Jekyll LibDoc

A Jekyll documentation theme with built-in search and playground

Author Olivier 3lanc
Github Stars 13
Last Commit Jan 22, 2023
Jekyll LibDoc screenshot

A documentation theme with its playground

LibDoc is a Jekyll theme that was crafted to easily and quickly get properly designed documentation especially for CSS and Javascript libraries. It comes with a built-in playground and local search engine.

LibDoc layout

Features

  • Quick and easy without installationnew Quickly deploy Jekyll LibDoc on a Github repository with remote theme feature
  • Dual context: LibDoc + Playground LibDoc was made to craft documentation with its own embedded demos and examples. A major feature of the LibDoc Jekyll theme is its own built-in and configurable playground which is both a layout and a syntax highlighter extension. It extends the syntax highlighter by running the specified code into a configurable context with user defined style sheets and scripts. Learn more
  • Gem free, plugin free LibDoc runs without any Gem nor plugin.
  • Github Pages compatible Jekyll theme Easily deploy your project on Github Pages, LibDoc is fully compatible.
  • 5 layouts LibDoc comes with dedicated layouts for common documentation usages.
  • Assets grid Built to allow visitors to view, download or copy URL of specified resources on your project. Example
  • Local search engine LibDoc has its own internal search engine based on lunr.js.
  • Multiple lazy-loaded playgrounds on any page Add as mush as playgrounds on your documentation pages, playgrounds are loaded once into the viewport.
  • Can work locally, even without Internet connection LibDoc can run locally with Jekyll serve or any http host - assuming you set up local resources.
  • Customizeable settings LibDoc has its own settings editable on needs in the configuration file config.yml.
  • Front matter Optional parameters ready to be set into the front matter of each page and every layout, like category, order in sidebar and unlisted feature. Learn more
  • Github Flavoured Markdown LibDoc comes with native support of Github Flavoured Markdown. Learn more
  • Metadata LibDoc supports social networks metadata into its document <head> to enable proper social sharing. Favicon, image, author, color, language are supported in addition of site title and description. Metadata have dual settings for both site/project and playground
  • Sidebar All the necessary UI components to navigate through your project. Customizeable features such as logo/text management, search engine and possibility to add links of page that are not contained into the project. All available pages of the project are listed into the responsive sidebar, excepting unlisted ones. You can also assign category to pages and set a custom order. Learn more
  • Customizable Logo The top left of the LibDoc’s theme is a homepage link that can display just site title or a custom logo. Learn more
  • Pages order and category Pages created can optionally have a category and an order assigned through their front matter. Then, it is possible to group pages links in the sidebar with a tip above the link. Learn more
  • Unlisted pages It is possible to remove page link from the sidebar and search results thanks to the front matter unlisted property. Learn more
  • Prims as syntax highlighter LibDoc uses customizeable Prismjs syntax highlighter for both playground and markdown code highlight. Learn more
  • TOC - Table Of Content LibDoc supports {:toc} automatically generated from kramdown - markdown engine - TOC styling the table of content onto a right sidebar. Learn more
  • Shields and badgesBadge example Easily add shields.io badges into the footer. Create your own badges and add it through the config.yml. Learn more

Usage

It is possible to use LibDoc through different ways:

Online - No installation as remote theme

Available only on GitHub, remote theme feature is the most simple way to use LibDoc, it does not require any installation, just follow these few steps:

  1. Create a repository Just add a new repository on your GitHub account. Example
  2. Create a LibDoc config file Create and configure your LibDoc config file called _config.yml, required for GitHub Pages, do not forget to add/uncomment the following line:remote_theme: olivier3lanc/Jekyll-LibDocView a _config.yml example
  3. Enable Github Pages To automatically compile your LibDoc project, just enable GitHub Pages at https://github.com/[GH_USER_NAME]/[REPO_NAME]/settings/pages. Each time you commit and push on the specified branch, Github Pages builds and hosts your project on the URL https://[GH_USER_NAME].github.io/[REPO_NAME].

Your repository is now ready to be deployed as GitHub Pages website, all you have to do is adding your content! Learn more about remote themes

Online - No installation copy or clone

Github.dev

It is possible to craft documentation with LibDoc only with your browser, Github and Github Pages.

  1. Copy, clone or fork LibDoc repository
  2. On the forked/copy repository, press Shift + . or go to https://github.dev/[GH_USER_NAME]/[REPO_NAME]/tree/[BRANCH_NAME]
  3. You are now into Visual Studio Code and you can edit, commit and push.

To automatically compile your LibDoc project, just enable your instance on this page https://github.com/[GH_USER_NAME]/[REPO_NAME]/settings/pages. Each time you commit and push on the specified branch, Github Pages builds and hosts your project on the URL https://[GH_USER_NAME].github.io/[REPO_NAME].

Local install

LibDoc requires only Jekyll to compile your work.

  1. Install Jekyll on your machine following the steps described here
  2. Get the latest version of LibDoc
  3. Into the folder where LibDoc was copied, adjust your settings of your YAML file, Most important are
    • url The host of your local set up, this can be for example http://localhost or http://192.168.1.2 or domaine name
    • baseurl The path to your local copy of LibDoc. For example /Jekyll-LibDoc/_site
    • title Title of the documentation
    • description Description of your documentation project
  4. Compile your project using:
    • jekyll build Builds the project using _config.yml
    • jekyll build -c _personal-config.yml Builds the project using _personal-config.yml
    • jekyll build -c _personal-config.yml --watch Builds the project using _personal-config.yml and automatically compiles on detected changes.
    • Learn more about command line usage on official Jekyll documentation

Local with remote theme

View example repository

It is possible to only write your content without complete LibDoc installation, just use LibDoc as remote theme. You only need to use locally Jekyll remote theme plugin

  1. Install Jekyll on your machine following the steps described here
  2. Add a Gemfile with the following line
gem "jekyll-remote-theme"

and run bundle install to install the plugin

  1. Add the following to your LibDoc’s local config file _config-local.yml
remote_theme: olivier3lanc/Jekyll-LibDoc
plugins:
  - jekyll-remote-theme
  1. Run jekyll build or with any custom config file jekyll build -c _your-own-config.yml

Feel free to use the example repository as starter template.