MinimaJake is a Jekyll theme, forked from the default minima theme that Jekyll ships with, that adds the features most personal blogs need while staying free of bloat. It powers JakeSteam's three live sites and is available as a remote theme via GitHub.
What is MinimaJake?
MinimaJake is a fork of Jekyll's default minima theme, created by JakeSteam (Jake Lee) and used to host his personal site, programming blog, and internet history project. It takes a Jekyll site with Markdown content and renders a static HTML blog, with added features such as a table of contents, tag system, and search. The theme is imported into a Jekyll project by setting remote_theme: JakeSteam/minimaJake in the _config.yml file, optionally pinning a version like @1.0.12.
Key Features
- Table of contents — A toggleable and collapsible table of contents is generated natively in Liquid, with no plugins required.
- Search — Client-side search is built into the theme, so visitors can find posts without an external search backend.
- Tag system — Posts can be tagged and browsed by tag, a common gap in the default minima theme.
- Giscus comments — Integrates Giscus, a GitHub Discussions-based comments system, so posts get comment threads without a third-party database.
- Ko-fi donation support — A configurable donation button and floating prompt can be enabled for readers who want to support the author.
- Configurable excerpts — Use
show_excerptsfor plaintext orshow_excerpts_htmlfor HTML excerpts on index pages. - Read time and word count — Set
replace_read_time_with_word_countto display word count instead of estimated reading time. - Modified date — Use
last_modified_atto show when a post was last updated. - Outdated content warning — With
outdated_content_warning, posts can warn readers that the content may be old. - Automatic WebP — Set
webp:in the config to auto-generate and serve.webpimages. - Design flexibility — Banner images and an accent colour system allow the default look to be personalized.
Who is it for?
MinimaJake is aimed at Jekyll users who like the minimal design of the default minima theme but need more functionality out of the box. It's a good fit for:
- Personal bloggers — Want a clean blog with reading time, tags, and a call-to-action at the end of posts.
- Programmers / technical writers — Need syntax-friendly posts, linkable headers, and a searchable archive for their notes.
- Site owners moving off heavier platforms — Can migrate to a static Jekyll site and get donations and comments integrated without managing a separate service.
What can you do with MinimaJake?
- Launch a personal blog — With the theme, you get a footer with social links, a network site picker for linking multiple blogs, and an end-of-post call-to-action.
- Create a multi-site network — The network site picker lets visitors jump between your personal, programming, and history sites, exactly as JakeSteam does.
- Add interactive elements — A calendar with custom events can be embedded, and linkable headers make it easy to share specific sections of a post.
How does MinimaJake work?
To start, copy the _config.yml from one of the example blogs and adjust the name and accent colour. Then add remote_theme: JakeSteam/minimaJake to your own _config.yml. Because the theme is a remote theme, you don't need to copy any files into your repository — Jekyll fetches it from GitHub when the site builds. Optionally, pin a specific release such as @1.0.12 for reproducibility.
FAQ
Is MinimaJake free?
MinimaJake is an open-source Jekyll theme distributed through GitHub. You can use it on any Jekyll site by referencing it with remote_theme, and a live demo is available at minima.jakelee.co.uk.
How is MinimaJake different from the default minima theme?
MinimaJake keeps the base design of minima but adds many features that the default theme lacks: search, a tag system, a table of contents, Giscus comments, Ko-fi donation buttons, read time, and automatic WebP output.
Does MinimaJake have a demo?
Yes. The demo site is hosted at minima.jakelee.co.uk, and the announcement post that explains all launch features is on JakeSteam's blog.
What third-party services does MinimaJake integrate?
It integrates Giscus for comments, which uses GitHub Discussions, and Ko-fi for receiving donations. Both are configurable and can be turned off if not needed.
