---
title: "Humble Beginnings"
date: 2017-12-21T01:42:57-05:00
categories: ["Blog"]
tags: ["code"]
thumbnailImagePosition: top
thumbnailImage: "/img/humble-beginnings/main.png"
---
After running into too many road blocks I've decided to go with the [**Tranquilpeak**](https://github.com/kakawait/hugo-tranquilpeak-theme) theme for this site. Before this, I was really looking forward to using the [**Tracks**](https://github.com/ageekymonk/hugo-tracks-theme) theme (ported from WordPress)
<!--more-->

If you want a general overview, feel free to check out the relevant [commit](https://github.com/bdebyl/hugo-tracks-theme/commit/86ca4963c4d0a67ddb1560197c91617e7d3e3754) on my GitHub fork of the **Tracks** theme.

# Rough Start

----

Right off the bat I noticed the navigation bar seemed a bit off, to say the least:

{{< image classes="center" src="/img/humble-beginnings/header-problem.png" title="Navbar Issue" >}}

The links showed as numbers and pointed to `/0`, `/1`, and `/2` respectively. These, of course, lead to 404s.


{{< image classes="center" src="/img/humble-beginnings/404.png" title="404 Page - Should probably make this look a bit better, eventually..">}}

This didn't seem like the intended behavior, so I kept digging. Eventually, I found out the problem lied in the usage of the `.Site.Sections` variable used in a loop to populare items in the page header.

> **.Site.Sections**
>
>    top-level directories of the site.

\- [Source](https://gohugo.io/variables/site/#site-variables-list)


As I'm still learning the ins and outs of Hugo, I'm not familiar enough with what a section *should* be beyond what the documentation states. I did attempt to find out how sections work by experimenting with directories in `content/` and files such as `index.md` / `_index.md`. Regretfully, I was unsuccessful in figuring out the proper structure to utilize `.Site.Sections`. I still do not fully understanding where the `0` and `1` "sections" even originated from. In any case, I decided the only course of action was to use something other than sections for the behavior I wanted.

# The Fix

----

Looking at other template files in the theme's layout, I stumbled on a chunk of code in `layouts/partials/headers.html` that defined the behavior of the aforementioned "navbar" problem:

```html
<div class="col-md-6">
  <div class="menu">
    <a href="/">Home /</a>
    {{ range $name, $taxonomy := .Site.Sections }}
    {{ if ne $name "post" }}
    <a href="/{{ $name | urlize }}">{{ $name }} / </a>
    {{ end }}
    {{ end }}
  </div>
```

The original uses the `.Site.Sections` variable, which I replaced with `.Site.Params.navlinks`. **This** seemed like intended behavior as the user-defined `config.toml` nav links weren't ever utilized or populated anywhere on the site.

{{< image classes="center clear" src="/img/humble-beginnings/tracks-config.png" title="Nav Links from Tracks Theme config">}}

I borrowed the code found in `layouts/partials/sidebar.html` (*which also never appears to be used*) to include the nav links and get my desired behavior:

```html
<div class="col-md-6">
  <div class="menu">
    {{ $url := .Site.BaseURL }}
    {{ range .Site.Params.navlinks }}
    <a href="{{ $url }}{{ .url }}">{{ .name }} /</a>
    {{ end }}
  </div>
```

# But Wait, There's More!

----

After getting more comfortable with how themes are written for Hugo, I found a slew of other problems with the ported **Tracks** theme:

* Improper HTML for `/about/` and `/contact/` resulting in a sloppy looking, inconsistent site.
* Redundant `portfolio.html`: duplicated HTML code already used in `category.html`
* Completely unused:
  * `layouts/partials/sidebar.html`
  * `layouts/_default/taxonomy.html`
  * `layouts/_default/list.html`
  * `<div class="col-md-10 category-description">` in `layouts/partials/category.html`
* Missing:
  * Pagination
  * Syntax Highlighting

At this point I decided it was no longer worth my time in trying to re-work something I wasn't very familiar with. My main objective was simply to get a portfolio website with blog functionality up and running, not to custom build or *re*-build a theme. **Tranquilpeak** offered exactly what I wanted, though not necessarily *how* I wanted them. You can't always get what you want :)