Leap Day

Leap day is a Jekyll theme for GitHub Pages that lets you publish a simple, clean static site by adding a single remote_theme line to your Jekyll configuration.

What is Leap day?

Leap day is a Jekyll theme maintained by the GitHub Pages team (the pages-themes organization). It takes a Jekyll site's _config.yml as input and produces a static website served on GitHub Pages, using the default layout and styles included with the theme. The theme is open source and distributed as a Ruby gem (jekyll-theme-leap-day), with versioned releases such as v0.2.0 referenced via the remote_theme directive.

Key Features

• Remote theme installation — Add remote_theme: pages-themes/[email protected] to _config.yml; no need to clone or fork the theme repository.
• Configuration variables — Set title and description in _config.yml; optionally enable show_downloads (true/false) and add a google_analytics tracking ID.
• Custom stylesheet — Override or extend styles by creating assets/css/style.scss in your site and importing the theme with an @import line, then adding your own Sass or CSS.
• Custom layouts — Copy the theme's _layouts/default.html into your own _layouts folder to modify the HTML structure, or add files to _includes for partial changes like a custom favicon.
• Google Analytics support — Insert your own analytics snippet by creating _includes/head-custom-google-analytics.html in your Jekyll site.
• Overridable GitHub URLs — Replace default repository or download URLs by specifying fields under a github: key in _config.yml, as shown in the theme's documentation.
• Local preview — Clone the repository, run script/bootstrap to install dependencies, then bundle exec jekyll serve to preview the theme at localhost:4000.
• Test suite — Run script/cibuild to verify a site using the theme builds successfully.

Who should use Leap day?

• GitHub Pages beginners — Get a working website up in minutes by adding the theme to a fresh Jekyll site, without writing any HTML or CSS.
• Open-source project maintainers — Set up a project documentation or landing page on GitHub Pages that links to the repository and shows a download link.
• Personal bloggers — Use the simple title and description configuration to publish a clean, content-focused blog with minimal setup.

What can you do with Leap day?

• Launch a personal site — Configure your title and description, write posts in Markdown, and publish to GitHub Pages with automatic builds.
• Build a project page — Use show_downloads: true to display a download button pointing to your project's zip archive, and override GitHub URLs as needed.
• Customize the design — Extend the theme with your own stylesheet or replace the default layout to change the header, footer, and other page elements.

How does Leap day work?

1. Add remote_theme: pages-themes/[email protected] to your site's _config.yml, and include jekyll-remote-theme in your plugins list.
2. Push the site to a GitHub repository and enable GitHub Pages in the repository settings; GitHub builds the site using the theme.
3. If you want a preview locally, add gem "github-pages", group: :jekyll_plugins to your Gemfile, then run bundle install and bundle exec jekyll serve.

FAQ

Is Leap day free?

Yes, Leap day is an open-source theme released under the pages-themes organization. You can use it on any GitHub Pages site without cost, and the source code is available on GitHub.

How do I install Leap day?

Add remote_theme: pages-themes/[email protected] to your _config.yml and make sure jekyll-remote-theme is in your plugins list. GitHub Pages will automatically apply the theme when you push your site.

Can I customize Leap day's colors and fonts?

Yes. You can create a file at assets/css/style.scss in your site, import the theme's styles with an @import statement, and add your own CSS or Sass overrides after that import. You can also change the theme's Sass variables by setting them before the import line.

Does Leap day support Google Analytics?

Yes. The theme reads a google_analytics variable from _config.yml, and you can provide a custom analytics snippet by creating _includes/head-custom-google-analytics.html in your Jekyll site.

Can I change the download URL shown by the theme?

Yes. The theme uses GitHub-provided URLs, but you can override them by adding a github: section in _config.yml. For example, set github.zip_url to point to a custom download link.