Mr.Brown

Mr.Brown is a responsive Jekyll theme for blogs, built with SCSS and HTML5, that turns Markdown content into a static website. The theme is free, open-source under the MIT License, and comes with a live demo hosted at artemsheludko.pw. It is designed to be simple and customizable, making it a straightforward starting point for personal publishing on Jekyll.

What is Mr.Brown?

Mr.Brown is a Jekyll theme that generates a static blog from Markdown posts and pages. As a Jekyll theme, it relies on the Jekyll site generator to build HTML output — you write content in Markdown with YAML front matter, and the theme's layouts style it. The repository includes the full theme source with SCSS stylesheets, so the output is a self-contained static site. The theme is listed as 'free' in its topics and is released under the MIT License, allowing unrestricted use and modification. The demo at http://artemsheludko.pw/mr-brown/ shows the theme in action.

Key Features

• Responsive layout — Mr.Brown adapts to mobile, tablet, and desktop viewports, so the blog reads well on any screen size.
• Disqus integration — Comments on posts are powered by Disqus, a widely used commenting platform.
• Google Fonts — Typography is loaded from Google Fonts, giving the theme a custom look without self-hosting font files.
• Font Awesome — Icons come from the Font Awesome icon library, providing scalable vector icons for UI elements.
• txtpen integration — The theme includes support for txtpen, as listed in its integrations.
• Social media links — The theme supports displaying links to social media profiles, which are typically configured in the site settings.
• SCSS styling — Styles are written in SCSS, the Sass syntax that compiles to CSS during a Jekyll build.
• Simple design — The theme's design is minimal and content-focused, matching its 'simple' and 'blog' topics.

Who is it for?

Mr.Brown is aimed at individual bloggers and writers who want a clean, content-focused Jekyll theme without extra complexity. Developers new to Jekyll can use it as a learning resource to see how a theme organizes layouts, includes, and assets. Anyone who prefers a free, MIT-licensed theme can take this as a base and customize it freely, whether for a personal blog or a project journal.

What can you do with Mr.Brown?

• Personal bloggers: Publish Markdown posts and pages, then build a responsive static site with Disqus comments enabled for reader engagement.
• Jekyll learners: Study the theme's file structure, SCSS partials, and layout inheritance to understand how Jekyll themes are assembled.
• Open-source contributors: Fork the MIT-licensed repository, modify the design, and redistribute your own version without licensing restrictions.

How does Mr.Brown work?

To use Mr.Brown, you need a working Jekyll installation. The README points beginners to Jekyll's own documentation for the basics of front matter, writing posts, and creating pages. Once you have Jekyll set up, you can add your content as Markdown files and use Jekyll's build commands to generate the static site. The theme itself provides the layouts, includes, and SCSS assets that Jekyll compiles into the final HTML.

License

Mr.Brown is released under the MIT License, which permits commercial use, modification, distribution, and private use provided the copyright notice is retained.

FAQ

Is Mr.Brown free?

Yes, the theme is free to use and released under the MIT License. You can use it for personal or commercial projects without paying a license fee.

What integrations are included?

The README lists integrations with Google Fonts, Disqus, txtpen, and Font Awesome, plus support for social media links. These are enabled through Jekyll's configuration and layout files.

Does Mr.Brown support comments?

Yes, it includes Disqus integration for adding comment sections to posts. Disqus requires you to set up a Disqus account and configure your shortname in the theme's settings.

Is Mr.Brown responsive?

Yes, the theme is described as responsive, with a layout that adapts to different screen sizes for a consistent reading experience on mobile and desktop.

What is txtpen?

txtpen is listed as an integration in the README, but the theme's documentation does not provide further details about what it does or how to configure it.