Logo

Change the Favicon

If your favicon is an SVG, PNG, or ICO, just drop your image in your site’s assets/images/ or static/images/ directory and name it favicon.svg, favicon.png, or favicon.ico respectively.

If you want to adjust your favicon according to your OS settings for light/dark mode, add the image files assets/images/favicon-light.svg and assets/images/favicon-dark.svg to your site’s directory, respectively, corresponding to your file format. In case some of the files are missing, the theme falls back to favicon.svg for each missing file. All supplied favicons must be of the same file format.

If no favicon file is found, the theme will look up the alternative filename logo in the same location and will repeat the search for the list of supported file types.

If you need to change this default behavior, create a new file layouts/partials/favicon.html in your site’s directory and write something like this:

<link rel="icon" href="/images/favicon.bmp" type="image/bmp">

Change the Logo

By default, only your site title will be shown at the top of the menu. You can configure this, or override the logo partial.

Create a new file in layouts/partials/logo.html of your site. Then write any HTML you want. You could use an img HTML tag and reference an image, or you could paste an SVG definition!

The size of the logo will adapt automatically.

Example

Suppose you’ve stored your logo as static/images/logo.png then your layouts/partials/logo.html could look something like this:

<a id="R-logo" href="{{ partial "permalink.gotmpl" (dict "to" .Site.Home) }}">
  <img src="{{"images/logo.png" | relURL}}" alt="brand logo">
</a>

Colors

The Relearn theme offers color variants to change your site’s appearance. Each color variant contains of a CSS file and optional settings in your hugo.toml.

You can use the shipped variants, customize them, or create your own. The interactive variant generator can help you with this.

Once set up in hugo.toml, you can switch variants using the selector at the bottom of the menu.

Shipped Variants

The theme ships with the following set of variants

• Relearn
  • Light: the classic Relearn default, coming with signature green, dark sidebar and light content area
  • Dark: dark variant of Light, coming with signature green, dark sidebar and dark content area
  • Bright: alternative of Light, coming with signature green, green sidebar and light content area
• Zen
  • Light: a more relaxed white/grey variant, coming with blue accents, light sidebar and light content area
  • Dark: dark variant of Light, coming with blue accents, dark sidebar and dark content area
• Experimental
  • Neon: a variant that glows in the dark, gradient sidebar and dark content area
• Retro
  • Learn: the default of the old Learn theme, coming with signature light purple, dark sidebar and light content area
  • Blue: a blue variant of the old Learn theme, coming tinted in blue, dark sidebar and light content area
  • Green: a green variant of the old Learn theme, coming tinted in green, dark sidebar and light content area
  • Red: a red variant of the old Learn theme, coming tinted in red, dark sidebar and light content area

Changing the Variant

Option Set the themeVariant option to change the variant.

The theme offers the recommended advanced configuration mode that combines the functionality for multiple variants, OS setting adjustments, and more.

Simple Setup

Single Variant

Set themeVariant to your theme CSS file name:

[params]
  themeVariant = 'relearn-light'

params:
  themeVariant: relearn-light

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": "relearn-light"
   }
}

Place your theme file in assets/css or themes/hugo-theme-relearn/assets/css. Name it theme-*.css.

In the above example, the path of your theme file must be assets/css/theme-relearn-light.css or themes/hugo-theme-relearn/assets/css/theme-relearn-light.css.

Multiple Variants

To let the reader choose between multiple variants by displaying a variant switcher, set themeVariant like this:

[params]
  themeVariant = ['relearn-light', 'relearn-dark']

params:
  themeVariant:
  - relearn-light
  - relearn-dark

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": [
         "relearn-light",
         "relearn-dark"
      ]
   }
}

The first variant is the default, and a selector will appear if there’s more than one.

If you want to have more control, where the variant switcher is positioned or you want to configure a different icon, see the chapter on sidebar configuration.

Adjust to OS Settings

Use the auto value to match OS light/dark settings. Usually it makes sense to set it in the first position and make it the default.

[params]
  themeVariant = ['auto', 'red']

params:
  themeVariant:
  - auto
  - red

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": [
         "auto",
         "red"
      ]
   }
}

If you don’t configure anything else, the theme will default to use relearn-light for light mode and relearn-dark for dark mode.

Default is relearn-light for light and relearn-dark for dark mode. These defaults are overwritten by the first two non-auto options of your themeVariant array.

You can override the default with themeVariantAuto:

[params]
  themeVariantAuto = ['learn', 'neon']

params:
  themeVariantAuto:
  - learn
  - neon

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariantAuto": [
         "learn",
         "neon"
      ]
   }
}

Advanced

The theme offers an advanced way to configure theme variants and all of the aspects above inside of a single configuration item. This comes with some features previously unsupported.

Like with the multiple variants option, you are defining your theme variants in an array but now in a table with suboptions.

Again, in this case, the first variant is the default chosen on first view and a variant selector will be shown in the menu footer if the array contains more than one entry.

[params]
  themeVariant = ['relearn-light', 'relearn-dark']

params:
  themeVariant:
  - relearn-light
  - relearn-dark

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": [
         "relearn-light",
         "relearn-dark"
      ]
   }
}

you now write it that way:

[params]
  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'relearn-light'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'relearn-dark'

params:
  themeVariant:
  - identifier: relearn-light
  - identifier: relearn-dark

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": [
         {
            "identifier": "relearn-light"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "relearn-dark"
         }
      ]
   }
}

The identifier option is mandatory and equivalent to the string in the first example. Further options can be configured, see the table below.

Parameter

Example Configuration

[params]
  [[params.themeVariant]]
    auto = []
    identifier = 'relearn-auto'
    name = 'Relearn Light/Dark'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'relearn-light'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'relearn-dark'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'relearn-bright'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    auto = ['zen-light', 'zen-dark']
    identifier = 'zen-auto'
    name = 'Zen Light/Dark'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'zen-light'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'zen-dark'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    auto = ['learn', 'neon']
    identifier = 'retro-auto'
    name = 'Retro Learn/Neon'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'neon'

  [[params.themeVariant]]
    identifier = 'learn'

params:
  themeVariant:
  - auto: []
    identifier: relearn-auto
    name: Relearn Light/Dark
  - identifier: relearn-light
  - identifier: relearn-dark
  - identifier: relearn-bright
  - auto:
    - zen-light
    - zen-dark
    identifier: zen-auto
    name: Zen Light/Dark
  - identifier: zen-light
  - identifier: zen-dark
  - auto:
    - learn
    - neon
    identifier: retro-auto
    name: Retro Learn/Neon
  - identifier: neon
  - identifier: learn

{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": [
         {
            "auto": [],
            "identifier": "relearn-auto",
            "name": "Relearn Light/Dark"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "relearn-light"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "relearn-dark"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "relearn-bright"
         },
         {
            "auto": [
               "zen-light",
               "zen-dark"
            ],
            "identifier": "zen-auto",
            "name": "Zen Light/Dark"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "zen-light"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "zen-dark"
         },
         {
            "auto": [
               "learn",
               "neon"
            ],
            "identifier": "retro-auto",
            "name": "Retro Learn/Neon"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "neon"
         },
         {
            "identifier": "learn"
         }
      ]
   }
}

Advanced Topics

Modifying Variants

In case you like a shipped variant but only want to tweak some aspects, you have some choices. Don’t edit the file in the theme’s directory! You will lose the ability to later easily upgrade your theme to a newer version.

1. Copy and change

   You can copy the shipped variant file from the theme’s themes/hugo-theme-relearn/assets/css directory to the site’s assets/css directory and either store it with the same name or give it a new name. Edit the settings and save the new file. Afterwards, you can use it in your hugo.toml by the chosen name.

2. Create and import

   You can create a new variant file in the site’s assets/css directory and give it a new name. Import the shipped variant, add the settings you want to change and save the new file. Afterwards, you can use it in your hugo.toml by the chosen name.

   For example, you want to use the relearn-light variant but want to change the syntax highlighting schema to the one used in the neon variant. For that, create a new assets/css/theme-my-branding.css in your site’s directory and add the following lines:

   ​

   assets/css/theme-my-branding.css

   @import "theme-relearn-light.css";
   
   :root {
     --CODE-theme: neon; /* name of the chroma stylesheet file */
     --CODE-BLOCK-color: rgba( 226, 228, 229, 1 ); /* fallback color for code text */
     --CODE-BLOCK-BG-color: rgba( 40, 42, 54, 1 ); /* fallback color for code background */
   }

   Afterwards, put this in your hugo.toml to use your new variant:

   hugo.

   toml yaml json

   [params]
     themeVariant = 'my-branding'

   params:
     themeVariant: my-branding

   {
      "params": {
         "themeVariant": "my-branding"
      }
   }

   In comparison to copy and change, this has the advantage that you profit from any adjustments to the relearn-light variant while keeping your modifications.

Non-standard Modifications

You may feel tempted to add further modifications besides just setting CSS variables in your custom variant stylesheet.

While this is possible, please note that due to the way the theme uses the variant files, the following will not work

• @font-face rules - they need to be moved to assets/css/fonts.css, assets/css/custom.css or layouts/partials/custom-header.html
• rules selecting the html element - replace html with :root

React to Variant Switches in JavaScript

Once a color variant is fully loaded, either initially or by switching the color variant manually with the variant selector, the custom event themeVariantLoaded on the document will be dispatched. You can add an event listener and react to changes.

document.addEventListener( 'themeVariantLoaded', function( e ){
  console.log( e.detail.variant ); // `relearn-light`
});

Module Theming

Change Syntax Highlighting

If you want to switch the syntax highlighting theme together with your color variant, first you need to configure your installation according to Hugo’s documentation to provide a syntax highlighting stylesheet file.

[markup]
  [markup.highlight]
    noClasses = false

markup:
  highlight:
    noClasses: false

{
   "markup": {
      "highlight": {
         "noClasses": false
      }
   }
}

You can use one of the shipped stylesheet files or use Hugo to generate a file for you.

hugo gen chromastyles --style=monokai > chroma-mycode.css

The file must be written to assets/css/chroma-<NAME>.css. To use it with your color variant, you have to modify --CODE-theme: <NAME> in the color variant stylesheet file.

@import "theme-relearn-light.css";
:root {
  --CODE-theme: mycode; /* name of the chroma stylesheet file */
}

Change 3rd-Party Libraries Theming

Some of the shipped shortcodes are using 3rd-party libraries. See the individual shortcode documentation on how to change their theming.

• mermaid shortcode
• openapi shortcode

Stylesheet Generator

This interactive tool may help you to generate your own color variant stylesheet.