To mimic the look of type set in a printed book or manuscript you may want to enable paragraph indention. When `$paragraph-indent` is set to `true` indents are added to each sibling and the margin below each paragraph is removed.
By default the theme uses [system fonts](https://medium.com/designing-medium/system-shock-6b1dc6d6596f#.rb81vgn7i) for all of the font stacks (serif, sans-serif, and monospace). This is done in part to provide a clean base for you to build off of and to improve performance since we aren't loading any custom webfonts[^font-awesome] by default.
[^font-awesome]: Apart from [Font Awesome](https://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/) icon webfonts.
Sans-serif fonts have been used for most of the type, with serifs reserved for captions. If you wish to change this you'll need to poke around the various `SCSS` partials and modify `font-family` declarations.
**ProTip:** To use webfonts from services like [Adobe TypeKit](https://typekit.com/) or [Google Fonts](https://www.google.com/fonts) simply update the font stacks and then add their scripts to `_includes/head/custom.html`.
Wherever possible type scale variables have been used instead of writing out fixed sizes. This makes updating much easier by changing values in one file, `_variables.scss`.
Type sizes are set in ems to proportional scale as the screen size changes. Large headlines that look great on desktop monitors will shrink ever so slightly as to not be too big on mobile devices. To adjust this hierarchy simply edit the default values:
```scss
/* type scale */
$type-size-1 : 2.441em; // ~39.056px
$type-size-2 : 1.953em; // ~31.248px
$type-size-3 : 1.563em; // ~25.008px
$type-size-4 : 1.25em; // ~20px
$type-size-5 : 1em; // ~16px
$type-size-6 : 0.75em; // ~12px
$type-size-7 : 0.6875em; // ~11px
$type-size-8 : 0.625em; // ~10px
```
### Colors
Change the mood of your site by altering a few color variables. `$body-color`, `$background-color`, `$text-color`, `$link-color`, and `$masthead-link-color` will have the most affect when changed.
### Breakpoints and Grid Stuff
Probably won't need to touch these, but they're there if you need to. Width variables are used with the [`@include breakpoint()`](http://breakpoint-sass.com/) mixin to adapt the design of certain elements.
And `$susy` is used for setting [the grid](http://susy.oddbird.net/) the theme uses. Uncommenting the lines under `debug` can be useful if you want to show the columns when adjusting the layout.
The theme does not leverage Jekyll's [built-in support for preprocessing Sass](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/assets/#sassscss) files. Why is that you ask? [**Autoprefixer**](https://github.com/postcss/autoprefixer)! As part of a build step the stylesheet is post processed with Autoprefixer to add vendor prefixes --- something not currently possible without a plugin[^jekyll-assets].
[^jekyll-assets]: A better solution would be to use the fantastic [jekyll-assets](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-assets) plugin to manage your assets if you aren't hosting with GitHub Pages. Autoprefixer support is built-in :smile:.
**Sass/SCSS files:** You can of course modify the structure of the CSS files to have Jekyll natively process `main.scss` for you. Just be sure to update the partials to include any vendor prefixes or else things may look off in older browsers.
{: .notice--info}
## Build Process
In an effort to reduce dependencies a set of [**npm scripts**](https://css-tricks.com/why-npm-scripts/) are used to build the CSS instead of task runners like [Gulp](http://gulpjs.com/) or [Grunt](http://gruntjs.com/). If those tools are more your style then by all means use them instead :wink:.
To get started:
1. Install [Node.js](http://nodejs.org/).
2.`cd` to the root of your project.
3. Install all of the dependencies by running `npm install`.
**Note:** If you upgraded from a previous version of the theme be sure you copied over [`package.json`]({{ site.gh_repo }}/master/package.json) prior to running `npm install`.
