Using the MkDocs Blog Plugin

Walkthtough

This guide will walk you through setting up the MkDocs Blog Plugin and publishing your first blog post.

Step 1: Install the MkDocs Blog Plugin¶

Install the plugin using pip:
```
pip install mkdocs-blog-plugin
```
Add the plugin to your mkdocs.yml configuration file:
```
- blog
```

Step 2: Configure the Blog Plugin¶

Update your mkdocs.yml to configure the blog plugin. Here’s an example configuration:

  - blog:
      # Optional: Specify the directory for blog posts (default is "blog")
      blog_dir: blog
      # Optional: Enable pagination
      pagination: true
      # Optional: Number of posts per page
      posts_per_page: 5
      # Optional: Enable tags
      tags: true
      # Optional: Enable categories
      categories: true

Step 3: Create a Blog Post¶

Create a directory for your blog posts (e.g., docs/blog).

Add your first blog post as a Markdown file in the blog directory. For example, create docs/blog/my-first-post.md

---
title: My First Blog Post
date: 2023-10-01
author: Your Name
tags:
  - MkDocs
  - Blog
categories:
  - Tutorials
---

# My First Blog Post

Welcome to my first blog post using the MkDocs Blog Plugin!

## Introduction

This is an example of how to create and publish a blog post with MkDocs.

## Features

- Easy to set up
- Markdown-based
- Supports tags and categories

## Conclusion

I hope you found this guide helpful. Stay tuned for more posts!

The title, date, author, tags, and categories fields are metadata for the blog post.
The content below the --- is the body of the blog post.

Add a link to your blog in the navigation section of mkdocs.yml:

nav:
  - Home: index.md
  - Blog: blog/

Step 5: Serve and Verify¶

Serve your MkDocs site:
```
mkdocs serve
```
Open your browser and navigate to http://127.0.0.1:8000/blog/.
Verify that your blog post appears on the blog page.

Step 6:Customize the Blog Layout (Optional)¶

You can customize the blog layout by adding custom CSS or overriding the plugin's templates.

Create a custom.css file (e.g., docs/styles/custom.css) and add your styles.
Link the CSS file in mkdocs.yml:
```
extra_css:
  - styles/custom.css
```

Step 7:Deploy Your Blog¶

Once you're satisfied with your blog, deploy it to a hosting platform like GitHub Pages, Netlify, or Read the Docs.

Deploy to GitHub Pages¶

Install mkdocs and mkdocs-material (if not already installed):
```
pip install mkdocs mkdocs-material
```
Build the site:
```
mkdocs build
```
Deploy to GitHub Pages:
```
mkdocs gh-deploy
```