Forever hunting for that so-called fun. Know something cool or funny? Share it!https://sereja.com/https://sereja.com/projects/morethan-log-astro/https://sereja.com/projects/morethan-log-astro/The morethan-log personal blog template for Astro JS. Clean design, fast builds, multilingual, search, RSS, and typed configs out of the box.Wed, 30 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTWhen it comes to choosing a template for a site, I go feral. It turns into endless procrastination and scrolling through every possible option until I finally find my hidden gem. That is how I stumbled on [morethan-log](https://github.com/morethanmin/morethan-log). The template stuck with me hard, and I tried to port it manually from the original repo, but that did not work out. So I just gave the task to a layout dev to rebuild the whole template into static HTML, then asked AI agents to port it to my beloved Astro JS and wrap it in a bunch of goodies under the hood. That is how ✨ [Morethan-Log for Astro](https://github.com/JustSereja/morethan-log-astro) ✨ appeared. ## 📦 What's under the hood - Multilingual setup (English and Russian out of the box) with a clear way to add new locales via `src/config/locales.ts`. - Search, dark theme, per-language RSS, plus typed frontmatter so you do not forget the description or the date. - The whole site structure lives in `src/config/site.ts`: navigation, categories, contact sections, feature switches, and date formats. - Write plain Markdown and plug in MDX with React islands only where you actually want interactivity. - Ready-made placeholders for images, Open Graph tags, and other SEO bits, so the page looks good even without custom covers. ## 🚀 How to start ```bash npm create astro@latest -- --template JustSereja/morethan-log-astro cd your-blog npm run dev ``` The local server waits at `http://localhost:4321`. Tweak files in `src/` and see changes right away. If it is easier to start from a GitHub template, hit the button on the repo, clone your fork, then `npm install` and `npm run dev`. ## ⚙️ Tune it to yourself - `src/config/site.ts` holds the title, descriptions, author, menu, categories, contacts, feature flags, and date formats for each language. - `src/config/locales.ts` lists the languages: code, locale, label, and default. That keeps links and hreflang in sync. - You can give every language its own links or even different author names. Emoji and custom SVG icons are supported. - Styles sit in `public/css/style.css`. Change the variables to get your palette. Light and dark themes are already in place. ## 📝 Content and posts All posts live in `src/content/posts/<lang>/<category>/`. To connect translations, keep filenames the same across languages. ```markdown --- title: 'New project' h1: 'New project' description: 'Short teaser for the cards' date: '2025-07-30' announcement: 'Optional text for lists' image: '/img/posts/your-cover.jpg' aiGenerated: false draft: false --- ``` You almost never need `permalink`. The folder already defines the language and category. Pages in `src/content/pages` work the same way. ## 🎁 A couple of bonuses - RSS is generated for each language: `/rss.xml` for the default and `/<lang>/rss.xml` for the rest. Subscribers get only their language. - In the production build `dist/404.html` is copied to `dist/404/index.html`, so GitHub Pages and Netlify keep the 404 page alive. - Need a third language? Add it to `src/i18n/ui.ts`, extend translations, and drop in new content folders. - To pull the latest template updates, run `make update-template`. The script grabs fresh code, updates components and assets, and leaves your content and configs untouched. The same template runs here on [sereja.com](https://sereja.com/). Take it, set it up, and write. If you spot a bug or think of something cool, open an issue on [GitHub](https://github.com/JustSereja/morethan-log-astro) or just ping me.