How to Getting Started For Hugo As Bissetii Module

Bissetii natively supports Go Hugo as a theme module. In fact, Bissetii started off as a theme module before expanded to many of its other deployments. With Go Hugo as its primary development environment, developers can easily construct, test, and reuse web components without too much dependencies.

Factors to Consider

Apart from the general consideration factors, before using Bissetii, you must consider the following Hugo-specific factors with readiness in mind.

1. Fixed Bissetii File Structure

Unlike standard Hugo, Bissetii uses the following file structure:

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.                              # your git root repository
├── docs/                      # hugo docs/ directory
│   ├── .data/                 # hugo data/ directory
│   │   └── bissetii           # bissetii local settings
│   │        └── ...
│   ├── en-us/                 # default United States English docs/ directory
│   │   └── ...
│   └── zh-cn/                 # default China Mandarin docs/ directory
│       └── ...
└── .sites/                    # local hugo directory (a.k.a. "engine")
    ├── archetypes
    ├── config
    ├── ...
    ├── static
    └── themes

The 2 key directories are:

  1. docs - holding the Hugo data and content directories.
  2. .sites - the Hugo engine for generating your Hugo static websites.

This setup is also known as Repository Documentation (repo-docs). It organizes and reuses docs/ directory as its content source, allowing user to create contents once and works everywhere. Instead of clogging the repository with Hugo internal contents, Bissetii grouped them into .sites “engine” directory instead, making the repository free for other development.

2. Breaking the Standard Markdown Convention

Due to Hugo’s multiple output types and standard Markdown convention limitations, Bissetii can only comply to them and forces everyone to use Bissetii’s shortcodes whenever possible.

The take-away is that Hugo is capable of rendering a single Markdown content into multiple outputs like vanilla HTML, AMP HTML, RSS, etc without worries.

The give-back is you need to break the standard Markdown writing convention with Bissetii’s Hugo shortcodes.

Long story short, if you use Bissetii’s shortcodes in your Markdown (which you have to), you will eventually create dependencies on Hugo and Bissetii Theme module and your Markdown will no longer be portable across other Hugo themes.

1. Install Dependencies

Bissetii would not be able to work without its dependencies. Hence, you need to install all of them into your system.

1.1. Hugo

Starting from version 1.12.4, Bissetii can use non-extended Hugo as its primary engine. For earlier versions, Bissetii STRICTLY REQUIRES HUGO EXTENDED version to operate properly.

To install one, you can donwload it from its Github Release Section. The end-result is that hugo command is available at terminal. Example:

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$ hugo version
Hugo Static Site Generator v0.XX.YY/extended linux/amd64 BuildDate: ...

The minimum supporting version is 0.73.X.

1.2. Git

Bissetii requires git made available for downloading the theme module and obtain pages' last-modified timestamp.

The end-result is that git command is available at terminal and git version reports the extended version. Example:

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$ git version
git version XX.YY.ZZ

2. Setup Hugo CMS Repository

There are a few ways to setup a Hugo repository with Bissetii repo-docs file structures. Here are some of the methods available at your disposal.

Using Bissetii Program

If you have bissetii Program installed, you can easily setup Hugo repository by issuing the following command:

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$ bissetii --install

Quick Setup

To make a quick setup without Bissetii program, you can use the following command depending on curl or wget availability.

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$ curl "https://zoralab.gitlab.io/bissetii/bissetii.sh" | bash -s -- --install

# OR

$ wget -qO - 'https://zoralab.gitlab.io/bissetii/bissetii.sh' | bash /dev/stdin --install

Manual Setup

To setup your Hugo repository with Bissetii as a module, you can simply git clone or git submodule add it into the Hugo’s theme/ directory. The following commands works:

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$ git clone https://gitlab.com/zoralab/bissetii.git ./path/to/theme

# OR

$ git submodule add https://gitlab.com/zoralab/bissetii.git ./path/to/theme

Then, you need to ensure your config file lists bissetii as one of the theme module. Example, for config/_default/config.toml:

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...
theme = [ "bissetii" ]
...

Wrapping Up

Now that you have your Hugo setup accordingly, you are ready to develop your Hugo static website with Bissetii. Once ready, you may proceed to the next section:

Create Your New Content