Jekyll tutorial – all you need to know

In November 2008, Tom Preston-Werner, one of the four founders of the developer platform, GitHub, released the website generator, Jekyll

under the free MIT license. Written in Ruby, it accesses a template directory that contains a set of structures and static text files – markdowns – of different formats. These determine the layout on the one hand, and the content of the web project on the other hand, and can be adapted individually for this purpose. The generator does not provide a WYSIWYG editor, but requires classic code writing. Therefore, the content editor, Prose, is recommended, which simplifies markdown editing and is optimized for Jekyll.

Before changes to the code are incorporated into the live version of the developed web application, they can be viewed thanks to Jekyll’s own development server. The implemented rendering engine, Liquid, then converts the files into a static website that can be delivered with any standard web server. This automatically generates the HTML code in the background when changes are made to the text files.

Here’s how to quickly create a Jekyll website:

But it’s just as easy to create graphically more advanced websites:

Using Jekyll for blogs and other static web projects is a superior alternative to content management systems, construction kits, etc. for a variety of reasons. The main advantage of this solution is the simplicity that can be seen in both the work with the website generator and the created projects. Thanks to the possibility of foregoing a database, you save time and effort on the set up and configuration. In addition, the necessary database access is no longer needed, which has a positive effect on the website’s loading time. The minimalist code, which is reduced to important functions and features, is present in all Jekyll themes, and contributes to good performance and easy project development and maintenance. Compared to classic CMS, Jekyll generates a deliverable markup after each amend and not only when a user accesses a page.

Jekyll also scores well when it comes to stability and security. Since the web server only has to deliver text files, Jekyll’s potential for error is considerably lower than for websites that have several different components interacting with each other. And because no regular updates are necessary, the stable code framework also ensures high availability of the website in the long term. The security results from the fact that it doesn’t make much sense to attack Jekyll, since it doesn’t have CMS, databases, and scripts with dynamic elements (PHP, JavaScript, etc.).

While the highly-restricted code base is no obstacle for experienced developers, newcomers will find it difficult to use the website generator. In the standard version, Jekyll does not have a graphical user interface, so installation and setup must be carried out via the command line. Jekyll is also clearly inferior to many CMS and website development tools when it comes to the theme selection, since it lacks choice; other tools have hundreds or even thousands of design and layout templates. The same is true for the support, which isn’t very developed due to its small community and low distribution.

The following table summarizes Jekyll’s most important advantages and disadvantages:

First, you need a GitHub account. To do so, go to the GitHub website and enter a valid email address, username, and password for your future account.

Then select the plan you want to subscribe to – the free version for an unlimited number of public directories or the fee-based one for an unlimited number of private directories. Lastly, you can optionally provide information about your programming skills and interests. You will then receive a confirmation email from GitHub and can then activate your account by clicking on the link in it.

Now that you’ve created an account, you can log into GitHub. The user dashboard gives you an overview of the individual directories, but doesn’t provide any information at the beginning. To change this and to lay the foundations for using GitHub Pages, you first have to create a new repository.

Until now, the directory is a common GitHub project directory. To convert it into your web repository, you’ve got several options.

• Start from scratch and build your website without a template using Jekyll. For information on how to do this, see the official documentation.
• If you use a ready-made Jekyll theme, it’ll be even easier to get started.
• The Jekyll example from Deploy Now is also a great starting place to create your website using the Static Site Generator.

During the theme selection, a configuration file (config.yml) and an index page (index.md) are automatically generated. By default, the latter is the preview example for the selected Jekyll theme, which is why it is already available in markdown format. You can edit both the start page and the configuration file by selecting the corresponding file and then clicking on the pen icon on the menu bar.

If the setup has worked as described in the previous steps, you can continue designing your blog or website. All the files you need for this purpose, such as CSS sheets or JavaScript codes, can be created using the 'Create new file' button. This way, you can also create additional sub-pages for your web project. Via 'Upload files', it is also possible to upload files directly. You can either specify the location or drag and drop the file you want to insert.

Desktop Client

It is possible to manage a Jekyll website completely via the GitHub web interface. With the desktop client, which is available for Windows and macOS as already mentioned, there is also an offline solution. If you have not yet installed it, simply click on the button “Set up in Desktop” in the created repository and you will automatically be taken to the download page.

After you have downloaded and installed the client, you can use it to make a local copy of your website. To do this, simply log in with your GitHub login and select the entry 'Clone a repository' from the start menu. You now have the option of specifying which repository you want to clone. The storage location can be specified under 'Local path'.

You can access different branches in your repository. These are individual branches in the project that allow developers to work on the code simultaneously or to focus on specific development areas separately. IONOS Deploy Now displays the individual branches of the cloned repository. As soon as you create a new branch, it is automatically displayed using Deploy Now. This way you can always keep an eye on your entire web project and the progress within the individual development branches.