.
• Blog with posts: Publish in _posts and set blog: on to generate an index via blog.md.
• Organized navigation: Use dropdown front matter to group pages under menus.
• Customization: Adjust _config.yml for social links, avatar, colors, and highlighting.

How does it work?

1. Add the gem to your Gemfile or set the remote_theme in _config.yml.
2. Customize settings for social links, avatar, blog, and syntax highlighting.
3. Create content files: index.md, _items, _posts, and _dropdown pages.
4. Run bundle exec jekyll serve to preview locally.

FAQ

How do I install Jekyll Theme Potato Hacker?

Add the gem to your Gemfile and set theme in _config.yml, then run bundle. For GitHub Pages, use remote_theme: luxedo/jekyll-theme-potato-hacker.

Can I use this theme on GitHub Pages?

Yes. Add remote_theme: luxedo/jekyll-theme-potato-hacker to your _config.yml and push to GitHub; Pages builds the site automatically.

How do I enable the blog?

Set blog: on in _config.yml and create a blog.md in the root with the blog-index layout.

What syntax highlighting themes are available?

The highlighter_theme option accepts base16, colorful, github, gruvbox, molokai, monokai, pastie, thankful_eyes, and tulip.

Is Jekyll Theme Potato Hacker free?

Yes, the theme is open source under the GPL-3.0 License and the gem is available at no cost.