Tests for Just the Docs

Various tests illustrate how the theme renders various elements.

The following sections are a log of the creation of this website, with links to some relevant resources.

Bug reports and suggestions for improvement are welcome!

Table of contents

• Create a Jekyll site on GitHub Pages
• Use Just the Docs as a remote theme
• Use Jekyll Actions on GitHub Pages with Jekyll 4

Create a Jekyll site on GitHub Pages

1. Shell:

   jekyll new just-the-docs-tests
   ...
   cd just-the-docs-tests
   bundle exec jekyll serve
   

2. Browser: http://localhost:4000
   • Shows the site home page with Minima layout
3. GitHub Desktop:
   • Create repository just-the-docs-tests
4. Shell:

   git config user.email ...@users.noreply.github.com
   

5. GitHub Desktop:
   • Publish repository just-the-docs-tests
6. Browser: GitHub repository: Settings:
   • GitHub Pages: Source: master or main (Save)
   • Change repository visibility: public
7. Browser: https://pdmosses.github.io/just-the-docs-tests/
   • The site appears on GitHub Pages

Use Just the Docs as a remote theme

Just the Docs Quickstart

1. Edit _config.yml:

   title: Testing Just the Docs
   # email: your-email@example.com
   description: >- # this means to ignore newlines until "baseurl:"
     This site tests some features of Just the Docs, a remote theme for Jekyll on GitHub Pages.
   baseurl: "/just-the-docs-tests" # the subpath of your site, e.g. /blog
   url: "" # the base hostname & protocol for your site, e.g. http://example.com
   

   Replace the Minima theme by Just the Docs Jekyll remote theme:

   # Build settings
   # theme: minima
   remote_theme: pmarsceill/just-the-docs
   plugins:
     - jekyll-feed
     - jekyll-remote-theme
   

   Avoid need for layout: default in docs pages using Jekyll front matter defaults:

   defaults:
     -
       scope:
         path: "docs" # an empty string here means all files in the project
       values:
         layout: "default"
   

   Warning: Using path: "" above corrupts files in the assets folder (also when restricted to type: "pages").

2. Edit Gemfile: replace the Minima theme by Just the Docs remote theme

   # Happy Jekylling!
   gem "jekyll", "~> 4.1.1"
   # This is the default theme for new Jekyll sites. You may change this to anything you like.
   # gem "minima", "~> 2.5"
   gem "jekyll-remote-theme"
   gem "just-the-docs"
   

   Warning: The github-pages gem currently requires Jekyll 3, and cannot be installed together with Jekyll 4.

3. Files:
   • delete about.markdown
   • update index.markdown
   • add README.md
   • add docs/index.md
   • add docs/grandchildren/*
   • add _includes/head_custom.html to prevent favicon.ico requests

     <link rel="icon" href="data:,">
     

4. Shell:

   bundle install
   bundle exec jekyll serve
   

5. Browser: http://localhost:4000/just-the-docs-tests/
   • Shows the site home page with Just the Docs layout
6. GitHub Desktop:
   • Push
7. Browser: https://pdmosses.github.io/just-the-docs-tests/
   • The site appears on GitHub Pages
   • The site is automatically built using Jekyll 3.8.5

Use Jekyll Actions on GitHub Pages with Jekyll 4

Jekyll Actions, Jekyll Actions Demo, Deploy your Jekyll blog using Github Pages and Github Actions

Updated April 2021

The Gemfile is used by the action, so make sure it is not in .gitignore (in contrast to Gemfile.lock, which should be ignored by git).

N.B. The following steps overwrite the gh-pages branch!

1. Browser: GitHub repository: Actions:
   • Click on the link to set up a workflow yourself
   • Change the file name from main.yml to github-pages.yml

   • Replace the file contents by the following YAML code from Jekyll Actions

     name: Build and deploy Jekyll site to GitHub Pages
     
     on:
       push
     
     jobs:
       github-pages:
         runs-on: ubuntu-latest
         steps:
         - uses: actions/checkout@v2
     
         # Use GitHub Actions' cache to shorten build times and decrease load on servers
         - uses: actions/cache@v2
           with:
             path: vendor/bundle
             key: ${{ runner.os }}-gems-${{ hashFiles('**/Gemfile') }}
             restore-keys: |
               ${{ runner.os }}-gems-
     
         # Standard usage
         - uses:  helaili/jekyll-action@v2
           with:
             token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
     

   • Click Start commit then Commit new file
2. Browser: GitHub repository: Settings: Pages:
   • GitHub Pages: Source: should still be set to master or main
3. Browser: GitHub repository:
   • Click on the status symbol (tick or X) in the latest commit information
   • Click on Details
   • A successful build:
   • The site has now been built using Jekyll 4, as specified in Gemfile
4. Browser: https://pdmosses.github.io/just-the-docs-tests/
   • Check the site has been published on GitHub Pages