Choosing a Jekyll theme

Here are some rough notes based on answers from ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude.

First of all, here some features they mentioned:

  • Breadcrumbs
  • Bidirectional links
  • Link previews
  • Search
  • Embed SVGs
  • Discus
  • Analytics
  • Last updated

Chirpy

Looks very neat. But couldn’t see the wiki-style link previews.

Modern, feature-rich theme with good navigation, search, and categorization that adapts well to garden-style content.

The “All-Rounder”

Chirpy is one of the most popular modern Jekyll themes. It looks very professional and “tech-focused” out of the box.

Best for: Technical essays and software installation notes.

Key Feature: It includes a dedicated “Tab” for categories and tags, and a “Last Updated” feature which is great for technical notes that you edit over time.

Tools: Built-in search, syntax highlighting for code, and a clean sidebar.

Simply Jekyll

Innovative, but scruffy. Seems to need Netlify.

Clean, minimal theme designed specifically for digital gardens with backlinks and a knowledge graph.

Jekyll Garden

“A simple Jekyll theme that turns your Obsidian notes into a beautiful website.”

Purpose-built for digital gardens with bidirectional links, graph visualization, and Wiki-style navigation. It’s based on the popular Obsidian publishing workflow. C:

Minimal Mistakes

Looks rather advanced

Highly customizable, clean design that works well for interconnected content. Good documentation and active community. G: The “Powerhouse”. the most flexible Jekyll theme in existence

Just the Docs

Looks rather advanced. Contains detailed documentation.

Originally for documentation but excellent for knowledge bases. Has built-in search, navigation hierarchy, and clean reading experience.

If your priority is making your lecture notes and math resources easy to browse, this is the gold standard. It’s designed for documentation, but many use it for personal knowledge bases.Best for: Highly organized lecture notes and software “how-tos.”Key Feature: Multi-level navigation (perfect for nested topics like Math > Calculus > Integration).Math Support: Excellent built-in support for $MathJax$ or $\KaTeX$.

Jekyll Second Brain

Couldn’t find it

Lightweight theme inspired by the “second brain” methodology, emphasizing note connections.

Maxime Vaillancourt’s template

Popular open-source digital garden template with backlinks and graph view (though technically a template rather than traditional theme). C:

Enjoyment work

A Jekyll theme explicitly designed around the digital garden philosophy, with support for note collections and contextual navigation. only C: