Getting Started with Still
Congratulations!
At this point you’ve already done the hardest part:
You decided to stop renting your corner of the internet.
Now let’s build one instead.
Don’t worry if some of this feels unfamiliar. Every web developer, designer, and maker has stared at a terminal wondering if they were about to break their computer.
You’re in good company.
Before we begin
Still is built with Astro, a modern web framework that focuses on content first.
To run it locally, you’ll need:
- Node.js (version 20 or newer)
- A code editor (I recommend VS Code)
- Git (optional, but highly recommended)
If you don’t have Node.js installed yet, download it from the official website and come back once you’re done.
I’ll wait.
…
Ready?
Let’s go.
Download Still
The easiest way to get the theme is by cloning the GitHub repository.
Open your terminal and run:
git clone https://github.com/esecamalich/still.gitThen move into the project folder.
cd stillCongratulations.
You now own every single file that makes up your future website.
No subscription required.
Install the dependencies
Next, install everything the project needs.
npm installThis may take a minute.
Go grab a coffee.
Or tea.
Or stare dramatically out the window while pretending you’re in a movie about programmers.
When it’s finished, you’re ready for the fun part.
Start the development server
Run:
npm run devYou should see something similar to this:
Local: http://localhost:4321/Open that address in your browser.
If everything went well…
🎉
You’re looking at Still running on your own computer.
Not a screenshot.
Not a demo.
Your own copy.
Understanding the project
Before changing anything, take a minute to look around.
A project is much less intimidating once you understand where things live.
Here’s the important stuff.
src/content/essays
This is where your writing lives.
Every essay is simply a Markdown file.
No databases.
No admin panel.
Just files.
Personally, I love that.
Years from now, you’ll still be able to open them with almost any text editor ever made.
public/images
Exactly what it sounds like.
Put your images here.
Reference them in your Markdown like this:
thumbnail: "/images/my-photo.webp"Easy.
src/components
This is where the website itself lives.
Navigation.
Buttons.
Sections.
Typography.
Layouts.
We’ll explore these later in the documentation, but for now it’s enough to know this is where you’ll customize the design.
src/styles
Want different colors?
Different fonts?
More spacing?
Less spacing?
This is where you’ll spend most of your time.
Make one tiny change
Before continuing, let’s make sure everything is working.
Open the homepage.
Find the title.
Change one word.
Save the file.
Did the browser update automatically?
Perfect.
That little moment is surprisingly important.
You’ve just experienced one of the nicest parts of modern web development.
Change.
Save.
Refresh.
Repeat.
A word about breaking things
You’re going to break this project.
Probably today.
Definitely eventually.
That’s okay.
Actually…
It’s encouraged.
The fastest way to understand a codebase is to change it.
Delete something.
Move something.
Rename something.
See what happens.
If everything falls apart, Git is there to save you.
The confidence to experiment is one of the greatest gifts version control gives us.
Stay curious
As you explore Still, you’ll notice that it isn’t trying to hide how it works.
There aren’t layers upon layers of abstractions.
Most files do exactly what their names suggest.
That isn’t an accident.
One of my goals while building this theme was to make it approachable.
Not just usable.
Understandable.
Because once you understand something, you’re free to shape it into whatever you need.
What’s next?
Now that Still is running, it’s time to actually use it.
In the next guide we’ll write our very first essay.
You’ll learn how Markdown works, how frontmatter powers your content, how to organize your writing, and why publishing from plain text is still one of the best experiences on the web.
See you there.
