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How to Build a Blog With Elder.js

By Nick Reese

One of the most popular use cases of static site generators is to build a blog.

So we figured why not offer a blog right out of the box on the starter template?

This guide will show you how to customize your Elder.js blog.

This Page is Editable

If you've gotten this starter template running, then chances are you know what markdown is. If you don't here is a good beginner's guide to it.

With that out of the way, let's talk about how you'll edit pages on your blog.

To start, open up the markdown file powering this page at: ./src/routes/blog/how-to-build-a-blog-with-elderjs.md

Once you've got it open, make some small changes, save the file and restart the server. When you reload this page you should see your changes.

Adding Markdown Files to Your Blog

Once you've edited this page, try duplicating and renaming one of the files in the ./src/routes/blog/ folder. Give the new file name anything you'd like.

Once you've done that, restart the server (or let it restart if you are using the npm run dev command) and then navigate to the homepage. Boom! You should see your new blog entry.

It is really that simple.

Customizing Your Design

Without making this guide 1000s of words long, basically all templating and design for this site is done using Svelte.

This page is being built with a Svelte template that lives at ./src/routes/blog/Blog.svelte. There is also a components folder at ``./src/components/` where you can add reusable components.

Svelte files in either of these locations will be bundled by the default Rollup.js included with this script. (run by typing npm run dev).

Customizing your design is up to you, but in general if you're comfortable with JS/CSS/HTML you'll love the beauty that Svelte brings to the development workflow.

What's Next?

If you're interested in further exploring how this template is working, continue reading the guide on getting started with Elder.js.