The Simple Arabic Theme

The Simple Arabic Theme is an open-source Jekyll theme for publishing Arabic-language blogs on GitHub Pages, built around a browser-based post creation interface.

What is The Simple Arabic Theme?

It is a GitHub-hosted Jekyll blog theme created by MohamedAliRashad. It takes an empty GitHub Pages repository and turns it into an Arabic-language blog, with the theme's main branch pulled in as an upstream remote. The repository ships with an English README and a separate Arabic README, a demo GIF, and a YouTube walkthrough. It is tagged with the topics arabic, blog-theme, and jekyll-theme.

Key Features

• Arabic post creation UI — The theme adds an "اصنع محتوى" (Make Content) tab on the local server where you compose posts and download them straight into the _posts folder using the "تفريغ" (Dump) button.
• GitHub Pages integration — The README gives a 7-step deployment path: create a {username}.github.io repo, clone it, add the theme as upstream, then git pull and git merge --allow-unrelated-histories.
• Live reload server — bundle exec jekyll serve --livereload starts a local server that refreshes automatically as you edit.
• Customizable site config — _config.yml lets you set baseurl (an empty string or /blog), the url, and the favicon path, which defaults to /assets/images/moon.svg.
• Dual-language docs — The project provides a full English README plus an Arabic translation at README.AR.md.
• Content-first workflow — Posts are created in the browser, saved to _posts, then committed with standard git add, git commit, and git push, or synced from VS Code.

Who is it for?

• Arabic-speaking bloggers — Anyone who wants a no-fuss Jekyll blog to publish personal articles in Arabic without building a theme from scratch.
• Learners and researchers — People who find they understand concepts better when reading and writing in their mother tongue; the creator describes the project as an attempt to encourage learning through Arabic content.
• Jekyll users on GitHub Pages — Developers comfortable with Git who want a ready-made theme they can merge into their own Pages repository and customize through _config.yml.

What can you do with The Simple Arabic Theme?

• Publish an Arabic blog — Set up a personal site on GitHub Pages and write posts through the built-in Arabic editor.
• Create and download posts offline — Use the local livereload server to draft content, then export each post as a Markdown file into _posts for version-controlled publishing.
• Learn from a working Jekyll setup — Study the repository structure and merge workflow to understand how a Jekyll theme is distributed and maintained.

How does it work?

The setup is technical but documented: create a {username}.github.io repository with no extra files, clone it locally, add the theme repository as a remote named upstream, pull its main branch, and merge it with --allow-unrelated-histories. After editing _config.yml to set your URL, baseurl, and favicon, you push and start creating content through the in-browser post generator. Posts are saved as Markdown in _posts and published with a standard git push.

FAQ

Is The Simple Arabic Theme free?

Yes. The theme is an open-source GitHub repository with no mention of paid plans, licensing, or premium features.

What does The Simple Arabic Theme do?

It gives you a complete Jekyll theme for Arabic-language blogging, including a browser-based content creation page and GitHub Pages deployment instructions.

How do I install it?

Follow the README: create a {username}.github.io repo, clone it, add the theme as upstream, pull and merge, then update _config.yml with your URL and favicon.

Does it require a local Jekyll environment?

Yes, to create posts you run bundle exec jekyll serve --livereload locally, which requires Ruby and Bundler; publishing only needs a git push to GitHub Pages.

Can I customize the theme?

Yes. _config.yml exposes baseurl, url, and the favicon path, and since you merge the theme code into your own repo, you can edit any template file.