Portfolio Jekyll Theme

Portfolio Jekyll Theme is a minimalist Jekyll theme by Paul Le (LeNPaul) for building a personal portfolio website that deploys directly to GitHub Pages. It places projects front and center on the home page, and is built on the DevTips Starter Kit following Travis Neilson's DevTips tutorial series.

What is Portfolio Jekyll Theme?

Portfolio Jekyll Theme is a free, open-source static site theme that runs on Jekyll, the blog-aware static site generator, and is 100% compatible with GitHub Pages. It takes post files from the _posts directory plus configuration from _config.yml and _data/settings.yml, and produces a complete website with a home page, menu pages, project pages, and blog posts. The theme is distributed under the MIT License and was created by Paul Le.

Key Features

• GitHub Pages compatibility — Fork the repository, rename it to USERNAME.github.io, keep a gh-pages branch, and the site goes live immediately without installing Jekyll locally.
• Data-file configuration — Edit site-wide options including Disqus, Google Analytics, menu items, project pages, and social media profiles in _data/settings.yml.
• Google Analytics support — Add your Google ID under google-ID in settings.yml to track site statistics; leave the value as an empty string when unused.
• Disqus commenting — Enable comment sections on posts by setting disqus.comments to true and providing your Disqus shortname.
• MathJax LaTeX support — Display mathematical equations in posts using LaTeX syntax out of the box.
• jekyll-feed RSS — Atom feeds are enabled by default through the jekyll-feed plugin, with title, description, and author set in _config.yml.
• Font Awesome social icons — Social media icons are included courtesy of Font Awesome and configured in settings.yml.
• Rouge syntax highlighting — Fenced code blocks are colored per language using Rouge, with a full list of supported lexers linked in the README.

Who is it for?

• Freelance designers and developers — Present project case studies with thumbnails stored in assets/img/projects/proj-n and named thumb.jpg.
• Students and early-career professionals — Stand up a personal site with About and Contact pages using the included page layout without touching server code.
• Academics and researchers — Publish equation-heavy posts or lecture notes through the built-in MathJax LaTeX rendering.
• GitHub beginners — Manage content through the GitHub code editor as a CMS, with no local Jekyll installation required.

What can you do with Portfolio Jekyll Theme?

• Portfolio owners: Add each project as a page in the projects folder and register it in settings.yml so it appears in the site menu.
• Bloggers: Drop posts into _posts using the YYYY-MM-DD-name-of-post.md naming convention; the post layout automatically includes a header image, author name, date published, social sharing links, and related posts.
• Site customizers: Restyle the theme by editing assets/css/all.sass, which uses Jekyll's built-in Sass/SCSS preprocessor.
• Technical writers: Publish GitHub Flavored Markdown content, with Liquid template code available for the home page layout.

How does Portfolio Jekyll Theme work?

Jekyll combines page content, layout templates, and YAML front matter into a static website. For GitHub Pages deployment you fork the repository, rename it to USERNAME.github.io, and edit settings.yml; for local development you download the archive, run bundle install, then jekyll serve, and view the result at http://localhost:4000.

Pricing

Portfolio Jekyll Theme is completely free and open source, released under the MIT License, so it can be used for personal or commercial projects without payment.

Alternatives

• al-folio — a popular Jekyll theme focused on academic portfolios with publication listings and a CV page.
• Minimal Mistakes — a Jekyll theme by Michael Rose with more layout and skin options.

FAQ

Is Portfolio Jekyll Theme free?

Yes. The theme is completely free and open source software distributed under the MIT License, so you may use it however you want, including for commercial projects.

Does Portfolio Jekyll Theme work with GitHub Pages?

Yes, the theme was built to be 100% compatible with GitHub Pages. Fork the repository, rename it to USERNAME.github.io, ensure a gh-pages branch exists, and the site is published at http://USERNAME.github.io.

Do I need Jekyll installed on my computer?

No. Everything can be done through the GitHub code editor by adding posts to the _posts directory and editing _config.yml and _data/settings.yml. Local development is optional: download the zip, run bundle install, then jekyll serve.

How do I add a project to my portfolio?

Create a page in the projects folder, store its thumbnail image at assets/img/projects/proj-n/thumb.jpg, and add the project to the menu in _data/settings.yml.

How do I enable comments on posts?

Set disqus.comments to true in _data/settings.yml and provide your Disqus shortname. If you do not have a Disqus account, you need to create one and set up a profile for your website first.