Initialize a whole new site

Create a directory, then move to it

mkdir website && cd website

Initialize the site:

ddoc --init

This creates:

• a .gitignore file, so that you don’t commit the generated site directory
• a ddoc.hjson file, holding the basic properties and navigation
• a src folder, for your markdown files, CSS style sheets, scripts, and images

/src/css/site.css is a default CSS file, a very simple one which you can remove, or keep as basis for your own incremental changes to get the layout and look you desire.

ddoc tries to guess relevant properties (eg the name of the site) from the parent directory, in order to fill the initial src/index.md file and the ddoc.hjson config file.

Build the site

To build your site, run

ddoc

This updates a site directory, whose content can be sent to your server.

If you want to test it locally, you may run

ddoc --serve

ddoc rebuilds the site on changes but the page won’t be automatically reloaded (the site is served without additional script, exactly as you’ll later use it in production), so you’ll have to refresh the page in the browser to see the change.

Now that you’ve seen the initial, quite void, site, you should edit it.

Restore some defaults

You won’t break anything if you run again ddoc --init.

If you already have your src directory full of markdown files, ddoc will add what’s missing.

If you don’t have a ddoc.hjson file, it will be created.

If you don’t have a src/index.md file, one will be written.

If you don’t have a src/css directory, the default src/css/site.css file will be written.

If nothing is obviously missing, ddoc won’t do anything. Most importantly, ddoc --init won’t overwrite or remove any file.

So to restore defaults, remove some part and run ddoc --init.