low

A minimal, retro-inspired Jekyll theme for engineers who care about the metal.

low is a lightweight Jekyll theme designed for technical blogging — inspired by Fabien Sanglard's website.
It's meant for developers who write about low-level programming, graphics, operating systems, emulation, and the craft of software.

No JavaScript frameworks. No build pipelines. Just clean HTML, monospace typography, and focus on content.

✳ Features

• ⚙️ Zero-dependency design — pure HTML + CSS, no JavaScript
• 💾 Retro technical aesthetic — monospaced typography and print-like layout
• 🧱 Simple structure — easily fork, modify, or embed in existing Jekyll setups
• 📰 RSS + SEO ready — via jekyll-feed, jekyll-seo-tag, and jekyll-sitemap
• 🗓️ Archive view — grouped by year, auto-generated from posts
• 🖋️ Clean code blocks — styled for low-level and C-style syntax
• 🪶 Compact footer — © year + author, nothing more

⚡ Installation

Option 1: Add to Existing Site

Add this line to your Jekyll site's Gemfile:

gem "jekyll-theme-low"

And add this line to your _config.yml:

theme: jekyll-theme-low

Then execute:

bundle install

Option 2: Create New Site

jekyll new my-blog
cd my-blog

Edit Gemfile and add:

gem "jekyll-theme-low"

Edit _config.yml and add:

theme: jekyll-theme-low

Then run:

bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve

🧩 Directory Structure

low/
├── _layouts/
│   ├── default.html      # Base layout (includes header/footer)
│   ├── home.html         # Main index page
│   ├── post.html         # Individual post layout
│   └── archive.html      # Yearly archive page
│
├── _includes/
│   ├── head.html         # Metadata + styles
│   ├── header.html       # Top navigation bar
│   ├── footer.html       # Minimal one-liner footer
│   ├── post-list.html    # Reusable post index
│   └── post-meta.html    # Date + tags for posts
│
├── assets/
│   └── css/
│       └── main.scss     # Global theme styles
│
├── _sass/
│   └── theme/
│       └── _syntax.scss  # Rouge syntax highlighting
│
└── low.gemspec           # Jekyll theme definition

🧭 Example Site

The theme ships with an example/ directory that demonstrates:

• Index page listing posts under "Articles"
• /archive/ for yearly grouping
• /rss.xml for feed readers

Run it locally:

cd example
bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve

Then open: http://127.0.0.1:4000

🎨 Customization

Basic Configuration

Edit your _config.yml:

title: Your Site Title
author: Your Name
description: A technical blog about low-level programming
url: "https://yourdomain.com"

# Plugins
plugins:
  - jekyll-feed
  - jekyll-seo-tag
  - jekyll-sitemap

Creating Posts

Create a file in _posts/ directory:

---
layout: post
title: "My First Post"
date: 2025-11-05
categories: programming
---

Your content here...

Adding Pages

Create pages in the root directory:

---
layout: default
title: About
permalink: /about/
---

About me...

🧠 Philosophy

This theme follows the same principles as the projects it's meant to host:

• Understand what runs under the hood
• Respect simplicity
• Prefer text over tools

It's ideal for developers writing deep dives into:

• Retro-game rendering
• CPU emulation
• Assembly or C programming
• Framebuffer graphics
• OS development logs

🪞 Credit

Heavily inspired by the aesthetic and minimalism of Fabien Sanglard.

📄 License

The theme is available as open source under the terms of the MIT License.

🤝 Contributing

Bug reports and pull requests are welcome on GitHub at https://github.com/[username]/jekyll-theme-low

📮 Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

1. Check the example site for reference
2. Open an issue on GitHub
3. Read the Jekyll documentation

Made with ❤️ for the low-level community