docs/README.md
# The Minimal theme
[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/pages-themes/minimal.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/pages-themes/minimal) [![Gem Version](https://badge.fury.io/rb/jekyll-theme-minimal.svg)](https://badge.fury.io/rb/jekyll-theme-minimal)
*Minimal is a Jekyll theme for GitHub Pages. You can [preview the theme to see what it looks like](http://pages-themes.github.io/minimal), or even [use it today](#usage).*
![Thumbnail of minimal](thumbnail.png)
## Usage
To use the Minimal theme:
1. Add the following to your site's `_config.yml`:
```yml
theme: jekyll-theme-minimal
```
2. Optionally, if you'd like to preview your site on your computer, add the following to your site's `Gemfile`:
```ruby
gem "github-pages", group: :jekyll_plugins
```
## Customizing
### Configuration variables
Minimal will respect the following variables, if set in your site's `_config.yml`:
```yml
title: [The title of your site]
description: [A short description of your site's purpose]
```
Additionally, you may choose to set the following optional variables:
```yml
show_downloads: ["true" or "false" to indicate whether to provide a download URL]
google_analytics: [Your Google Analytics tracking ID]
```
### Stylesheet
If you'd like to add your own custom styles:
1. Create a file called `/assets/css/style.scss` in your site
2. Add the following content to the top of the file, exactly as shown:
```scss
---
---
@import "{{ site.theme }}";
```
3. Add any custom CSS (or Sass, including imports) you'd like immediately after the `@import` line
### Layouts
If you'd like to change the theme's HTML layout:
1. [Copy the original template](https://github.com/pages-themes/minimal/blob/master/_layouts/default.html) from the theme's repository<br />(*Pro-tip: click "raw" to make copying easier*)
2. Create a file called `/_layouts/default.html` in your site
3. Paste the default layout content copied in the first step
4. Customize the layout as you'd like
## Roadmap
See the [open issues](https://github.com/pages-themes/minimal/issues) for a list of proposed features (and known issues).
## Project philosophy
The Minimal theme is intended to make it quick and easy for GitHub Pages users to create their first (or 100th) website. The theme should meet the vast majority of users' needs out of the box, erring on the side of simplicity rather than flexibility, and provide users the opportunity to opt-in to additional complexity if they have specific needs or wish to further customize their experience (such as adding custom CSS or modifying the default layout). It should also look great, but that goes without saying.
## Contributing
Interested in contributing to Minimal? We'd love your help. Minimal is an open source project, built one contribution at a time by users like you. See [the CONTRIBUTING file](CONTRIBUTING.md) for instructions on how to contribute.
### Previewing the theme locally
If you'd like to preview the theme locally (for example, in the process of proposing a change):
1. Clone down the theme's repository (`git clone https://github.com/pages-themes/minimal`)
2. `cd` into the theme's directory
3. Run `script/bootstrap` to install the necessary dependencies
4. Run `bundle exec jekyll serve` to start the preview server
5. Visit [`localhost:4000`](http://localhost:4000) in your browser to preview the theme
### Running tests
The theme contains a minimal test suite, to ensure a site with the theme would build successfully. To run the tests, simply run `script/cibuild`. You'll need to run `script/bootstrap` one before the test script will work.