UINUX Blog

A calm, writing-first blogging system built with Astro.

What it is

UINUX Blog is a static blog system designed for long-form writing. It prioritizes typography, whitespace, and readability over visual complexity. It uses Markdown for content, file-based routing, and ships minimal client-side JavaScript (search only).

Quick start (template users)

If you clicked "Use this template" on GitHub:

1. Clone your new repository
2. Run npm install
3. Delete the example posts in src/content/posts/
4. Update astro.config.mjs with your own site URL
5. Update the blog name and tagline in src/pages/index.astro and src/components/Nav.astro
6. Update src/pages/about.astro with your own info
7. Run npm run dev and start writing

What it is not

• Not a theme. There are no color presets, dark mode toggles, or visual variants.
• Not a CMS. There is no admin panel, no database, no integrations.
• Not a marketing tool. There are no newsletter signups, analytics, or growth hacks.
• Not a portfolio. There are no image galleries, project showcases, or landing pages.

Who it is for

Writers who want a quiet place to publish. People who value clarity over features. Anyone who prefers to write in Markdown and deploy a static site.

Getting started

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or later

Install

npm install

Start writing

1. Create a new .md or .mdx file in src/content/posts/
2. Add frontmatter:

---
title: "Your Post Title"
description: "A short description of the post."
date: 2026-02-07
tags: ["topic-a", "topic-b"]
---

Your content here.

3. Run the dev server:

npm run dev

4. Open http://localhost:4321

That is it. You are writing.

Google Search Console

To enable Google Search Console verification, create a .env file:

PUBLIC_GOOGLE_SITE_VERIFICATION=your-verification-code

Get the code from Google Search Console > Settings > Ownership verification > HTML tag.

See .env.example for reference.

Build for production

npm run build

Output is in the dist/ directory. Deploy it anywhere that serves static files.

Structure

src/
  components/
    Layout.astro      Page shell, meta, fonts
    Nav.astro          Site navigation
    Footer.astro       Site footer
    Heading.astro      Typographic heading
    Article.astro      Post wrapper with metadata and tags
    Prose.astro        Markdown content styling
  content/
    config.ts          Content collection schema
    posts/             Markdown files go here
  pages/
    index.astro              Home (paginated post list)
    page/[page].astro        Paginated post listing (page 2+)
    search.astro             Search page (client-side)
    search-index.json.ts     Static search index (built at build time)
    about.astro              About page
    rss.xml.ts               RSS feed
    tags/index.astro         All tags
    tags/[tag].astro         Posts filtered by tag
    posts/[...slug].astro    Individual post pages
  styles/
    global.css         Design tokens and base styles

Content model

Posts use these frontmatter fields:

Field	Type	Required	Default
title	string	yes	—
description	string	yes	—
date	date	yes	—
tags	string[]	no	[]

Features

Tags

Posts can have zero or more tags. Tags appear on post pages and the home listing. Browse all tags at /tags or filter by tag at /tags/[tag-name].

Pagination

The home page shows 10 posts per page. When there are more than 10 posts, pagination links appear at the bottom. Pages 2+ are at /page/2, /page/3, etc.

Search

Client-side search powered by a static JSON index built at build time.

• No external services or APIs
• No dependencies
• Index includes title, description, tags, and full post body
• Debounced input with instant results
• Supports ?q= query parameter for direct linking
• Available at /search

Design decisions

• Serif body text (Newsreader): optimized for sustained reading
• Sans-serif headings (Inter): clear hierarchy without competing with body text
• 640px content width: prevents eye fatigue on long lines
• Minimal client-side JS: only used for search; all other pages are static HTML and CSS
• No dark mode: one mode, one experience, no maintenance surface
• No component library: six components, no more

SEO

Built-in, zero-dependency SEO on every page:

• Canonical URLs on all pages
• Open Graph meta (og:title, og:description, og:url, og:type, og:site_name, og:image)
• Twitter Card meta (summary or summary_large_image)
• JSON-LD structured data:
  • WebSite on the home page
  • BlogPosting on each post (headline, datePublished, author, publisher, keywords)
  • AboutPage on the about page
• Google Search Console verification via environment variable
• RSS feed at /rss.xml

No third-party SEO libraries. No sitemap generator. No tracking.

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
PUBLIC_GOOGLE_SITE_VERIFICATION	no	Google Search Console verification code

Customization checklist

When using this as a template, update these files:

• astro.config.mjs — set your site URL
• src/pages/index.astro — update blog name and tagline
• src/components/Nav.astro — update brand name
• src/pages/about.astro — write your own about page
• src/pages/rss.xml.ts — update feed title and description
• src/components/Layout.astro — update default description and OG site_name
• src/content/posts/ — delete example posts, add your own
• .env — add your Google Search Console code (optional)

License

MIT