Simply follow the standard Hugo [Quick Start](https://gohugo.io/getting-started/quick-start/) procedure to get up and running quickly.
Detailed instructions can be found below.
### 1. Install Hugo
You can find specific instructions for your platform in the official [Hugo docs](https://gohugo.io/getting-started/installing.).
Make sure you are using **Hugo version 0.86.1** or later as the theme takes advantage of some of the latest Hugo features.
### 2. Create a new site
Run the command `hugo new site mywebsite` to create a new Hugo site in a folder named `mywebsite`.
### 3. Download the Congo theme
There are a couple of ways to install the Congo theme into your Hugo website. The git method is the easiest to keep the theme up-to-date, but you can also download and install manually if you don't have git available.
#### Install using git
Change into the directory for your Hugo website, initialise a new repository and add Congo as a submodule.
Download the latest version of the theme from: [https://github.com/jpanther/Congo/archive/stable.zip](https://github.com/jpanther/Congo/archive/stable.zip)
In the root folder of your website, delete the `config.toml` file that was generated by Hugo. Copy the entire `themes/congo/config/` folder into the root of your website. This will ensure you have all the correct theme settings and will enable you to easily customise the theme.
You're now all set up to use Congo. From here you can add some content and start the Hugo server.
Refer to the Hugo docs for more information or read the next section to learn more about configuring the theme.
## Configuration
Congo is a highly customisable theme and uses some of the latest Hugo features to simplify how it is configured.
The theme ships with a default configuration that gets you up and running with a basic blog or static website. This default configuration can be found in the `themes/congo/config/_default/` folder.
> Configuration files bundled with the theme are provided in TOML format as this is the default Hugo syntax. Feel free to convert your config to YAML or JSON as you wish.
The config files that ship with Congo contain all of the possible settings that the theme recognises. By default, many of these are commented out but you can simply uncomment them to activate or change a specific feature.
A few things you need to set for a new installation:
It's also useful to set the author configuration in the `config/_default/author.toml` file. You can also add links to your profiles here to enable them in the theme.
By default, Congo doesn't force you to use a particular content type. In doing so you are free to define your content as you wish. You might prefer _pages_ for a static site, _posts_ for a blog, or _projects_ for a portfolio.
The same logic applies to taxonomies. Some people prefer to use _tags_ and _categories_, others prefer to use _topics_.
Hugo defaults to using posts, tags and categories out of the box and this will work fine if that's what you want. If you wish to customise this, however, you can do so by creating the following files:
This will replace the default _tags_ and _categories_ with _topics_. Refer to the [Hugo Taxonomy docs](https://gohugo.io/content-management/taxonomies/) for more information on naming taxonomies.
When you create a new taxonomy, you will need to adjust the navigation links on the website to point to the new sections:
Congo provides a large number of configuration parameters that control how the theme functions. The table below outlines every available parameter in the `config/_default/params.toml` file.
<!-- prettier-ignore-start -->
|Name|Type|Default|Description|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|`article.showDate`|boolean|`true`|Whether or not the article date is displayed.|
|`article.dateFormat`|string|`"2 January 2006"`|How the article date is formatted. Refer to the [Hugo docs](https://gohugo.io/functions/format/#gos-layout-string) for acceptable formats.|
|`article.showReadingTime`|boolean|`true`|Whether or not reading time is displayed.|
|`article.showAuthor`|boolean|`true`|Whether or not the author box is displayed in the article footer.|
|`article.showPagination`|boolean|`true`|Whether or not the next/previous article links are displayed in the article footer.|
|`taxonomy.showTermCount`|boolean|`true`|Whether or not the number of articles within a taxonomy term is displayed on the taxonomy listing.|
|`sitemap.excludedKinds`|array of strings|`["taxonomy", "term"]`|Kinds of content that should be excluded from the generated `sitemap.xml` file. Refer to the [Hugo docs](https://gohugo.io/templates/section-templates/#page-kinds) for acceptable values.|
<!-- prettier-ignore-end -->
## Front Matter
In addition to the default Hugo front matter parameters, Congo adds a number of additional options to customise the presentation of individual articles. All the available theme parameters are listed below. Keep in mind that you only need to specify these parameters in your front matter when you want to override the default.
<!-- prettier-ignore-start -->
|Name|Type|Default|Description|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|`xml`|boolean|`true`|Whether or not this article is included in the generated sitemap.xml file.|
In addition to all the [default Hugo shortcodes](https://gohugo.io/content-management/shortcodes/), Congo adds a few extras for additional functionality.
### Alert
`alert` outputs its contents as a stylised message box within your article. It's useful for drawing attention to important information that you don't want the reader to miss.
The input is written in Markdown so you can format it however you please.
**Usage:**
```md
{{<alert>}}
**Warning!** This action is destructive!
{{</alert>}}
```
### Icon
`icon` outputs an SVG icon and takes the icon name as its only parameter. The icon is scaled to match the current text size.
**Usage:**
```md
{{<icon"github">}}
```
Icons are populated using Hugo pipelines which makes them very flexible. Congo ships with a default set of icons for social, email, and generic links. If you want to add your own icons, you can simply place them in `/assets/icons/` and reference them using the `icon` shortcode passing in the icon's filename (without the `.svg.` extension).
`lead` is used to bring emphasis to the start of an article. It can be used to style an introduction, or to call out an important piece of information. Simply wrap any Markdown content in the `lead` shortcode.
```md
{{<lead>}}
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
{{</lead>}}
```
### Mermaid
`mermaid` allows you to draw detailed diagrams and visualisations using text. It uses MermaidJS under the hood and supports a wide variety of diagrams, charts and other output formats.
Simply write your Mermaid syntax within the `mermaid` shortcode and let the plugin do the rest.
Congo provides built-in support for Fathom Analytics and Google Analytics. Fathom is a paid alternative to Google Analytics that respects user privacy. If you're interested you can [receive $10 credit](https://usefathom.com/ref/RLAJSV) and try the service.
> **Note:** This is an affiliate link but helps to support the development of Congo.
#### Fathom Analytics
To enable Fathom Analytics support, simply provide your Fathom site code in the `config/_default/params.toml` file. If you also use the custom domain feature of Fathom and would like to serve their script from your domain, you can also additionally provide the `domain` configuration value. If you don't provide a `domain` value, the script will load directly from Fathom DNS.
```toml
# config/_default/params.toml
[fathomAnalytics]
site = "ABC12345"
domain = "llama.yoursite.com"
```
#### Google Analytics
Google Analytics support is provided through the internal Hugo partial. Simply provide the `googleAnalytics` key in the `config/_default/config.toml` file and the script will be added automatically.
```toml
# config/_default/config.toml
googleAnalytics = "UA-PROPERTY_ID"
```
#### Custom analytics providers
If you wish to use a different analytics provider on your website you can also override the analytics partial and provide your own script. Simply create the file `layouts/partials/analytics.html` in your project and it will automatically include it in the `<head>` of the website.
### Comments.html
To add comments to your articles, Congo includes support for a comments partial that is included at the base of each article page. Simply provide a `layouts/partials/comments.html` which contains the code required to display your chosen comments.
You can use either the built-in Hugo Disqus template, or provide your own custom code. Refer to the [Hugo docs](https://gohugo.io/content-management/comments/) for further information.
### Favicons.html
Congo provides a default set of blank favicons to get started but you can provide your own assets to override them. The easiest way to obtain new favicon assets is to generate them using a third-party provider like [favicon.io](https://favicon.io).
Icon assets should be placed directly in the `static/` folder of your website and named as per the listing below. If you use [favicon.io](https://favicon.io), these will be the filenames that are automatically generated for you, but you can provide your own assets if you wish.
```shell
static/
├─ android-chrome-192x192.png
├─ android-chrome-512x512.png
├─ apple-touch-icon.png
├─ favicon-16x16.png
├─ favicon-32x32.png
├─ favicon.ico
└─ site.webmanifest
```
Alternatively, you can also completely override the default favicon behaviour and provide your own favicon HTML tags and assets. Simply provide a `layouts/partials/favicons.html` file in your project and this will be injected into the site `<head>` in place of the default assets.
### Icon.html
Similar to the [icon shortcode](#icon), you can include icons in your own templates and partials by using Congo's `icon.html` partial. The partial takes one parameter which is the name of the icon to be included.
**Usage:**
```go
{{ partial "icon.html" "github" }}
```
Congo includes a number of built-in icons for social, links and other purposes. You can also provide your own icon assets by including the SVG in `assets/icons/`.
### Extend-head.html and Extend-footer.html
The theme allows for inserting additional code directly into the `<head>` and `<footer>` sections of the template. These can be useful for providing scripts or other logic that isn't part of the theme.
Simply create either `layouts/partials/extend-head.html` or `layouts/partials/extend-footer.html` in your site folder and these will automatically be included in your website build. Both partials are injected as the last items in `<head>` and `<footer>` so they can be used to override theme defaults.
## Advanced customisation
There are a couple of ways you can make style changes to Congo.
If you just need to add or override some simple styles, you can do so by creating a `custom.css` file in your project's `static/css/` folder. This file will be loaded automatically after the theme's default styles.
Alternatively, if you'd like to make a major change, you can take advantage of Tailwind CSS's JIT compiler and rebuild the entire theme CSS from scratch.
> **Note:** Building the theme manually is intended for advanced users.
Change into the `themes/congo/` folder and install the project dependencies.
```bash
npm install
```
Once installed, you can edit the `themes/congo/tailwind.config.js` to change the styles that are applied throughout the theme. You can also adjust specific styles in `themes/congo/assets/css/main.css`.
To allow for easy theme colour changes, Congo defines a `primary` and `secondary` colour palette that is used throughout the theme. In order to change the colour across the entire theme, simply edit the `tailwind.config.js` file accordingly.
For example, to change to a green colour scheme, you could apply these changes:
```js
// themes/congo/tailwind.config.js
theme: {
colors: {
transparent: "transparent",
white: colors.white,
gray: colors.gray,
primary: colors.lime,
secondary: colors.teal,
},
...
}
```
For a full list of colours available, and their corresponding configuration values, see the official [Tailwind docs](https://tailwindcss.com/docs/customizing-colors#color-palette-reference).
After editing the configuration, you need to rebuild the theme's stylesheets.
```bash
npm run build
```
This will automatically output a minified CSS file to `/themes/congo/static/css/main.css`.
To aid with testing style changes, you can also run the Tailwind JIT comiler in watch mode.
```bash
npm run dev
```
Now whenever you make a change, the (non-minified) CSS files will be rebuilt automatically. This mode is useful to run when using `hugo server` to preview your site during development. Remember to perform a full build before publishing your website.
Congo is still very much a work in progress. I intend to keep adding features and making changes as required.
### Bugs & Suggestions
Feel free to get in touch with any issues or suggestions for new features you'd like to see. Please use GitHub issues for all bug reports and suggestions to help keep everything in one spot.
If you're able to fix a bug or implement a new feature, I welcome PRs for this purpose.
