Introduction

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Get started with Hinode, a clean documentation and blog theme for your Hugo site based on Bootstrap 5.

Hinode is a clean documentation and blog theme for Hugo - an open-source static site generator. Based on the Bootstrap 5 framework, the rendered site is fast, secure, and responsive. Hinode uses FlexSearch to enable full text search across your site. Finally, the theme provides optional support for Node Package Manager (npm) to automate the build process and to keep track of dependencies. More information is available on the about page.

Prerequisites

Hinode requires the following software to be installed on your local machine:

  • Git for version control
  • Go for Hugo modules

You can choose to use either Hugo or npm for local development and testing. The npm configuration includes an embedded Hugo binary.

  • Hugo to generate the site - OR -
  • Node.js (it includes npm) to generate the site and to automate dependency upgrades

Installation

Hinode is available as a template and as a main theme. The template uses Hugo modules to link to the latest available version of the main Hinode theme. Unless you plan to customize a lot, it is recommended to use the template. You can use either Hugo or npm to create a new site.

  1. Create a new site

    Use the Hinode template (recommended):

    git clone https://github.com/gethinode/template.git my-hinode-site && cd my-hinode-site

    Use the main theme if you intend to customize the base code:

    git clone https://github.com/gethinode/hinode.git my-hinode-site && cd my-hinode-site

  2. Install dependencies

    hugo mod get -u ./... && hugo mod tidy

  3. Start the development server

    hugo server

  1. Create a new site

    Use the Hinode template (recommended):

    git clone https://github.com/gethinode/template.git my-hinode-site && cd my-hinode-site

    Use the main theme if you intend to customize the base code:

    git clone https://github.com/gethinode/hinode.git my-hinode-site && cd my-hinode-site

  2. Install dependencies

    npm install && npm run mod:update

  3. Start the development server

    npm run start

Adding content

Hinode contains sample content for a blog and a project portfolio. The examples are available in English and Dutch and can be found in the content folder. Review the following items on to how organize and enrich your content.

Hinode uses Markdown and templates to define the content for your website. See the content management page for more details.

Hinode uses a structured approach to organize and present content. See the content organization page for more details.

Hinode uses a mix of basic Markdown syntax enriched with Bootstrap styling for the typography. Review the typography documentation for more details.

Generate internal links and external links using a combination of Markdown and Hugo shortcodes. You can optionally manage your external links in a central configuration file. Review the links documentation for more details.

Hinode supports responsive images out-of-the-box. Hinode uses Hugo to preprocess images on the server. By taking advantage of so-called image sets, the client’s browser can decide which image to download whilst reducing the download size. Review the image documentation for more details.

Hinode enhances the basic tables available in Markdown with optional styling features provided by Bootstrap. You can customize the accentuation, adjust the borders, and make tables more compact. Review the tables documentation for more details.

Hinode provides out-of-the box access to the free icons of Font Awesome. The icon library provides various styling options. Review the icons documentation for more details.

Quick configuration settings

The main site configuration is available in ./config/_default. Review the following items to get you started.

Hinode uses a base layout for the home page, list pages, and individual pages. Individual pages can also be configured as documentation page instead of a regular page. Review the layout documentation for more details.

Hinode uses eight configurable theme colors. You can adjust them in the style section of /config/_default/params.toml. Review the colors documentation for more details.

Set the themeFont and themeFontPath in the style section of /config/_default/params.toml to adjust the main font. Hinode includes supports for Emoji by default. Review the fonts documentation for more details.

Configure each supported language in config/_default/languages.toml. Set the default behavior in config/_default/hugo.toml. Review the languages documentation for more details.

Define the main menu entries for each language in config/_default/menus. For example, the English menu entries are defined in menus.en.toml. See the navigation documentation for more details.

Advanced configuration settings

The next topics give an overview of the advanced configuration settings.

Hinode supports npm packages to automate various tasks. In addition, it uses Hugo’s mounted folders to create a virtual file system. Review the advanced settings overview for more details.

Hinode uses Bootstrap’s Sass files to generate the cascading style sheets of the website. The main entrypoint is defined in assets/scss/app.scss. See the styles documentation for more details.

Hinodes uses npm to include the latest JavaScript files of external packages such as Bootstrap and FlexSearch. All local and external files are bundled in a single JavaScript file. See the scripts documentation for more details.

Hinode replaces Boostrap’s embedded icons with file-based icons to comply with its security settings. The icon files are parameterized to use the theme colors. See the icons documentation for more details.

Hinode uses rather strict security policies to ensure the site is secure by default. Be sure to include references to external sources in the header configuration to avoid broken links. The settings of the local development server are defined in config/_default/server.toml. Similar settings are defined in the netlify.toml file provided in the repository’s root when deploying to Netlify. See the server documentation for more details.
Last updated: July 18, 2023 • Fix linting issues (0519438)
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