Middleman Zurb is a project template for the Middleman v3 static site generator that bundles ZURB Foundation 4 with a pre-configured blog stack, so you can scaffold a new site with one command.
What is Middleman Zurb?
Middleman Zurb is a GitHub-hosted project template created by Matt Olson for the Middleman v3 static site generator. It takes a plain new Middleman project and adds ZURB Foundation 4.2, the middleman-blog 3.2 extension, Font Awesome 3.2 icons, and defaults drawn from HTML5 Boilerplate. The output is a mobile-first blog-ready site structure with layouts, stylesheets, and configuration files you can immediately build on.
Key Features
The template packs these concrete components and integrations into a new Middleman project:
- middleman-blog 3.2 — Adds blog support with article listing, tags, and archive pages inside the Middleman project.
- ZURB Foundation 4.2 — Provides the responsive grid and UI components as the styling layer for the generated site.
- Font Awesome 3.2 — Ships icon fonts ready to use in views and layouts.
- HTML5 Boilerplate defaults — Includes many elements and defaults from HTML5 Boilerplate such as favicon handling and meta conventions.
- Legacy IE warning overlay — Displays a warning to visitors using IE9 or older so you don't have to build that prompt yourself.
- Google Analytics integration — Includes the tracking snippet wired into the layout; you just add your tracking ID.
- Disqus integration — Adds comment functionality to blog posts with the Disqus embed.
- Automatic XML sitemap — Generates a sitemap.xml at build time so search engines can index the site.
Who should use Middleman Zurb?
Static site developers who want a Foundation-based Middleman setup without wiring up the blog extension themselves will find the template ready to go. Bloggers who prefer writing in a static site generator get a complete blog layout with comments and analytics preconfigured. Small business teams building a company site can start from this template and remove the blog parts, as the README documents, when they only need a marketing site.
What can you do with Middleman Zurb?
Because the template bundles blog, analytics, and a responsive framework, you can use it for several distinct outcomes:
- Create a new Middleman blog: Run
middleman initwith the template flag to get a Foundation-styled blog with Disqus and Google Analytics already in place. - Build a company site: Start from the template, then follow the removal steps to strip out blog articles, blog layouts, and blog settings in
config.rbto turn it into a standard company site. - Learn middleman-blog integration: The template shows how to configure middleman-blog, including settings grouped at the top of
config.rband blog-related styles inbase.css.scss.
How does Middleman Zurb work?
Install it by cloning the repository into your local ~/.middleman directory, then run middleman init my_new_project --template=zurb-foundation. After that, run bundle install and start the dev server with middleman server. The template contains a source directory with blog layouts, an index page, and stylesheets you can edit.
FAQ
Is Middleman Zurb free?
Yes. The template is hosted on GitHub as an open-source project, and there are no license or payment requirements mentioned anywhere in the README.
How do I install Middleman Zurb?
Create a ~/.middleman directory if it doesn't exist, clone the repository into it, then run middleman init with the --template=zurb-foundation flag. The README also instructs you to run bundle install and middleman server to start.
Can I use Middleman Zurb without blog features?
Yes. The README includes a section on removing blog functionality: delete source/blog and source/layouts/article.erb, remove middleman-blog from the Gemfile, and delete blog-related styles and settings. Then update the home page.
Which sites were built with Middleman Zurb?
The README lists two examples: Matt Olson's blog at mattolson.com and Ruby Cloud's company site at rubycloud.com.
