This is the most extensive release so far, featuring new capabilities, numerous improvements—especially in the documentation.

New features

  • RSS feed functionality has been added

  • Moved the side navigation elements into individual files within the _includes folder and applied additional styling.

    • New layouts should use either page or post as the base layout (and not default), as these provide the headings and the <section> or <article> areas needed for formatting the content sections.

  • Added includes that allow posts, pages and the content area to be extended without needing to modify the layouts

    • Content can now be added at the beginning and end of each page and post, as well as above and below the content area

  • The 'powered by' section in the footer has been moved to a separate content file

  • The date of the last edit should now be specified using the last_modified_at page variable instead of lastedit (from version 0.4.0).

    • This change ensures that the date is also included in the RSS-feed (jekyll-feed).

  • Added styles and an example for code annotations with AsciiDoc.

  • Added an option to prevent tag descriptions from displaying as titles in the tag cloud to keep page sizes smaller

  • Made intentional decisions on which variables are escaped when rendered in the layouts (and documented this behavior).

    • Values of site variables set in config.yml are escaped (with the exception of brand, title, and subtitle)

    • Tag descriptions from the _data directory are also escaped

    • page variables are typically NOT escaped, as these are already escaped by the AsciiDoc processor.

    • An exception here is page.tags; these are escaped upon output. The reason is that I assume *tags with HTML special characters are not set via the AsciiDoc variable :page-tags:, as AsciiDoc always escapes all its input. Internally, the tag would then be stored in the escaped version, making a match with tag-description data, where the tag is unescaped, impossible. Since the tags are therefore unescaped initially, they are escaped upon output.

      Variables of page variables in Jekyll front matter (used for Markdown and optionally for some AsciiDoc documents) are not escaped!

    • This means that you

      • In Jekyll front matter entries (e.g., title), CAN use HTML commands (only esception: page.tags)

      • In Jekyll front matter MUST escape HTML special characters if you want to display them

      • In AsciiDoc page attributes, CAN easily use special characters

      • In AsciiDoc page attributes, CANNOT use HTML commands, but CAN use AsciiDoc commands for formatting

      • In AsciiDoc page attributes, CANNOT use use special characters in tag names.

        If you want to use HTML special characters in a tag (e.g., A&B), specify your tag list in the Jekyll front matter instead of using the AsciiDoc page attribute :page-tags: (otherwise the AsciiDoc processor would turn the tag into A&amp;B). See code example for AsciiDoc.

  • Added schema.org annotations to blog-posts

    • This helps search engines better understand and categorize content, improving visibility and SEO.

  • Added a CDN switch site.use-cdn for asset loading

    • when true or undefined, assets (e.g., jQuery, Bootstrap) load from a CDN

    • when false assets ared loaded from the local assets folder, avoiding external requests for GDPR-sensitive sites.

  • Added meta tags for description, author, and keywords to the site.

    • This enhances search engine optimization (SEO) by providing essential information about the page’s content, author, and relevant keywords, which can improve discoverability and ranking.

Updates, fixes and improvements

  • Made minor design adjustments

  • Adjusted the design of the post navigation (previous/next post).

  • Adjusted the style of the tag list in blog posts.

  • Added links to example posts and showrooms to the documentation

  • Added examples of links to posts and link anchors to the AsciiDoc showroom.

  • Added Jekyll version output to the statistics layout

  • Added the tag 'release notes' to the posts containing the release notes.

  • Added an introductory text to the homepage.

  • Added an example of using file includes to the AsciiDoc showroom.

  • Added a list of features and planned features and added permalinks to all release notes.

  • Added annotated example code for AsciiDoc and Markdown pages and posts.

  • In the layouts _relative_url is now used.

    • This improves compatibility when the site is hosted in subdirectories or with different base URLs, ensuring that all links dynamically adjust relative to the site’s root.

  • Added a note to the README on how to contribute.

  • Version 0.12.1: Fixed issues with setting the default value for tag_dir.

  • Version 0.12.2:

    • List the tags without description in alphabetical order in the statistics layout.

    • Added an alternate link in the HTML head for RSS feed discovery, improving compatibility with feed readers and search engines.

  • Version 0.12.3: In the statistics layout, sort tags without descriptions in a case-insensitive manner.

  • Version 0.12.4: Excluded the tag description file (tag-description.yml) from being shipped with the gem package.

Known Bugs

  • Currently, escaped HTML special chars like &amp; and &lt; cannot be used in tags. Although the pages are generated correctly, the links to them do not work.