Yōuyǎ is an elegant profile theme for Jekyll, purpose-built to turn a GitHub Pages or Jekyll static site into a personal portfolio page with sections for code, papers, projects, reading, writing, photography, and about.
What is the Jekyll Yōuyǎ theme?
Yōuyǎ is a Jekyll portfolio theme (the word means "elegant" in Chinese) maintained by smrfeld on GitHub. It takes a standard Jekyll site and, through _config.yml settings plus a set of reusable Liquid includes in the _include directory, outputs a profile site with custom navigation menus, random background images, social links, and multiple content sections. A live demo is available at https://smrfeld.github.io/jekyll-theme-youya.
You install it by adding the gem youya from the smrfeld/jekyll-theme-youya repository to your Gemfile, then setting theme: youya in _config.yml. The theme supports GitHub Pages workflows and is tested locally with bundle exec jekyll serve from the test directory.
What makes the Yōuyǎ theme stand out?
- Profile sections — The homepage includes dedicated blocks for code with GitHub links, academic papers with arXiv links and descriptions, projects with GitHub and arXiv links, a reading book list, writing/blog entries, photography, and an About section.
- Random background images — Backgrounds are loaded from a folder under
assets/img; setbackground_img_folderandno_background_imagesin_config.ymland the theme serves a random image from numbered JPEG files like0000.jpeg. - Dual logo and favicon support — Both black and white logo images are configured with
logo_blackandlogo_white, and a 32x32 pixelfavicon.pngis placed in the assets folder. - Custom navigation menu — The
menuconfig acceptstitle,local_url, orremote_urlentries, so links can point inside the site or to external pages. - Social links — Built-in fields for
github_url,linkedin_url, andgoogle_scholar_urldisplay icons in the profile. - Liquid-based layouts — Example layouts live in the
_layoutsdirectory, and the theme relies on Liquid tags documented at Shopify's Liquid reference, making it customizable for developers.
Who is the Yōuyǎ theme for?
- Academic researchers — Present papers with arXiv links, an About bio, and a reading list in one organized profile.
- Software developers — Showcase GitHub repositories and projects with direct source and preprint links.
- Writers and photographers — Combine a writing/blog section with a photography gallery and custom pages through the menu.
How do you install Yōuyǎ?
Add gem "youya", github: "smrfeld/jekyll-theme-youya", branch: "main" to your Gemfile, run bundle install, and set theme: youya in _config.yml. Then configure the required fields: url, background_img_folder, no_background_images, logo_black, logo_white, favicon, menu, about, about_img, and any social URLs you want to show.
FAQ
Does Yōuyǎ work with GitHub Pages?
Yes. The README includes a release step for GitHub Actions (bundle lock --add-platform x86_64-linux), and the theme is open to use with a standard Jekyll build served from the test folder. The live demo is hosted on GitHub Pages at smrfeld.github.io/jekyll-theme-youya.
What configuration is required?
Every site needs a url, a background image folder, a count of background images, both black and white logo files, a 32x32 favicon, a menu list, and About text plus an About image. Social URLs for GitHub, LinkedIn, and Google Scholar are optional but supported.
Can I add my own pages and layouts?
Yes. The README points to example files in the _layouts directory and the Liquid documentation from Shopify. Because the site is broken into reusable sections in _include, you can create custom layouts and page types that reuse the theme's components.
