diff --git a/docs/philosophy.md b/docs/philosophy.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..ad9cbb4f --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/philosophy.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +--- +title: Philosophy +--- + +Jekyll offers a unique philosophy when approaching the problem of static +site generation. This core philosophy drives development and product +decisions. When a contributor, maintainer, or user asks herself what Jekyll +is about, the following principles should come to mind: + +### 1. No Magic + +Jekyll is not magic. A user should be able to understand the underlying +processes that make up the Jekyll build without much reading. It should +behave "as you'd expect." + +### 2. It "Just Works" + +The out-of-the-box experience should be that it "just works." Run `gem +install jekyll` and it should build any Jekyll site that it's given. +Features like auto-regeneration and settings like the markdown renderer +should represent sane defaults that work perfectly for the vast majority of +cases. The burden of configuration should not be placed on the user. + +### 3. Content is King + +Why is Jekyll so loved by content creators? It focuses on content first and +foremost, making the process of publishing content on the Web easy. Users +should find the management of their content enjoyable and simple. + +### 4. Stability + +If a user's site builds today, it should build tomorrow. +Backwards-compatibility should be strongly preferred over breaking changes. +Upon breaking changes, provide a clear path for users to upgrade. + +### 5. Small & Extensible + +The core of Jekyll should be simple and small, and extensibility should be +a first-class feature to provide added functionality from community +contributors. The core should be kept to features used by at least 90% of +users–everything else should be provided as a plugin.