Subsections of Branding

Logo

Change the Favicon

If your favicon is an SVG, PNG, or ICO, just drop your image in your site’s 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 static/images/favicon-light.svg and static/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">

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.

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:

hugo.
[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, set themeVariant like this:

hugo.
[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.

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.

hugo.
[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:

hugo.
[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.

hugo.
[params]
  themeVariant = ['relearn-light', 'relearn-dark']
params:
  themeVariant:
  - relearn-light
  - relearn-dark
{
   "params": {
      "themeVariant": [
         "relearn-light",
         "relearn-dark"
      ]
   }
}

you now write it that way:

hugo.
[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

Name Default Notes
identifier <empty> Must correspond to the name of a color variant either in your site’s or the theme’s directory in the form assets/css/theme-<IDENTIFIER>.css.
name see notes The name to be displayed in the variant selector. If not set, the identifier is used in a human readable form.
auto <empty> If set, the variant is treated as an auto mode variant. It has the same behavior as the themeVariantAuto option. The first entry in the array is the color variant for light mode, the second for dark mode. Defining auto mode variants with the advanced options has the benefit that you can now have multiple auto mode variants instead of just one with the simple options.

Example Configuration

hugo.
[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:

    @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.
    [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.

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.

hugo.
[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.

Stylesheet Generator

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

To get started, first select a color variant from the variant selector in the lower left sidebar that fits you best as a starting point.

The graph is interactive and reflects the current colors. You can click on any of the colored boxes to adjust the respective color. The graph and the page will update accordingly.

The arrowed lines reflect how colors are inherited through different parts of the theme if the descendant isn’t overwritten. If you want to delete a color and let it inherit from its parent, just delete the value from the input field.

To better understand this, select the neon variant and modify the different heading colors. There, colors for the headings h2, h3 and h4 are explicitly set. h5 is not set and inherits its value from h4. h6 is also not set and inherits its value from h5.

Once you’ve changed a color, the variant selector will show a “My custom variant” entry and your changes are stored in the browser. You can browse to other pages and even close the browser without losing your changes.

Once you are satisfied, you can download the new variants file and copy it into your site’s assets/css directory.

Option Afterwards, you have to adjust the themeVariant option in your hugo.toml to your chosen file name. For example, if your new variants file is named theme-my-custom-variant.css, you have to set themeVariant='my-custom-variant' to use it.

See the docs for further configuration options.

Graph