Lotusdocs

Overview

Lotus Docs is a Hugo theme designed for creating documentation sites that are fast, secure, and SEO-friendly. It offers a modern documentation layout with responsive design and is built on Bootstrap 5. The theme is easily customizable and supports multiple languages. Lotus Docs also includes powerful syntax highlighting, dark mode, and options for custom fonts and icons. While it is currently in pre-release development and not recommended for production use, it is worth trying out.

Features

• Modern documentation layout: Lotus Docs provides a sleek and modern layout for creating documentation sites.
• Responsive design: The theme is designed to be fully responsive, ensuring a seamless experience across different devices.
• Fast, Accessible, and SEO-Friendly: Lotus Docs has achieved perfect scores on Google Lighthouse, making it optimized for speed, accessibility, and search engine optimization.
• Secure by default: The theme prioritizes security measures to ensure a secure environment for your documentation site.
• Built on Bootstrap 5: Lotus Docs takes advantage of the powerful features and components provided by Bootstrap 5.
• Deploy on Vercel with multiple options: Easily deploy your Lotus Docs site on Vercel using various deployment options.
• Multilingual support (i18n): The theme supports multiple languages, allowing you to create documentation in different languages.
• Powerful Syntax Highlighting via Prism.js: Lotus Docs includes Prism.js for robust syntax highlighting in code snippets.
• Dark Mode: The theme offers a dark mode option for users who prefer a darker interface.
• Custom fonts (via Google Fonts): Customize the typography of your documentation site by choosing from a wide range of Google Fonts.
• Custom icons (via Google Material Symbols): Enhance the visual appeal of your site by utilizing custom icons from Google Material Symbols.
• Landing page template included: Lotus Docs comes with a landing page template, providing a comprehensive overview of your documentation.
• Documentation sidebar menu (with optional icons): Easily navigate through documentation sections using the sidebar menu, which can be customized with icons.
• Table of Contents menu on each page (optional): Include a table of contents menu on each page to help users quickly navigate through the content.
• Customizable theme accent color: Personalize your documentation site with a custom accent color that matches your brand or preference.
• Social media links: Add links to your social media profiles, such as GitHub, Twitter, Instagram, and more.
• Static Search plugin option (powered by FlexSearch, enabled by default): The theme includes a static search plugin powered by FlexSearch, enabling users to search for content within the documentation site.
• Support for DocSearch: Lotus Docs seamlessly integrates with DocSearch, a powerful search tool for documentation sites.
• Custom shortcodes (PrismJS, Alerts, Tabs, Tables): Use custom shortcodes to add interactive elements like PrismJS code blocks, alerts, tabs, and tables to your documentation.
• Analytics (Google Analytics v4, Plausible Analytics): Keep track of your site’s performance and user behavior with integrated analytics support for Google Analytics v4 and Plausible Analytics (not yet implemented).
• Open Graph: Lotus Docs includes Open Graph support, allowing for improved sharing and presentation of site content on social media platforms.
• Mermaid Support: Coming soon! Lotus Docs will provide support for creating diagrams and flowcharts using the popular Mermaid library.
• Math equations powered by KaTeX: Also under development, Lotus Docs will offer the ability to include math equations using the KaTeX library.

Installation

To install Lotus Docs, make sure you have the following requirements:

• Hugo Extended minimum version: 0.100.0
• Default Markdown parser library: Goldmark

Next, follow these steps:

1. Clone or download the Lotus Docs theme from the official repository.
2. Copy the theme folder into your Hugo project’s themes directory.
3. Configure your config.toml file in the root of your Hugo project to use the Lotus Docs theme:

theme = "lotus-docs"

4. Customize the theme settings and add your desired content to create your documentation site.
5. Build and serve your site using Hugo.

Summary

Lotus Docs is a feature-rich Hugo theme designed specifically for building documentation sites. It provides a modern and responsive layout, ensuring optimal viewing experience across devices. The theme is highly customizable and supports multiple languages. With robust features like powerful syntax highlighting, dark mode, and options for custom fonts and icons, Lotus Docs offers a comprehensive solution for creating attractive and user-friendly documentation. While still in pre-release development, Lotus Docs is worth exploring for its impressive features and functionality.