Paper is a free, MIT-licensed Jekyll blog theme that applies Google's Material Design Lite to create a clean, responsive blog layout.
What is Paper?
Paper is a Jekyll theme for building a static blog, created by Ismail Demirbilek (known as dbtek). It takes a standard Jekyll site as input and outputs a responsive, material-styled static site with built-in search, tags, categories, pagination, and RSS. The theme runs in any Jekyll environment and is fully compatible with GitHub Pages, so hosting is free.
Key Features
- Full GitHub Pages support — after forking the repository and renaming it to
username.github.io, the site builds and publishes automatically on GitHub Pages. - Responsive layout — uses Material Design Lite's responsive grid and components to adapt to mobile, tablet, and desktop screens.
- Dynamic search — integrates jekyll-search (Simple-Jekyll-Search) so visitors filter posts instantly without a page reload.
- Customizable theme colors — Sass variables expose the color palette, letting you redefine primary and accent colors in one place.
- RSS feed — out-of-the-box Atom feed generation for readers who use feed aggregators.
- Post tags and categories — organize content in multiple dimensions, with listing pages generated automatically.
- Pagination — Jekyll's pagination is configured so post archives are split across multiple pages.
- Syntax highlighting — code blocks are highlighted with Pygments, supporting many programming languages.
- Disqus comments — each post can include a Disqus comment thread for reader engagement.
Who is it for?
- Bloggers who want a Material Design look without writing frontend code — just edit Markdown posts and
_config.yml. - Developers who need a Jekyll theme that works immediately on GitHub Pages, covering both personal and project sites.
- Technical writers who rely on syntax highlighting, tags, and search to document projects or tutorials.
What can you do with Paper?
- Personal blog setup: fork the repo, rename it to
yourusername.github.io, and publish your first post in minutes. - Custom branding: edit the Sass variables to match your preferred color scheme without touching every component.
- Content organization: use tags and categories to structure articles, and let pagination keep archive pages fast.
- Engagement: enable Disqus comments to let readers discuss each post.
How does Paper work?
Installation is fork-based: fork the Paper repository, rename the forked repository to username.github.io, then edit _config.yml with your site settings and push. The theme's assets compile with Jekyll, and you publish updates by simply pushing changes.
FAQ
Is Paper free?
Yes, the theme is released under the MIT License, so it is free to use, modify, and distribute, including for commercial projects.
Does Paper work with GitHub Pages?
Yes, it has full GitHub Pages support. Fork the repo and rename it to your GitHub Pages address to publish the site without any additional build configuration.
What technologies does Paper use?
Paper is built on Material Design Lite for the UI components, uses CoffeeScript for interactive improvements (including the search feature), and uses Sass variables for theming.
Who maintains Paper?
Paper was created by Ismail Demirbilek (dbtek), who also provides a live demo at dbtek.github.io/paper-demo.
