To preview or build the website, you need to use the terminal.
Install Ruby with Rubygems, preferably with a Ruby version manager, and the Bundler gem.
In the application folder type the following to install the required gems (you may encounter errors, see the Troubleshooting Guide):
bundle install
macOS: do not use the built-in Ruby that comes with macOS. It is best to install a separate Ruby and rvm using Homebrew.
Windows: the best approach on Windows is to use RubyInstaller. The guide is known to build correctly on Windows 10 using RubyInstaller 3.2.2.
To make changes edit the source files in the source folder.
Although a single page of HTML is generated, the markdown is spread across
multiple files to make it easier to manage. They can be found in
source/documentation.
A new markdown file isn't automatically included in the generated output. If we
add a new markdown file at the location source/documentation/agile/scrum.md,
the following snippet in source/index.html.md.erb, includes it in the
generated output.
<%= partial 'documentation/agile/scrum' %>
Including files manually like this lets you specify the position they appear in the page.
The weight variable specified at the beginning of each markdown file can be
used to specify the order of sections - a higher weight value is displayed
lower on the output page.
To add a completely new page, create a file with a .html.md extension in the /source directory.
For example, source/about.html.md will be accessible on http://localhost:4567/about.html.
Whilst writing documentation you can run a middleman server to preview how the published version will look in the browser. After saving a change the preview in the browser will automatically refresh.
Make sure to preview your changes locally before you commit them.
The preview is only available on your own computer. Others won't be able to access it if they are given the link.
Type the following to start the server:
bundle exec middleman server
If all goes well something like the following output will be displayed:
== The Middleman is loading
== LiveReload accepting connections from ws://192.168.0.8:35729
== View your site at "http://Laptop.local:4567", "http://192.168.0.8:4567"
== Inspect your site configuration at "http://Laptop.local:4567/__middleman", "http://192.168.0.8:4567/__middleman"
You should now be able to view a live preview at http://localhost:4567.
If you want to publish the website without using a build script you may need to build the static HTML files.
Type the following to build the HTML:
bundle exec middleman build
This will create a build subfolder in the application folder which contains
the HTML and asset files ready to be published.
This code is open source software licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.