Settings that affect your entire site can be changed in [Jekyll's configuration file](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/): `_config.yml`, found in the root of your project. If you don't have this file you'll need to copy or create one using the theme's [default `_config.yml`](https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes/blob/master/_config.yml) as a base.
**Note:** for technical reasons, `_config.yml` is NOT reloaded automatically when used with `jekyll serve`. If you make any changes to this file, please restart the server process for them to be applied.
Take a moment to look over the configuration file included with the theme. Comments have been added to provide examples and default values for most settings. Detailed explanations of each can be found below.
**Note:** If you have made edits to the theme's CSS files be sure to update [`/assets/css/main.scss`](https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes/blob/master/assets/css/main.scss) to include `@import "minimal-mistakes/skins/{{ site.minimal_mistakes_skin | default: 'default' }}"; // skin` before the `minimal-mistakes` import.
_Example:_ `locale: "en-US"` sets the `lang` attribute for the site to the _United States_ flavor of English, while `en-GB` would be for the `United Kingdom` style of English. Country codes are optional and the shorter variation `locale: "en"` is also acceptable. To find your language and country codes check this [reference table](<https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee825488(v=cs.20).aspx>).
Properly setting the locale is important for associating localized text found in the [**UI Text**]({{ "/docs/ui-text/" | absolute_url }}) data file. An improper match will cause parts of the UI to disappear (eg. button labels, section headings, etc).
**Note:** The theme comes with localized text in English (`en`, `en-US`, `en-GB`). If you change `locale` in `_config.yml` to something else, most of the UI text will go blank. Be sure to add the corresponding locale key and translated text to `_data/ui-text.yml` to avoid this.
**Note:** Long site titles have been known to break the masthead layout. Avoid adding a long "tagline" to the title prevent this from happening eg. `My Awesome Site is the Best Because I Say So".
**ProTip:** If you want to get crafty with your YAML you can use [anchors](http://www.yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html#id2785586) to reuse values. For example `foo: &var "My String"` allows you to reuse `"My String"` elsewhere in `_config.yml` like so... `bar: *var`. You'll see a few examples of this in the provided Jekyll config.
The base hostname and protocol for your site. If you're hosting with GitHub Pages this will be something like `url: "https://github.io.mmistakes"` or `url: "https://mademistakes.com"` if you have a custom domain name.
GitHub Pages now [forces `https://` for new sites](https://help.github.com/articles/securing-your-github-pages-site-with-https/) so be mindful of that when setting your URL to avoid mixed-content warnings.
**Note:** Jekyll 3.3 overrides this value with `url: http://localhost:4000` when running `jekyll serve` locally in development. If you want to avoid this behavior set `JEKYLL_ENV=production` to [force the environment](http://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/#specifying-a-jekyll-environment-at-build-time) to production.
This little option causes all kinds of confusion in the Jekyll community. If you're not hosting your site as a GitHub Pages Project or in a subfolder (eg: `/blog`), then don't mess with it.
In the case of the Minimal Mistakes demo site it's hosted on GitHub at <https://mmistakes.github.io/minimal-mistakes>. To correctly set this base path I'd use `url: "https://mmistakes.github.io"` and `baseurl: "/minimal-mistakes"`.
For more information on how to properly use `site.url` and `site.baseurl` as intended by the Jekyll maintainers, check [Parker Moore's post on the subject](https://byparker.com/blog/2014/clearing-up-confusion-around-baseurl/).
**Note:** When using `baseurl` remember to include it as part of your path when testing your site locally. Values of `url:` and `baseurl: "/blog"` would make your local site visible at `http://localhost:4000/blog` and not `http://localhost:4000`.
"NWO" stands for "name with owner." It is GitHub lingo for the username of the owner of the repository plus a forward slash plus the name of the repository, e.g. `mmistakes/minimal-mistakes`, where **mmistakes** is the owner and **minimal-mistakes** is the repository name.
**Liquid Exceptions:** No repo name found. Specify using `PAGES_REPO_NWO` environment variables, `repository` in your configuration, or set up `origin` git remote pointing to your github.com repository.
For more information on how `site.github` data can be used with Jekyll check out [`github-metadata`'s documentation](https://github.com/jekyll/github-metadata).
To assign a fallback teaser image used in the "**Related Posts**" module, place a graphic in the `/assets/images/` directory and add the filename to `_config.yml` like so:
Enable breadcrumb links to help visitors better navigate deep sites. Because of the fragile method of implementing them they don't always produce accurate links reliably. For best results:
1. Use a category based permalink structure e.g. `permalink: /:categories/:title/`
2. Manually create pages for each category or use a plugin like [jekyll-archives][jekyll-archives] to auto-generate them. If these pages don't exist breadcrumb links to them will be broken.
Enable estimated reading time snippets with `read_time: true` in YAML Front Matter. `200` has been set as the default words per minute value --- which can be changed by adjusting `words_per_minute:` in `_config.yml`.
[**Disqus**](https://disqus.com/), [**Discourse**](https://www.discourse.org/), [**Facebook**](https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/comments), **Google+**, and static-based commenting via [**Staticman**](https://staticman.net/) are built into the theme. First set the comment provider you'd like to use:
**Note:** Comments are disabled by default in `development`. To enable when testing/building locally be sure to set
`JEKYLL_ENV=production` to [force the environment](http://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/#specifying-a-jekyll-environment-at-build-time) to production.
To use Disqus you'll need to create an account and [shortname](https://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/466208-what-s-a-shortname-). Once you have both update `_config.yml` to:
For guidance on how to set up Discourse for embedding comments from a topic on a post page, [consult this guide](https://meta.discourse.org/t/embedding-discourse-comments-via-javascript/31963).
**Note:** Do not include `http://` or `https://` when setting your Discourse `server`. The theme automatically prepends the URL `//`, following a scheme-less pattern.
**Note:** Looking to migrate comments from a WordPress based site? Give [this tool](https://github.com/arthurlacoste/wordpress-comments-jekyll-staticman) a try.
1. Allow Staticman push access to your GitHub repository by clicking on **Settings**, then the **Collaborators** tab and adding `staticmanapp` as a collaborator.
2. To accept the pending invitation visit: `https://api.staticman.net/v2/connect/{your GitHub username}/{your repository name}`. Consult the Staticman "[Get Started](https://staticman.net/docs/index.html)" guide for more info.
Default settings have been provided in [`staticman.yml`](https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes/blob/master/staticman.yml) and are commented to guide you through setup. View the [full list of configurations](https://staticman.net/docs/configuration).
**Branch setting:** This is the branch comment files will be sent to via pull requests. If you host your site on GitHub Pages it will likely be `master` unless your repo is setup as a project --- use `gh-pages` in that case.
**Note:** Staticman is currently only compatible with GitHub based repositories. [Support for GitLab Pages](https://github.com/eduardoboucas/staticman/issues/22) is planned but not available yet.
Default settings have been provided in `_config.yml`. The important ones to set are `provider: "staticman"`, `branch`, and `path`. View the [full list of configurations](https://staticman.net/docs/configuration).
By default comment moderation is enabled in `staticman.yml`. As new comments are submitted Staticman will send a pull request. Merging these in will approve the comment, close the issue, and automatically rebuild your site (if hosted on GitHub Pages).
**ProTip:** Create a GitHub webhook that sends a `POST` request to the following payload URL `https://api.staticman.net/v2/webhook` and triggers a "Pull request" event to delete Staticman branches on merge.
1. Apply for [reCAPTCHA API](https://www.google.com/recaptcha) keys and register your site using the reCAPTCHA V2 type.
2. Add your site and secret keys to `staticman.yml` and `_config.yml`. Be sure to properly encrypt your secret key using [Staticman's encrypt endpoint](https://staticman.net/docs/encryption).
By default the theme links to `feed.xml` generated in the root of your site by the **jekyll-feed** plugin. To link to an externally hosted feed update `atom_feed` in `_config.yml` like so:
**Note:** By default the site feed is linked in two locations: inside the [`<head>` element](https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes/blob/master/_includes/head.html) and at the bottom of every page in the [site footer](https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes/blob/master/_includes/footer.html).
Formerly known as [Google Webmaster Tools](https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/), add your [verification code](https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1142414?hl=en) like so: `google_site_verification: "yourVerificationCode"`.
There are several ways to [verify site ownership](https://www.bing.com/webmaster/help/how-to-verify-ownership-of-your-site-afcfefc6) --- the easiest adding an authentication code to your config file.
To verify site ownership you will need to [create a Naver account](https://nid.naver.com/user2/joinGlobal.nhn?lang=en_US&m=init) and then **Add your site** via [Naver Webmaster Tools](http://webmastertool.naver.com/).
Twitter username for the site. For pages that have custom author Twitter accounts assigned in their YAML Front Matter or data file, they will be attributed as a **creator** in the Twitter Card.
And if I assign `@mmistakes` as an author account it will appear in the Twitter Card along with `@mmistakes-theme`, attributed as a creator of the page being shared.
**Note**: You need to [apply for Twitter Cards](https://dev.twitter.com/docs/cards) and validate they're working on your site before they will begin showing up.
**ProTip:** To debug Open Graph data use [this tool](https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/og/object?q=https%3A%2F%2Fmademistakes.com) to test your pages. If content changes aren't reflected you will probably have to hit the **Fetch new scrape information** button to refresh.
For pages that don't have a `header.image` assigned in their YAML Front Matter, `site.og_image` will be used as a fallback. Use your logo, icon, avatar or something else that is meaningful. Just make sure it is place in the `/assets/images/` folder, a minimum size of 120px by 120px, and less than 1MB in file size.
Use markup on your official website to add your [social profile information](https://developers.google.com/structured-data/customize/social-profiles#adding_structured_markup_to_your_site) to the Google Knowledge panel in some searches. Knowledge panels can prominently display your social profile information.
**Note:** Analytics are disabled by default in `development`. To enable when testing/building locally be sure to set
`JEKYLL_ENV=production` to [force the environment](http://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/#specifying-a-jekyll-environment-at-build-time) to production.
**Note:** For sites with multiple authors these values can be overridden post by post with custom YAML Front Matter and a data file. For more information on how that works see below.
Social media links are all optional, include the ones you want visible. In most cases you just need to add the username. If you're unsure double check `_includes/author-profile.html` to see how the URL is constructed.
To add social media links not included with the theme or customize the author sidebar further, read the full [layout documentation]({{ "/docs/layouts/#author-profile" | absolute_url }}).
Again nothing out of the ordinary here as the theme adheres to the defaults used by GitHub Pages. [**Kramdown**](http://kramdown.gettalong.org/) for Markdown conversion, [**Rouge**](http://rouge.jneen.net/) syntax highlighting, and incremental building disabled. Change them if you need to.
To save yourself time setting [Front Matter Defaults](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/configuration/#front-matter-defaults) for posts, pages, and collections is the way to go. Sure you can assign layouts and toggle settings like **reading time**, **comments**, and **social sharing** in each file, but that's not ideal.
Using the `default` key in `_config.yml` you could set the layout and enable author profiles, reading time, comments, social sharing, and related posts for all posts --- in one shot.
And of course any default value can be overridden by settings in a post, page, or collection file. All you need to do is specify the settings in the YAML Front Matter. For more examples be sure to check out the demo site's [`_config.yml`](https://github.com/mmistakes/minimal-mistakes/blob/master/_config.yml).
The default permalink style used by the theme is `permalink: /:categories/:title/`. If you have a post named `2016-01-01-my-post.md` with `categories: foo` in the YAML Front Matter, Jekyll will generate `_site/foo/my-post/index.html`.
You'll also need to include some Liquid and HTML to properly use the paginator, which you can find in the **Layouts** section under [Home Page]({{ "/docs/layouts/#home-page" | absolute_url }}).
The paginator only works on files with name `index.html`. To use pagination in a subfolder --- for example `/recent/`, create `/recent/index.html` and set the `paginate_path` in `_config.yml` to this:
**Please note:** When using Jekyll's default [pagination plugin](http://jekyllrb.com/docs/pagination/) `paginator.posts` can only be called once. If you're looking for something more powerful that can paginate category, tag, and collection pages I suggest [**jekyll-paginate-v2**](https://github.com/sverrirs/jekyll-paginate-v2).
This sets the timezone environment variable, which Ruby uses to handle time and date creation and manipulation. Any entry from the [IANA Time Zone Database](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones) is valid. The default is the local time zone, as set by your operating system.
When hosting with GitHub Pages a small [set of gems](https://pages.github.com/versions/) have been whitelisted for use. The theme uses a few of them which can be found under `gems`. Additional settings and configurations are documented in the links below.
If you're hosting elsewhere then you don't really have to worry about what is whitelisted as you are free to include whatever [Jekyll plugins](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/plugins/) you desire.
The theme ships with support for taxonomy (category and tag) pages. GitHub Pages hosted sites need to use a _Liquid only_ approach while those hosted elsewhere can use plugins like [**jekyll-archives**][jekyll-archives] to generate these pages automatically.
**Note:** `category_archive` and `tag_archive` were previously named `categories` and `tags`. Names were changed to avoid possible conflicts with `site.categories` and `site.tags`.
**Note:** these are simply hash (fragment) links into the full taxonomy index pages. For them to resolve properly, the category and tag index pages need to exist at [`/categories/index.html`](https://github.com/{{ site.repository }}/blob/master/docs/_pages/category-archive.html) (copy to `_pages/category-archive.html`) and [`/tags/index.html`](https://github.com/{{ site.repository }}/blob/master/docs/_pages/tag-archive.html) (copy to `_pages/tag-archive.html`).
If you have the luxury of using Jekyll Plugins, then [**jekyll-archives**][jekyll-archives] will create a better experience as discrete taxonomy pages would be generated, and their corresponding links would be "real" (not just hash/fragment links into a larger index). However, the plugin will not generate the taxonomy index pages (`category-archive.html` and `_pages/tag-archive.html`) so you'd still need to manually create them if you'd like to have them (see note above).
First, you'll need to make sure that the `jekyll-archives` plugin is installed. Either run `gem install jekyll-archives` or add the following to your `Gemfile`:
Now that the plugin is installed, change `type` to `jekyll-archives` and apply the following [configurations](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-archives/blob/master/docs/configuration.md):
If you're hosting with GitHub Pages there aren't many options afforded to you for optimizing the HTML Jekyll generates. Thankfully there is some Liquid wizardry you can use to strip whitespace and comments to reduce file size.
There's a variety of configurations and caveats to using the `compress` layout, so be sure to read through the [documentation](http://jch.penibelst.de/) if you decide to make change the defaults set in the theme's `_config.yml`.
**Caution:** Inline JavaScript comments can cause problems with `compress.html`, so be sure to `/* comment this way */` and avoid `// these sorts of comments`.
**Note:** CDN services such as CloudFlare provide optional automatic minification for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. If you are serving your site via such a service and have minification enabled, this configuration might be redundant.
