Lamoni - Hugo Website

A modern, fast static website built with Hugo, the world's fastest framework for building websites.

About Hugo

Hugo is a fast and modern static site generator written in Go. It's designed for speed and flexibility, making it perfect for:

• Blazing Fast: Hugo renders pages in milliseconds, not seconds
• Content Management: Write content in Markdown with front matter for metadata
• Themes: Extensive theme ecosystem for quick customization
• Deployment: Deploy anywhere - GitHub Pages, Netlify, Vercel, or any static host
• Developer Friendly: Live reload, syntax highlighting, and powerful templating

This project uses the Ananke theme, a popular and well-maintained Hugo theme that provides a clean, responsive design out of the box.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Hugo Extended (v0.100.0 or later)
• Git

Development

1. Clone and setup (if not already done):

   git clone <your-repo-url>
   cd lamoni
   git submodule update --init --recursive

2. Start development server:

   make
   # or
   make dev

   Your site will be available at http://localhost:1313

3. View all available commands:

   make help

Getting Started for Developers

Project Structure

lamoni/
├── archetypes/          # Content templates
├── assets/              # Assets to be processed (SCSS, JS, images)
├── content/             # Your content files (Markdown)
│   ├── posts/          # Blog posts
│   └── about.md        # Static pages
├── data/               # Data files (JSON, YAML, TOML)
├── layouts/            # Custom HTML templates
├── static/             # Static files (copied as-is)
├── themes/             # Hugo themes
│   └── ananke/         # Current theme (git submodule)
├── hugo.toml           # Site configuration
└── Makefile           # Development commands

Adding Content

Create a New Blog Post

# Interactive way
make new-post

# Manual way
hugo new content posts/my-new-post.md

This creates a new Markdown file with front matter:

+++
date = '2025-09-19T13:51:21-06:00'
draft = false
title = 'My New Post'
tags = ['tag1', 'tag2']
+++

Your content here in **Markdown**!

Create a New Page

# Interactive way
make new-page

# Manual way
hugo new content about.md

Front Matter Options

Common front matter variables:

+++
title = "Page Title"
date = "2025-09-19T13:51:21-06:00"
draft = false                    # Set to true to hide from production
tags = ["hugo", "web"]          # Post tags
categories = ["Technology"]      # Post categories
description = "Page description" # Meta description
weight = 10                     # Order in menus (lower = higher priority)
+++

Customizing Styles

Method 1: Override Theme Styles (Recommended)

Create custom CSS in assets/css/:

mkdir -p assets/css
echo "/* Custom styles */" > assets/css/custom.css

Then reference it in your layout or config.

Method 2: Modify Theme Directly

Warning: Changes will be lost when updating the theme.

# Edit theme styles
vim themes/ananke/assets/css/main.css

Method 3: Create Custom Layout

Override specific templates by copying from theme to your layouts directory:

# Copy theme template to customize
cp themes/ananke/layouts/_default/single.html layouts/_default/
# Now edit layouts/_default/single.html

Building Sections and Layouts

Creating Custom Sections

1. Create content directory:

   mkdir content/portfolio

2. Add section page:

   hugo new content portfolio/_index.md

3. Add content to section:

   hugo new content portfolio/project-1.md

Custom Layouts

Create layouts for specific content types:

# Layout for all portfolio items
mkdir -p layouts/portfolio
touch layouts/portfolio/single.html    # Individual portfolio item
touch layouts/portfolio/list.html      # Portfolio listing page

Example layouts/portfolio/single.html:

{{ define "main" }}
<article>
  <h1>{{ .Title }}</h1>
  <time>{{ .Date.Format "January 2, 2006" }}</time>
  <div class="content">
    {{ .Content }}
  </div>
</article>
{{ end }}

Configuration

Edit hugo.toml to customize your site:

baseURL = 'https://yoursite.com'
languageCode = 'en-us'
title = 'Your Site Title'
theme = 'ananke'

[params]
  author = "Your Name"
  description = "Site description"
  
[menu]
  [[menu.main]]
    name = "Home"
    url = "/"
    weight = 1
  [[menu.main]]
    name = "About"
    url = "/about/"
    weight = 2

Development Commands

Command	Description
make or make dev	Start development server
make dev-drafts	Include draft posts in development
make build	Build for production
make clean	Remove build artifacts
make new-post	Create new blog post
make new-page	Create new page
make theme-update	Update theme

Theme Customization

Updating the Theme

make theme-update

Using a Different Theme

1. Remove current theme:

   git submodule deinit themes/ananke
   git rm themes/ananke

2. Add new theme:

   git submodule add https://github.com/author/theme-name themes/theme-name

3. Update hugo.toml:

   theme = 'theme-name'

Deployment

Build for Production

make build

This generates static files in the public/ directory.

Deploy to Popular Platforms

• Netlify: Connect your Git repo, set build command to hugo --minify
• Vercel: Import project, framework preset should auto-detect Hugo
• GitHub Pages: Use GitHub Actions with Hugo workflow
• Traditional hosting: Upload contents of public/ directory

Tips and Best Practices

1. Content Organization: Use descriptive filenames and organize by date or category
2. Images: Place in static/images/ or use page bundles in content/posts/my-post/
3. SEO: Always include title and description in front matter
4. Performance: Optimize images and use Hugo's built-in image processing
5. Version Control: Commit content changes regularly

Troubleshooting

• Site not loading: Check that Hugo server is running on correct port
• Theme not working: Ensure theme is properly initialized as submodule
• Content not showing: Check that draft = false in front matter
• Styles not updating: Clear browser cache or use incognito mode

Resources

• Hugo Documentation
• Hugo Themes
• Markdown Guide
• Ananke Theme Documentation

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test locally with make dev
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.