Minimalist

Minimalist is a Jekyll theme for GitHub Pages, inspired by the Minimal theme, that provides a clean personal site layout with a configurable sidebar, light/dark modes, and remote installation via jekyll-remote-theme.

What is Minimalist?

Minimalist is a Jekyll theme maintained by BDHU and designed for use on GitHub Pages. It takes a Jekyll site's configuration and content and renders a minimal web page with a sidebar, a main content area, and support for a logo and favicon. The theme is installed either with Docker (via deploy.sh) or with the jekyll-remote-theme plugin, pointing remote_theme to BDHU/minimalist.

What makes Minimalist stand out?

• Light, dark, and auto color schemes — set the color-scheme variable to light, dark, or auto to match the visitor's system preference.
• Custom sidebar with icon links — in _config.yml, define a list of name, SVG or Font Awesome icon, and link to display platforms like Google Scholar and GitHub.
• Remote theme installation — add jekyll-remote-theme to your Gemfile and set remote_theme to BDHU/minimalist; no local gem is required.
• Google Analytics integration — include a tracking ID via the google_analytics variable, or override the latest snippet in _includes/head-custom-google-analytics.html.
• Logo and favicon support — point the logo variable to an image file and enable favicon by placing favicon.ico in the repo root.
• Docker deployment option — run ./deploy.sh to serve the theme inside a container, bypassing manual Jekyll setup.
• Customizable styles and layouts — override /assets/css/style.scss or copy the default layout from _layouts/default.html to add your own HTML and SCSS.
• Automated test suite — run script/cibuild to verify your site builds successfully before pushing.

Who should use Minimalist?

• Researchers and academics — showcase publications and professional links like Google Scholar through the sidebar.
• Developers — host a personal portfolio, blog, or project page on GitHub Pages with a straightforward, no-frills design.
• Open-source maintainers — set up a lightweight documentation or landing site that deploys automatically from a GitHub repository.

What can you do with Minimalist?

• Build a personal homepage — add your name, a short description, and links to your online profiles to create a clean one-page presence.
• Create a project landing page — use the main content area for project details and the sidebar to point visitors to code and resources.
• Publish a blog — write posts in Markdown; Jekyll converts them into a static site with the same minimal layout.

How does Minimalist work?

The theme supports two setup paths. The quickest is Docker: install Docker and run ./deploy.sh to spin up a local server. Alternatively, add the jekyll-remote-theme plugin to your Gemfile, enable it as a plugin in _config.yml, and set remote_theme: BDHU/minimalist. Then run bundle exec jekyll serve to preview locally or deploy the branch to GitHub Pages.

Alternatives

• Minimal — the original GitHub Pages theme that inspired Minimalist, offering an even simpler single-column layout without sidebar customization options.

FAQ

Does Minimalist support dark mode?

Yes. Set the color-scheme variable to auto, light, or dark in your _config.yml. The auto option switches the theme based on the visitor's system preference.

How do I install Minimalist?

Add jekyll-remote-theme to your Gemfile and run bundle install. Then enable the plugin in _config.yml and set remote_theme to BDHU/minimalist. Finally, run bundle exec jekyll serve to start the site.

Can I use Minimalist on GitHub Pages?

Yes, the theme is built for GitHub Pages and the repository lists github-pages as a topic. The demo repository linked in the theme's README is hosted as BDHU/bdhu.github.io.

How do I customize the sidebar?

In _config.yml, add a sidebar list with each entry containing a name, an icon (either inline SVG or a Font Awesome class), and a link. For deeper changes, edit _includes/sidebar.html or _includes/links-mobile.html.

Is there any cost to use Minimalist?

The theme is published as a public GitHub repository with no pricing or license information on the page. You can freely download and use it for your own Jekyll sites.