jekyll-theme-scribbles

jekyll-theme-scribbles

What is jekyll-theme-scribbles?

jekyll-theme-scribbles is a minimalistic Jekyll theme that recreates the look of a plain Markdown file, with a few extra conveniences for bloggers. It takes your Markdown posts and pages and renders them as a clean, text-first webpage with preserved whitespace and simple typography. The theme runs on any standard Jekyll site (Ruby-based), and it is developed by killercup on GitHub under the MIT License.

Key Features

The theme offers a minimal, text-first reading experience with several configuration hooks for site metadata. The main features are:

• Plain Markdown aesthetic — The layout mimics a raw Markdown document, so your content appears as a readable, text-forward page without heavy styling.
• Remote theme installation — Add remote_theme: killercup/jekyll-theme-scribbles to your _config.yml to use the theme without manually copying files.
• Header metadata options — Set Twitter username, imprint URL, license URL, feedback URL, and post revisions URL in _config.yml to add site-wide links and metadata.
• Author defaults — Define author name, Twitter handle, and GitHub handle once, then apply them to all posts via Jekyll's defaults configuration.
• Customizable link color — Override the theme's link color using colors.link in _config.yml; this is the only style variable exposed.
• Standard Jekyll structure — Includes _layouts, _includes, _sass, and assets directories, making it easy to extend or fork.
• MIT licensed — Free to use and modify in personal and commercial projects.

Who is it for?

This theme suits anyone who wants a simple Jekyll site that shows content the way it looks in a Markdown editor. It is a good fit for:

• Jekyll bloggers who want a distraction-free, text-focused reading experience that looks like plain Markdown.
• Developers who prefer a minimal starting point and want to customize layout files and styles without removing heavy design patterns.
• Writers who author in Markdown and want a live site that preserves the raw text feel.

What can you do with it?

You can build a straightforward text-first website with minimal setup. Common uses include:

• Personal blog: Set up a blog with automatic author metadata on posts, then add imprint and license links to the header/footer.
• Documentation site: Use the simple layout for project documentation where a plain, readable format is sufficient.
• Minimal portfolio: Build a text-only portfolio page and customize the link color to match your brand.

How does it work?

Installation is straightforward: add the remote_theme line to _config.yml, configure optional variables like author defaults, and write Markdown posts. Run bundle exec jekyll serve to preview locally; the theme's files (layout, includes, Sass, assets) are bundled when the theme is released.

FAQ

Here are answers to common questions about using this theme.

Is jekyll-theme-scribbles free?

Yes, it is licensed under the MIT License, which allows free use, modification, and distribution, including in commercial projects.

How do I install this theme?

Add remote_theme: killercup/jekyll-theme-scribbles to your Jekyll site's _config.yml and run bundle install. No manual file copies needed.

Can I customize the colors?

Currently only the link color can be overwritten, by setting colors.link in _config.yml. Other style changes require editing the Sass files.

Does it support blog posts?

Yes, it includes a post layout and supports author metadata through Jekyll's defaults. You can define author info in _config.yml and apply it automatically to posts.