Things you should know about this site, the people, the software and the services provided by this project.
About this Site
This site is built with J1 Template. J1 (short for Jekyll One) is a free theme for Jekyll, a tool that turns simple text files into a complete website. The pages you see here are made with the same template that you can download and use for your own project — at no cost, for personal or business use.
The goal of J1 is simple: give you everything you need to build a modern website without writing any code. You focus on your content. The template takes care of the rest.
The Software
J1 Template combines well-known, modern tools for the web. All of them are open-source, which means they are free to use and their code is public. You do not pay any licence fees — whether you build a small personal page or a big business website.
Modern Tools, Running Quietly
Under the hood, J1 uses three popular software platforms:
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Ruby — the programming language that runs Jekyll.
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Jekyll — the engine that builds your website pages.
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NodeJS — used to manage your project and the parts inside it.
You do not need to know any of these in detail. They run quietly in the background while you write your content. All three work on Windows, Linux, and macOS, so you can use the operating system you like best.
Built on Modern Web Standards
J1 follows today’s standards for the web. It is built on Bootstrap V5, one of the most popular frameworks for modern websites. Bootstrap gives your site ready-made menus, buttons, forms, tables, and many other parts that look familiar to your visitors right away.
J1 also uses the current versions of the three core web languages:
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HTML5 — describes the structure of a page (headings, paragraphs, images, and so on).
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CSS3 — controls how a page looks (colours, fonts, layout, spacing).
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JavaScript — adds the actions that make a page interactive.
The good news again: you do not need to write any of this yourself. J1 generates the right code for you, based on your settings.
Fully Configurable
Modern software is rarely simple to manage. J1 takes that pain away by being fully configurable. You do not need to dig deep into the code. You just change the parts you want to change, using small text files with clearly named settings.
Ready-Made Building Blocks
A modern website needs many small parts to work well. Instead of asking you to build them, J1 includes them all ready to go. You turn them on, set a few options, and they work. Here is a short tour of what you get.
Navigation, on Desktop and Mobile
A clear menu helps visitors find what they are looking for. J1 builds both a desktop menu and a mobile menu from the same configuration file. The right one shows up automatically, based on the size of the visitor’s screen.
Full-Text Search
Visitors can search every page of your site with a built-in search engine. It is fast, lives on your own site, and does not depend on an outside service like Google.
Lightboxes, Sliders, and Galleries
To show off pictures and videos, J1 gives you three building blocks:
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Lightboxes — click an image and it pops up large, with the rest of the page dimmed in the background.
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Sliders — show a series of images, text, or videos as a slideshow.
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Galleries — arrange many images neatly on a page, with thumbnails and click-to-enlarge support.
These work on desktops, tablets, and phones. On a phone, visitors can swipe, pan, and pinch-to-zoom — just like in a regular phone app.
Audio Player and Screen Reader
J1 can play audio on a page with a built-in player. There is also a screen reader feature: visitors can press a button and let the page be read out loud — handy for long articles or visitors who would rather listen than read.
Cookie Consent
If your website uses cookies — small files that store information about a visitor — many countries require you to ask the visitor’s permission first. J1 includes a Cookie Consent module that handles this for you and follows the European GDPR rules out of the box.
Translator
J1 can translate your pages into other languages with one click. It connects to Google Translate for free translations or DeepL for professional ones. That helps you reach visitors from around the world, even if you only write in one language.
Scroll Animations and Smooth Scroll
To make your pages feel more lively, J1 can fade in or move elements as the visitor scrolls down. It also makes the page slide smoothly to a section when someone clicks a link, instead of jumping there suddenly.
Floating Action Buttons
A Floating Action Button (FAB) is a small round button in the corner of the screen. Tap it and you get quick access to extra tools, like a table of contents or a way to jump from one section to the next.
Clipboard
Every code block on a page comes with a COPY button. Visitors can copy a snippet to their clipboard with a single click — handy for tutorials and documentation pages.
Works on Every Device
The web is everywhere today. More than half of all visits to websites now come from mobile phones. So your site needs to look good and work well on every screen, from a small phone to a wide desktop monitor.
J1 Template is fully responsive. It adjusts the layout of every page automatically, so your visitors always get the best view of your content, on any device.
J1 pages also load quickly. The template shrinks your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files before publishing, so visitors do not have to wait. The result: high scores in Google Lighthouse, Google’s tool for measuring website performance, accessibility, best practices, and search engine quality.
The Services
A modern website is rarely on its own. It often connects to a few outside cloud services to extend what it can do. With J1, you can hook up these services through simple configuration — no code required.
Ready-Made Designs (Bootswatch)
Want to change the whole look of your site in one click? J1 connects to Bootswatch, a free collection of ready-made designs for Bootstrap V5. Pick a theme you like, and your site adopts its colours, fonts, and overall style right away. You can switch between designs with a small menu, so you do not have to commit to one look forever.
Comments
Visitors love to talk about what they read. J1 supports two popular comment providers: Disqus and Hyvor. Turn one on, add your account details to the configuration, and a comment section appears at the bottom of every page where you allow it.
Google Analytics
Want to know how many people visit your site, where they come from, and which pages they like best? J1 connects to Google Analytics through simple configuration. Visitor tracking is also linked to the Cookie Consent module, so visitor privacy is fully respected.
Free, Easy to Publish
A site built with J1 is a static website. That means the pages do not change after they are built — there is no database and no server program running in the background. Static sites are fast, cheap to host, and secure by design, because there is little for attackers to break into.
You can publish a J1 site for free on services like GitHub Pages, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages. Many people use these to host their personal site, blog, or small business landing page at no cost at all.
The People
Whether you work solo or as part of a team, it is always a great idea to help visitors put a face to the names behind a website. The best place to share a bit of information about you and your team is here, on your About page, so no one will miss it.
Tell your visitors who you are, what you do, and why they should care. A friendly About page builds trust — and trust is what turns a casual visitor into a returning reader or a happy customer.
Good luck presenting your site, your project, and your team to the world.