---
title: Writing a New Post
author:
name: Cotes Chung
link: https://github.com/cotes2020
date: 2019-08-08 14:10:00 +0800
categories: [Blogging, Tutorial]
tags: [writing]
render_with_liquid: false
---
This post will guide you how to write a post on _Chirpy_ theme. Even if you have previous experience with Jekyll, this article is worth reading, because many features require specific variables to be set.
## Naming and Path
Create a new file named `YYYY-MM-DD-TITLE.EXTENSION`{: .filepath} and put it in the `_posts`{: .filepath} of the root directory. Please note that the `EXTENSION`{: .filepath} must be one of `md`{: .filepath} and `markdown`{: .filepath}. If you want to save time of creating files, please consider using the plugin [`Jekyll-Compose`](https://github.com/jekyll/jekyll-compose) to accomplish this.
## Front Matter
Basically, you need to fill the [Front Matter](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/front-matter/) as below at the top of the post:
```yaml
---
title: TITLE
date: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS +/-TTTT
categories: [TOP_CATEGORIE, SUB_CATEGORIE]
tags: [TAG] # TAG names should always be lowercase
---
```
> The posts' _layout_ has been set to `post` by default, so there is no need to add the variable _layout_ in the Front Matter block.
{: .prompt-tip }
### Timezone of Date
In order to accurately record the release date of a post, you should not only set up the `timezone` of `_config.yml`{: .filepath} but also provide the post's timezone in variable `date` of its Front Matter block. Format: `+/-TTTT`, e.g. `+0800`.
### Categories and Tags
The `categories` of each post are designed to contain up to two elements, and the number of elements in `tags` can be zero to infinity. For instance:
```yaml
---
categories: [Animal, Insect]
tags: [bee]
---
```
### Author Information
The author information of the post usually does not need to be filled in the _Front Matter_ , they will be obtained from variables `social.name` and the first entry of `social.links` of the configuration file by default. But you can also override it as follows:
```yaml
---
author:
name: Full Name
link: https://example.com
---
```
## Table of Contents
By default, the **T**able **o**f **C**ontents (TOC) is displayed on the right panel of the post. If you want to turn it off globally, go to `_config.yml`{: .filepath} and set the value of variable `toc` to `false`. If you want to turn off TOC for a specific post, add the following to the post's [Front Matter](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/front-matter/):
```yaml
---
toc: false
---
```
## Comments
The global switch of comments is defined by variable `comments.active` in the file `_config.yml`{: .filepath}. After selecting a comment system for this variable, comments will be turned on for all posts.
If you want to close the comment for a specific post, add the following to the **Front Matter** of the post:
```yaml
---
comments: false
---
```
## Mathematics
For website performance reasons, the mathematical feature won't be loaded by default. But it can be enabled by:
```yaml
---
math: true
---
```
## Mermaid
[**Mermaid**](https://github.com/mermaid-js/mermaid) is a great diagrams generation tool. To enable it on your post, add the following to the YAML block:
```yaml
---
mermaid: true
---
```
Then you can use it like other markdown languages: surround the graph code with ```` ```mermaid ```` and ```` ``` ````.
## Images
### Caption
Add italics to the next line of an image，then it will become the caption and appear at the bottom of the image:
```markdown
_Image Caption_
```
{: .nolineno}
### Size
In order to prevent the page content layout from shifting when the image is loaded, we should set the width and height for each image:
```markdown
{: width="700" height="400" }
```
{: .nolineno}
Starting from _Chirpy v5.0.0_, `height` and `width` support abbreviations (`height` → `h`, `width` → `w`). The following example has the same effect as the above:
```markdown
{: w="700" h="400" }
```
{: .nolineno}
### Position
By default, the image is centered, but you can specify the position by using one of the classes `normal`, `left`, and `right`.
> Once the position is specified, the image caption should not be added.
{: .prompt-warning }
- **Normal position**
Image will be left aligned in below sample:
```markdown
{: .normal }
```
{: .nolineno}
- **Float to the left**
```markdown
{: .left }
```
{: .nolineno}
- **Float to the right**
```markdown
{: .right }
```
{: .nolineno}
### Shadow
The screenshots of the program window can be considered to show the shadow effect, and the shadow will be visible in the `light` mode:
```markdown
{: .shadow }
```
{: .nolineno}
### CDN URL
If you host the images on the CDN, you can save the time of repeatedly writing the CDN URL by assigning the variable `img_cdn` of `_config.yml`{: .filepath} file:
```yaml
img_cdn: https://cdn.com
```
{: file='_config.yml' .nolineno}
Once `img_cdn` is assigned, the CDN URL will be added to the path of all images (images of site avatar and posts) starting with `/`.
For instance, when using images:
```markdown
```
{: .nolineno}
The parsing result will automatically add the CDN prefix `https://cdn.com` before the image path:
```html
```
{: .nolineno}
### Image Path
When a post contains many images, it will be a time-consuming task to repeatedly define the path of the images. To solve this, we can define this path in the YAML block of the post:
```yml
---
img_path: /img/path/
---
```
{: .nolineno }
And then, the image source of Markdown can write the file name directly:
```md
```
{: .nolineno }
The output will be:
```html
```
{: .nolineno }
### Preview Image
If you want to add an image to the top of the post contents, specify the attribute `src`, `width`, `height`, and `alt` for the image:
```yaml
---
image:
src: /path/to/image/file
width: 1000 # in pixels
height: 400 # in pixels
alt: image alternative text
---
```
Except for `alt`, all other options are necessary, especially the `width` and `height`, which are related to user experience and web page loading performance. The above section "[Size](#size)" also mentions this.
Starting from _Chirpy v5.0.0_, the attributes `height` and `width` can be abbreviated: `height` → `h`, `width` → `w`. In addition, the [`img_path`](#image-path) can also be passed to the preview image, that is, when it has been set, the attribute `src` only needs the image file name.
## Pinned Posts
You can pin one or more posts to the top of the home page, and the fixed posts are sorted in reverse order according to their release date. Enable by:
```yaml
---
pin: true
---
```
## Prompts
There are several types of prompts: `tip`, `info`, `warning`, and `danger`. They can be generated by adding the class `prompt-{type}` to the blockquote. For example, define a prompt of type `info` as follows:
```md
> Example line for prompt.
{: .prompt-info }
```
{: .nolineno }
## Syntax
### Inline Code
```md
`inline code part`
```
{: .nolineno }
### Filepath Hightlight
```md
`/path/to/a/file.extend`{: .filepath}
```
{: .nolineno }
### Code Block
Markdown symbols ```` ``` ```` can easily create a code block as follows:
````md
```
This is a plaintext code snippet.
```
````
#### Specifying Language
Using ```` ```{language} ```` you will get a code block with syntax highlight:
````markdown
```yaml
key: value
```
````
> The Jekyll tag `{% highlight %}` is not compatible with this theme.
{: .prompt-danger }
#### Line Number
By default, all languages except `plaintext`, `console`, and `terminal` will display line numbers. When you want to hide the line number of a code block, add the class `nolineno` to it:
````markdown
```shell
echo 'No more line numbers!'
```
{: .nolineno }
````
#### Specifying the Filename
You may have noticed that the code language will be displayed at the top of the code block. If you want to replace it with the file name, you can add the attribute `file` to achieve this:
````markdown
```shell
# content
```
{: file="path/to/file" }
````
#### Liquid Codes
If you want to display the **Liquid** snippet, surround the liquid code with `{% raw %}` and `{% endraw %}`:
````markdown
{% raw %}
```liquid
{% if product.title contains 'Pack' %}
This product's title contains the word Pack.
{% endif %}
```
{% endraw %}
````
Or adding `render_with_liquid: false` (Requires Jekyll 4.0 or higher) to the post's YAML block.
## Learn More
For more knowledge about Jekyll posts, visit the [Jekyll Docs: Posts](https://jekyllrb.com/docs/posts/).