Welcome to Bear Blog
Welcome to your new Bear Blog powered by Eleventy! This theme brings the minimalist philosophy of Bear Blog to the Eleventy static site generator.
What is Bear Blog?
Bear Blog is a blogging platform focused on:
- Speed: Pages load in milliseconds
- Privacy: No tracking, no analytics, no cookies
- Simplicity: Clean, distraction-free reading experience
- Accessibility: Semantic HTML, proper heading structure
Features
This Eleventy theme includes:
Ultra-Minimal CSS
Only ~2.3KB of CSS for the entire site. The CSS uses:
- CSS variables for easy theming
- Automatic dark mode detection
- Responsive design with mobile-first approach
- Clean typography with system fonts
Zero JavaScript
No JavaScript required for core functionality. The site is 100% static HTML and CSS.
Critical CSS Inlining
For optimal performance, critical CSS is inlined in the <head> while the full CSS file is loaded asynchronously. This ensures the fastest possible first paint.
Dark Mode Support
Automatic dark mode based on system preferences using prefers-color-scheme media query:
@media (prefers-color-scheme: dark) {
:root {
--background-color: #01242e;
--text-color: #ddd;
/* ... */
}
}
RSS Feed
Automatic RSS feed generation at /feed.xml for readers who prefer feed readers.
SEO Optimized
- Proper meta tags
- OpenGraph support
- Twitter Card support
- Semantic HTML structure
- Sitemap generation
Getting Started
Creating Posts
Create new markdown files in the blog content folder:
---
layout: post.njk
title: Your Post Title
description: Optional description for SEO
date: 2026-02-19
tags:
- posts
- your-tag
---
Your content here...
Customizing
Edit src/_data/site.js to:
- Change site title and description
- Enable/disable post navigation
- Hide/show "Made with" footer line
- Update author information
Navigation
Add pages to navigation in src/_data/navigation.js:
export default [
{
text: "Home",
url: "/",
weight: 1
}
];
Performance
This theme is optimized for speed:
- Critical CSS inlined for fast first paint
- Full CSS preloaded and loaded asynchronously
- Minimal HTML markup
- No external dependencies
- Average page size: ~5KB
Philosophy
Bear Blog (and this theme) embrace constraints:
"Fewer distractions, faster loading, and more privacy are built-in."
By keeping things minimal, we achieve:
- Faster load times - Less code = faster downloads
- Better accessibility - Semantic HTML works everywhere
- Easier maintenance - Less code = fewer bugs
- Focused content - No distractions from what matters
What's Next?
Start writing! The theme is ready to use out of the box. Check out:
- Blog archive - See all your posts
- RSS feed - Subscribe to updates
- GitHub - View source code
Happy blogging! 🐻