Starter.eleventy is an archived Eleventy 3 starter template that scaffolds a minimal static site with Liquid templates, SASS, PostCSS, and a set of official Eleventy plugins.
What is Starter.eleventy?
Starter.eleventy is an example Markdown/Liquid starter template for new Eleventy (11ty) projects. It takes Markdown content files as input and runs through an Eleventy 3 build pipeline to produce a static website. The template comes preconfigured with the navigation, RSS, render, and HTML Base plugins, plus Markdown configured with footnotes. It is based on the eleventy-base-blog repository and Kevin Powell's new-website, and a live demo is deployed at https://starter-eleventy.devzoneone.app. The project is now archived: the maintainers discontinued it after Eleventy became part of the same commercial company as Font Awesome, and they recommend Hugo as an alternative.
Key Features
- Eleventy 3 — the template runs on the Eleventy 3 static site generator, with official plugins for navigation, RSS, render, and HTML Base.
- Liquid templates — uses Liquid as the templating language instead of Nunjucks, and ships example shortcode (year) and filters (htmlDate, readableDate, head, min, md).
- SASS styling — SASS is preconfigured for styling; the template's styling is deliberately kept minimal.
- PostCSS pipeline — PostCSS is set up with hash, AutoPrefixer, and CSS Nano for production CSS processing.
- Prettier on local builds — running
npm startruns the site locally in watch mode with HTML code prettified. - Production minifier — running
npm run buildgenerates a production build with HTML and XML minified. - Example code — includes a year shortcode and multiple filters as starting points for your own utilities.
Who is it for?
This template is for developers who want a preconfigured Eleventy project instead of setting up plugins and build tools themselves. It fits front-end developers comfortable with npm scripts, and anyone who prefers Liquid over Nunjucks for Eleventy. Because the repository is archived, it is best used as a learning reference or a baseline for personal projects rather than the foundation of a new production site.
Use cases
- Developers starting a blog: use the RSS plugin and Markdown files to publish posts quickly with minimal styling.
- Eleventy beginners: study a working Eleventy 3 setup that includes SASS, PostCSS, and official plugins in one place.
- Prototyping: scaffold a minimal static site and then add your own design system, since styling is intentionally small.
How does it work?
After installing dependencies with npm i, you run npm start to develop locally with watch mode and prettified output, or npm run build for a minified production build. GitHub users should click the "Use this template" button rather than forking, to avoid pulling in all branches and commit history.
FAQ
Is Starter.eleventy still maintained?
No. The repository is archived and will no longer be maintained. The maintainers switched their own sites back to Hugo and recommend that instead.
What templating language does it use?
It uses Liquid-based scripts instead of Nunjucks, and includes example shortcode and filter code.
What plugins are preconfigured?
The template includes the navigation, RSS, render, and HTML Base plugins, plus Markdown configured with footnotes.
What is the demo URL?
The latest version is deployed at https://starter-eleventy.devzoneone.app, and the demo contains only minimal styling by design.
Does it include SASS and PostCSS?
Yes, SASS and PostCSS (with hash, AutoPrefixer, and CSS Nano) are part of the toolchain.
