Getting started

Alcor is a free one-page Jekyll theme for freelancers and small studios. There are three ways to use it. Pick the first one unless you already have a Jekyll site.

1. Use the template (easiest)

You need a free GitHub account. Nothing to install.

1. Open the Alcor repository and click Use this template → Create a new repository.
2. Name it your-username.github.io for a personal site (it will live at https://your-username.github.io), or any other name for a project site (it will live at https://your-username.github.io/name).
3. In your new repository, open Settings → Pages. Under Build and deployment, choose Deploy from a branch, then main and / (root), and click Save.
4. Wait a minute or two. The address appears at the top of the Pages settings.

For a project site, open _config.yml and set baseurl to the repository name with a slash in front, for example baseurl: "/portfolio". Personal sites leave it empty.

Your copy contains a demo workflow in .github/workflows/demo.yml. It only runs in our own repository, so you can ignore it or delete it.

2. Add it to a site you already have

In your _config.yml:

remote_theme: Tortoiz-Themes/alcor-jekyll
plugins:
  - jekyll-remote-theme
  - jekyll-seo-tag
  - jekyll-sitemap

Then copy three pages from the repository into your site: index.md (the home page), thank-you.html and 404.html. Also copy the whole alcor: block from its _config.yml into yours.

Jekyll doesn’t read a remote theme’s own settings or data, which is why the home page and the alcor: block have to live in your site.

3. Install it as a gem

For sites built on your computer, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages or GitHub Actions. In your Gemfile:

gem "jekyll-theme-alcor", git: "https://github.com/Tortoiz-Themes/alcor-jekyll"

Run bundle install, set theme: jekyll-theme-alcor in _config.yml, and copy the same three pages and the alcor: block as above.

Make it yours

1. You. In _config.yml, change title, description, url and everything under alcor:: your name, email, availability and profiles. See Site settings.
2. Your page. In index.md, change the words in each section, and delete or reorder sections. See Sections.
3. Your form. Connect the contact form to Web3Forms or Formspree so messages reach you. See Contact form.
4. Your pictures. Swap the drawings for your own photos, or keep them. See Colours, fonts and pictures.

Every change you push to GitHub goes live a minute or two later.

Preview on your computer (optional)

You need Ruby and Bundler. In your site’s folder:

bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve

Open http://localhost:4000. The page rebuilds when you save a file, except _config.yml: stop the server (Ctrl+C) and start it again after changing that. The template’s Gemfile uses the same Jekyll version GitHub Pages runs (3.10), so what you see is what goes live.