Tech.finn.no is an open-source Jekyll-based technology blog template created by FINN, the Norwegian online marketplace, for publishing developer-written engineering posts.
What is Tech.finn.no?
Tech.finn.no is a Jekyll-powered blog template that generates a static technology blog from Markdown content. It takes blog posts written in Markdown as input and produces a complete static HTML site that can be served locally or deployed to any static hosting provider. The template was built by the developers at FINN and powers their own engineering blog at tech.finn.no. It runs on Ruby, uses Bundler for dependency management, and follows the standard Jekyll workflow.
Key Features
- Jekyll static site generation — Converts Markdown posts into a static HTML blog with no database or server-side runtime required.
- Draft preview support — Run
bundle exec jekyll serve -w --draftsto preview unpublished posts locally before they go live. - Disqus comments — Integrated Disqus for reader comments; moderation access is granted by contacting the repository maintainer.
- Google Analytics tracking — Built-in Google Analytics integration to track visitor statistics on the published blog.
- HTMLProofer testing — Includes a local test command,
bundle exec htmlproofer ./_site, to validate the generated HTML and internal links. - Cross-platform setup notes — Includes operating-system-specific installation instructions, such as reinstalling ruby-dev on Ubuntu 16.04 inside Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Who is it for?
- Developer teams at tech companies — Publish engineering blog posts and share knowledge using the same Jekyll-based setup that FINN uses internally.
- Individual developers — Start a personal technology blog with a proven template that already integrates comments and analytics.
- Static site enthusiasts — Create a lightweight Ruby-based blog that outputs pure static HTML and can be deployed anywhere.
What can you do with Tech.finn.no?
- Engineering teams: Publish tutorials, post-mortems, and technology deep-dives on a company blog, with Disqus handling reader discussion.
- Open source maintainers: Document project updates in a blog format that supports draft previewing and local testing.
- Technical writers: Write posts in Markdown, preview drafts locally with the
--draftsflag, then build a production-ready static site.
How does it work?
The template runs on Jekyll's built-in development server. After installing Ruby, run bundle install to fetch dependencies, then start the server with bundle exec jekyll serve -w. The blog is served at http://localhost:4000. To include drafts in the preview, add the --drafts flag to the serve command. A final static build is produced in the _site directory and can be tested with bundle exec htmlproofer ./_site before deployment.
