v0.7.0 Release Summary - Blog & News Architecture Redesign

Release Date: January 30, 2025
Version: 0.7.0
Type: Minor Release (New Features)

Overview

Version 0.7.0 introduces a comprehensive redesign of the blog and news architecture for the Zer0-Mistakes Jekyll theme. This release transforms the blog system into a full-featured news platform with category archives, tag browsing, author profiles, and modern card-based layouts.

Key Features

🗂️ New Layout System

Category Archives (category.html)

• Card grid display for category posts
• Featured posts section for highlighted content
• Related categories navigation
• Breadcrumb navigation
• Article count display

Tag Archives (tag.html)

• Tag-specific post listings
• Tag cloud widget
• Related tags discovery
• Clean, focused design

📰 Blog Homepage Redesign (blog.html)

The blog layout has been completely transformed into a professional news homepage:

• Dark Header Navigation: Category-based navigation with visual hierarchy
• Hero Section: Prominent display for breaking/featured news
• Category Quick Navigation: Grid showing all categories with article counts
• Featured Stories: Grid layout for highlighted posts
• Category Sections: Posts organized by category with see-all links
• Latest Posts: Horizontal card layout for recent content
• Sidebar Widgets: Tags cloud, archives, and newsletter signup
• Full-Width Design: Removed sidebars for modern, spacious layout

📝 Enhanced Post Layout (journals.html)

Individual blog posts now feature:

• Rich metadata display (author, date, reading time, categories, tags)
• Author bio section with avatar and social links
• Related posts suggestions
• Previous/next post navigation cards
• Comment integration support (Giscus)

🧩 New Components

Post Card (post-card.html)

Reusable card component with configurable options:

• Badge display (featured, breaking, date)
• Optional images with responsive sizing
• Metadata display (author, date, reading time)
• Category and tag links
• Multiple size variants

Author Card (author-card.html)

Author profile component with:

• Avatar display
• Bio text
• Role/title
• Social media links (GitHub, Twitter, LinkedIn, website)
• Three display styles: compact, full, inline

📊 New Data Structures

Authors Configuration (_data/authors.yml)

default:
  name: "Author Name"
  avatar: "/path/to/avatar.jpg"
  bio: "Author biography"
  role: "Author role"
  social:
    github: "username"
    twitter: "username"

Categories Navigation (_data/navigation/posts.yml)

Updated with six main categories:

• Development (bi-code-slash)
• Technology (bi-cpu)
• Tutorial (bi-book)
• World (bi-globe)
• Business (bi-briefcase)
• Science (bi-flask)

📄 New Pages

• Tags Index (/tags/): Complete tag listing with posts grouped by tag
• Category Archives: Six category index pages
  • /posts/development/
  • /posts/technology/
  • /posts/tutorial/
  • /posts/world/
  • /posts/business/
  • /posts/science/

📝 Sample Content

Four new demo posts showcasing the blog features:

1. Docker Jekyll Development Guide (featured)
2. Bootstrap 5 Components Tutorial (featured)
3. Web Accessibility Guide (featured)
4. Getting Started with Jekyll

Bug Fixes

Critical: Liquid Nesting Error

Resolved “Nesting too deep” Liquid errors by:

• Inlining card content directly in layouts instead of using nested includes
• Adding proper post filtering with where_exp to exclude index pages
• Moving reading time calculation to front matter instead of runtime

Performance Improvements

• Added defer attribute to non-critical scripts
• Removed redundant Popper.js (included in Bootstrap bundle)
• Optimized include file structure

Migration Guide

For Existing Posts

Add the following front matter fields for best display:

---
author: default # or specific author key from authors.yml
featured: true # for featured post highlighting
breaking: true # for breaking news badge
estimated_reading_time: "5 min"
image: /path/to/image.jpg # for card display
---

For Category Pages

Create category index pages using the new category layout:

---
layout: category
title: "Category Name"
category: category-slug
description: "Category description"
permalink: /posts/category-slug/
---

Technical Details

Files Added

• _layouts/category.html
• _layouts/tag.html
• _includes/components/post-card.html
• _includes/components/author-card.html
• _data/authors.yml
• pages/tags.md
• pages/posts/*/index.md (6 category pages)
• pages/_posts/2025-01-*.md (4 sample posts)

Files Modified

• _layouts/blog.html (complete rewrite)
• _layouts/journals.html (major enhancement)
• _data/navigation/posts.yml
• _includes/navigation/sidebar-folders.html
• _includes/core/branding.html
• _includes/core/head.html
• _includes/components/js-cdn.html

Compatibility

• Jekyll: 3.9+ / 4.x
• Bootstrap: 5.3.3
• Bootstrap Icons: 1.10.3
• GitHub Pages: ✅ Compatible
• Remote Theme: ✅ Supported

Acknowledgments

This release was developed with assistance from GitHub Copilot, following the Zer0-Mistakes contribution guidelines and coding standards.