Foreword

About three years ago around 2015, I found I need to record something important by writting blog. But I didn’t prefer to buy VPS or Hosting, and it is too hard to do it in free hostings. So I found github(gitcafe) and Hexo.

  • What is Hexo?
    It is a fantastic program which can help people creat their static blog page easily.

  • How Hexo works?
    It relys on Node.js, and can generate static html pages in your local device.

  • Why is Hexo?
    Fast, beautiful themes, easy to use, etc.

This is the home page from my blog, in which you can see how beautiful it is.

![IndexPic][2]
Then, if you want to know more about Hexo, you can check details in its wiki page, see Hexo Wiki Page.

Contents

Prepare

  • A Linux or Mac computer.(Though Windows is ok, but I don’t suggest you use it, if you still go on working on it, you will have a bad enough experience.)
  • A github account.
  • Be familiar with Markdown.
  • Maybe a good VPN.

Now, let’s see how to install and use Hexo.

Installation

Install Node.js

Download Node.js from its official website Node.js, and follow its guide to install it. Now you get npm installed. To test whether the npm successfully installed, you can input

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npm -v && echo $?

Then you will see a number 0, if not, check your Node.js installation.

Install Git

In macOS, you just need to input command such as gcc or git in terminal, then macOS will ask you if you need to download developer command line tools, just choose Yes.
In Linux, you can use package control system like apt or yum.
To check if git works, input

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git -v && echo $?

Like last step of installing Node.js, you should see a number 0 now, too. If not, check github for more information.

Install Hexo

Just input

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npm install -g hexo-cli

to install hexo on your system. Input

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hexo -v && echo $?

to check if it installed successfully. For more infomation, you can go to Hexo Wiki Page.

From now on, you finished hexo installation, let’s see how to use it.

Before use it, you should creat a workspace for you blog at first.

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mkdir blog
cd blog

Unless special mention, we will use this directory by default.

Install Git Deployer

You need to install a git deployer to push your blog into github, Input

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npm install hexo-deployer-git --save

Notice: You should reinstall it whenever you have a new blog.

Then, modify your _config.yml to make it avaliable. Add these contents at the end of the file.

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deploy:
  type: git
  repo: <repository url>
  branch: [branch]
  message: [message]

Notice: This file is in your blog directory.

Argument Description
type The type of deployer, here is git
repo Your git repository url, ssh or http
branch Repository branch, like master
message Commit message, usually don’t mind

Simple Usage

Initialize your blog by inputing

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hexo init

After a while, you can get a default blog. But you need to modify _config.yml to customlize your blog.

Argument Description
title Website title
subtitle Website subtitle
description Use for SEO
author Blog author, your name
language Your website language
timezone Don’t mind it
url Your blog url
theme Which theme you use

Notice: Every argument follow the syntax like this:

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theme: landspace

There is A SPACE between the symbol : and landspace.

Now, you can creat you first passage by

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hexo new [layout] <title>

And you will see a new file in ./source/_post/, modify it to draw your think.

Tips: If you want to add a jumpable content in your passage, you can do like this( don’t need use html label).

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[Guide1.1](#Title)

In this example, Guide1.1 means the thing you want to show to readers. Title means the target where you want to jump, for example, in this passage, Prepare is a title, so I should write my content like this

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[Prepare](#Prepare)

Notice: If you meet a title which has more than one word, like Install Node.js in this passage, you should replace all the special symbols by -, for example

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[Install Node.js](#Install-Node-js)

or you can’t reach your target.

When creative things compelete rapidly, generate your passage by

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hexo g

and submit by

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hexo d

If you want to see its effact without submitting, input

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hexo s

after generating. And you will see a message like

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(node:27254) [DEP0061] DeprecationWarning: fs.SyncWriteStream is deprecated.
INFO  Start processing
INFO  Hexo is running at http://localhost:4000/. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

Then, go http://localhost:4000/ to see your blog in local device.
Also, there are two useful commands for you.

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hexo clean

It means clean the generated files. You can use it whenever you have something wrong to deal with.

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hexo list

List your website information.

Backup

First, you should creat an another empty repository in github. Then initialize git by inputing

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git init

Then, add your blog files to the git repository by

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git add .

Notice: There is an . after add.

Commit by inputing

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git commit -m "[Message]"

You can replace [Message] by anything you like, it is the message submited to github to show the feature of this commit.
Then, remote your repository by inputing

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git remote ssh://[email protected]:XXX/blog.git

Notice: ssh means the type which the deployer will use, if you add the public RSA key to the github, you can use this method, or change it to https://. XXX means your github username, and blog means your repository. If you use https method, you should write it in this way

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git remote https://github.com/XXX/blog.git

Now finish your first backup by

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git push origin master

master means the brach of your github repository, you should use it by default. Before changing it, you should creat a new brach in the github website.

Restore

If you have a new computer or you move your workspce, you need to restore your blog.
First, you should install git and Node.js. And creat a new workspce by inputing

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mkdir workspace
cd workspace

Notice: If your directory name is too long to type, just use TAB to help you.

And clone your backuped blog by

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git clone ssh://[email protected]:XXX/blog.git

Then, exec

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npm install hexo --save

npm will install hexo in this directory automatically.
By the way, install git deployer in this directory, see Install Git Deployer.

Now, you have your blog restored.

NOTICE: THIS BLOG IS NOT FINISHED, AND SOMETHING MUST BE WRONG BECAUSE I DID NOT TEST IT AT ALL