Landscape Plus is a Hexo blog theme that extends the official landscape theme with China-friendly defaults, adding multilingual support, Baidu share, MathJax, a links module, and IE8 compatibility.
What is Landscape Plus?
Landscape Plus is a Hexo theme for static blog sites, derived from the official Hexo landscape theme. It takes your Hexo site content (Markdown posts, pages, and site configuration) and generates a static blog with a two-column layout, category/tag widgets, and archive pages. The theme is maintained by xiangming (Arvin Xiang) with contributions from myqianlan, HADB, Svtter, and bearpaw, and supports Hexo 3.x and 2.x.
Key Features
- Multilingual support — ships with English (default), Simplified Chinese (zh-CN), and Traditional Chinese (zh-TW) language packs; switch via the
languagesetting in the site's_config.yml. - China-friendly CDN — replaces Google libraries with CDNs accessible in mainland China to speed up page loading.
- Baidu share — one-click Baidu Share integration, enabled by default, toggled with the
baidushareconfig. - Links / blogroll module — a built-in friend-links sidebar widget enabled by default, configured with a
linksmapping in the site config. - MathJax support — LaTeX math rendering for posts, disabled by default, enabled by setting
mathjax: true. - Comment systems — supports both Duoshuo via
duoshuo_shortnameand Disqus viadisqus_shortname. - Monokai code highlighting — a Monokai color scheme for code blocks, described as the most popular and elegant highlight style.
- IE8 support — the theme includes fixes for Internet Explorer 8.
- Back-to-top button — a scroll-to-top control added in v1.0.4.
- Theme config optimization — theme options like
mathjax,links,duoshuo_shortname, andbaidusharecan be placed in the site's_config.ymlto avoid conflicts during theme updates.
Who is it for?
- Hexo bloggers in mainland China — the theme removes Google-hosted assets and uses local CDNs, improving load times for visitors in China.
- Chinese-language blogs — with built-in Simplified and Traditional Chinese translations, it suits blogs targeting Chinese readers.
- Developers wanting a familiar landscape look with extras — any Hexo user who likes the default landscape theme but needs MathJax, friend links, or Baidu share without heavy customization.
What can you do with Landscape Plus?
- Set up a personal blog with Chinese social integrations — enable Baidu share for post sharing and Duoshuo for comments (or keep Disqus).
- Write math-heavy posts — turn on
mathjax: trueand use LaTeX syntax in Markdown to render formulas. - Curate a blogroll — add a
links:list in the site config to display friend sites in the sidebar. - Publish static pages — since v1.0.4, only
.mdfiles are rendered; other file types are copied as-is, so you can drop HTML/CSS/JS files directly into your source folder for custom pages.
How does Landscape Plus work?
Install by downloading a release archive from the GitHub releases page and extracting it to the Hexo themes directory, or clone the master branch with git clone https://github.com/xiangming/landscape-plus.git themes/landscape-plus. Then set theme: landscape-plus in Hexo's _config.yml and adjust optional settings like duoshuo_shortname or mathjax in the site config (recommended) or the theme config. Updates are done with git pull inside themes/landscape-plus.
FAQs
How do I enable the Duoshuo comment module?
Add a duoshuo_shortname: your_shortname entry to your site's _config.yml, replacing your_shortname with your Duoshuo ID. Once set, the Duoshuo comment form appears on posts instead of the default Disqus, which remains supported if you prefer it.
How do I turn off Baidu share?
Delete the baidushare entry from themes/landscape-plus/_config.yml. The Baidu share buttons are enabled by default; removing this config disables them entirely.
How do I switch the language?
In your Hexo _config.yml, change the language field to zh-CN (Simplified Chinese), zh-TW (Traditional Chinese), or default for English. The theme ships with all three language packs built in.
How do I add friend links?
Add a links: mapping to your site's _config.yml, with each link name mapping to a URL. For example, a links: section with site names and URLs will render them in the sidebar's Links widget, which is enabled by default.
How can I restore the original header image from the base theme?
Open themes/landscape-plus/source/css/_partial/header.styl and uncomment line 33. This restores the large header image from the original landscape theme that Landscape Plus removes by default.
Pricing
Landscape Plus is free to use. The documentation provides download links to GitHub release archives and a git clone command, with no mention of paid licenses or premium tiers.
Alternatives
- Landscape — the official Hexo theme on which this project is based; it lacks the China-focused CDN replacements, multilingual packs, MathJax integration, and extra sidebar widgets that Landscape Plus adds.
