Switch theme in an existing Jekyll installation

Question

There are many themes for Jekyll, e.g. https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll/wiki/Themes.

What is the easiest way to switch to a new theme in an EXISTING Jekyll installat

Answer 1

The easiest way to switch theme in an existing or new jekyll installation is to use the following plugin: jekyll-remote-theme, which is available since November 2017.

Although it is currently in beta, it works fine and most importantly it is already white-listed on Github Pages, so there is no need to build locally, unless the requested theme includes unsupported Gems.

Therefore, in the case of a simple web site with pages and blog, you can host and edit your content directly on the Github infrastructure and switch your site theme by typing-in the address of the new remote theme. An extra benefit is that you can test your content with several existing themes before committing to one of them.

In addition to easier switching, the jekyll-remote-theme method should automatically bring-in a new version of the remote theme, as soon as you make a change and there is a new version by the maintainer of the theme. If the maintainer of the theme makes a radical change that you don't like then you are always a few keystrokes away from a new theme.

I have several jekyll installations and I am already employing it without intending to switch in the short term, since it is the most elegant and future proof solution, for the time being.

If your existing jekyll installation is pure (i.e., you have edited only pages, posts, configuration) then the switch is seamless. If your existing theme has special layouts (e.g., splash.html and the new one does not have it) then your pages that employ the respective layout become orphans (i.e., basic html with no special formatting). I have switched an existing installation that had been extensively edited, so I got several orphan pages, but I did not get any of the git merge conflicts that are possible with other methods discussed here.