Getting Started

Installation

Install bun then run bun install to install dependencies. The preview branch in Vercel shows all posts including the future posts.

Development

Run npm run dev to start the development server.

Quick Start Guide

1. Clone the repo

npx degit 'timlrx/tailwind-nextjs-starter-blog'

2. Personalize siteMetadata.js (site related information)
3. Modify the content security policy in next.config.js if you want to use other analytics provider or a commenting solution other than giscus.
4. Personalize authors/default.md (main author)
5. Modify projectsData.js
6. Modify headerNavLinks.js to customize navigation links
7. Add blog posts
8. Deploy on Vercel

Installation

yarn

Development

First, run the development server:

yarn dev

Open http://localhost:3000 with your browser to see the result.

Edit the layout in app or content in data. With live reloading, the pages auto-updates as you edit them.

Extend / Customize

data/siteMetadata.js - contains most of the site related information which should be modified for a user's need.

data/authors/default.md - default author information (required). Additional authors can be added as files in data/authors.

data/projectsData.js - data used to generate styled card on the projects page.

data/headerNavLinks.js - navigation links.

data/logo.svg - replace with your own logo.

data/blog - replace with your own blog posts.

public/static - store assets such as images and favicons.

tailwind.config.js and css/tailwind.css - tailwind configuration and stylesheet which can be modified to change the overall look and feel of the site.

css/prism.css - controls the styles associated with the code blocks. Feel free to customize it and use your preferred prismjs theme e.g. prism themes.

contentlayer.config.ts - configuration for Contentlayer, including definition of content sources and MDX plugins used. See Contentlayer documentation for more information.

components/MDXComponents.js - pass your own JSX code or React component by specifying it over here. You can then use them directly in the .mdx or .md file. By default, a custom link, next/image component, table of contents component and Newsletter form are passed down. Note that the components should be default exported to avoid existing issues with Next.js.

layouts - main templates used in pages:

• There are currently 3 post layouts available: PostLayout, PostSimple and PostBanner. PostLayout is the default 2 column layout with meta and author information. PostSimple is a simplified version of PostLayout, while PostBanner features a banner image.
• There are 2 blog listing layouts: ListLayout, the layout used in version 1 of the template with a search bar and ListLayoutWithTags, currently used in version 2, which omits the search bar but includes a sidebar with information on the tags.

app - pages to route to. Read the Next.js documentation for more information.

next.config.js - configuration related to Next.js. You need to adapt the Content Security Policy if you want to load scripts, images etc. from other domains.

Post

Content is modelled using Contentlayer, which allows you to define your own content schema and use it to generate typed content objects. See Contentlayer documentation for more information.

Frontmatter

Frontmatter follows Hugo's standards.

Please refer to contentlayer.config.ts for an up to date list of supported fields. The following fields are supported:

title (required)
date (required)
tags (optional)
lastmod (optional)
draft (optional)
summary (optional)
images (optional)
authors (optional list which should correspond to the file names in `data/authors`. Uses `default` if none is specified)
layout (optional list which should correspond to the file names in `data/layouts`)
canonicalUrl (optional, canonical url for the post for SEO)

Here's an example of a post's frontmatter:

---
title: 'Introducing Tailwind Nexjs Starter Blog'
date: '2021-01-12'
lastmod: '2021-01-18'
tags: ['next-js', 'tailwind', 'guide']
draft: false
summary: 'Looking for a performant, out of the box template, with all the best in web technology to support your blogging needs? Checkout the Tailwind Nextjs Starter Blog template.'
images: ['/static/images/canada/mountains.jpg', '/static/images/canada/toronto.jpg']
authors: ['default', 'sparrowhawk']
layout: PostLayout
canonicalUrl: https://tailwind-nextjs-starter-blog.vercel.app/blog/introducing-tailwind-nextjs-starter-blog
---

Deploy

Vercel
The easiest way to deploy the template is to deploy on Vercel. Check out the Next.js deployment documentation for more details.

Netlify Netlify’s Next.js runtime configures enables key Next.js functionality on your website without the need for additional configurations. Netlify generates serverless functions that will handle Next.js functionalities such as server-side rendered (SSR) pages, incremental static regeneration (ISR), next/images, etc.

See Next.js on Netlify for suggested configuration values and more details.

Static hosting services / GitHub Pages / S3 / Firebase etc.

1. Add output: 'export' in next.config.js. See static exports documentation for more information.

2. Comment out headers() from next.config.js.

3. Change components/Image.tsx to use a standard <img> tag instead of next/image:

   /* eslint-disable jsx-a11y/alt-text */
   /* eslint-disable @next/next/no-img-element */
   import NextImage, { ImageProps } from 'next/image'
   
   // @ts-ignore
   const Image = ({ ...rest }: ImageProps) => <img {...rest} />
   
   export default Image

   Alternatively, to continue using next/image, you can use an alternative image optimization provider such as Imgix, Cloudinary or Akamai. See image optimization documentation for more details.

4. Remove api folder and components which call the server-side function such as the Newsletter component. Not technically required and the site will build successfully, but the APIs cannot be used as they are server-side functions.

5. Run yarn build. The generated static content is in the out folder.

6. Deploy the out folder to your hosting service of choice or run npx serve out to view the website locally.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can I add a custom MDX component?

Here's an example on how to create a donut chart from Chart.js (assuming you already have the dependencies installed) and use it in MDX posts. First, create a new DonutChart.tsx component in components:

'use client'

import { Doughnut } from 'react-chartjs-2'
import { Chart as ChartJS, ArcElement, Tooltip, Legend } from 'chart.js'

ChartJS.register(ArcElement, Tooltip, Legend)

const DonutChart = ({ data }) => {
  return <Doughnut data={data} />
}

export default Doughnut

Since the underlying Doughnut component uses React hooks, we add the 'use client' directive to specify that it is a client side component. Also, there is an existing issue which prevents named components from being used, so we need to export the component as the default export.

Next, add the component to MDXComponents.tsx:

...
+ import DonutChart from './DonutChart'

export const components: MDXComponents = {
  Image,
  TOCInline,
  a: CustomLink,
  pre: Pre,
+  DonutChart,
  BlogNewsletterForm,
}

You can now use the component in .mdx files:

## Example Donut Chart

export const data = {
  labels: ['Red', 'Blue', 'Yellow'],
  datasets: [
    {
      label: '# of Votes',
      data: [12, 19, 3],
      backgroundColor: [
        'rgba(255, 99, 132, 0.2)',
        'rgba(54, 162, 235, 0.2)',
        'rgba(255, 206, 86, 0.2)',
      ],
      borderColor: ['rgba(255, 99, 132, 1)', 'rgba(54, 162, 235, 1)', 'rgba(255, 206, 86, 1)'],
      borderWidth: 1,
    },
  ],
}

<DonutChart data={data} />

How can I customize the kbar search?

Add a SearchProvider component such as the one shown below and use it in place of the default SearchProvider component in app/layout.tsx.

defaultActions are the initial list of actions.

onSearchDocumentsLoad is a callback function that is called when the documents specified by searchDocumentsPath are loaded. Set searchDocumentsPath to false to disable the dynamically loaded search feature.

'use client'

import { KBarSearchProvider } from 'pliny/search/KBar'
import { useRouter } from 'next/navigation'
import { CoreContent } from 'pliny/utils/contentlayer'
import { Blog } from 'contentlayer/generated'

export const SearchProvider = ({ children }: { children: React.ReactNode }) => {
  const router = useRouter()
  return (
    <KBarSearchProvider
      kbarConfig={{
        searchDocumentsPath: 'search.json',
        defaultActions: [
          {
            id: 'homepage',
            name: 'Homepage',
            keywords: '',
            shortcut: ['h', 'h'],
            section: 'Home',
            perform: () => router.push('/'),
          },
          {
            id: 'projects',
            name: 'Projects',
            keywords: '',
            shortcut: ['p'],
            section: 'Home',
            perform: () => router.push('/projects'),
          },
        ],
        onSearchDocumentsLoad(json) {
          return json.map((post: CoreContent<Blog>) => ({
            id: post.path,
            name: post.title,
            keywords: post?.summary || '',
            section: 'Blog',
            subtitle: post.tags.join(', '),
            perform: () => router.push(post.path),
          }))
        },
      }}
    >
      {children}
    </KBarSearchProvider>
  )
}

Support

Using the template? Support this effort by giving a star on GitHub, sharing your own blog and giving a shoutout on Twitter or becoming a project sponsor.

Licence

MIT © Timothy Lin