We’ll explore how Docsify-This, an open source tool built with Docsify.js.org (30K+ GitHub stars), significantly lowers barriers by transforming public Markdown files into styled web pages without requiring technical infrastructure.
Great for educators and authors who:
- Want minimal maintenance publishing (set it and forget it, no Webserver needed)
- Value cross-platform content reuse (web, PDF, eBook from the same source)
- Need to embed the same content across multiple platforms
Docsify-This has six core design guidelines: Zero Maintenance Publishing eliminates technical barriers—users paste a Markdown URL to generate styled webpages. Platform Independence supports content portability across systems, while Your Content, Your Control means files remain in original locations.
Separation of Content and Presentation enables the same Markdown to function as standalone websites or embedded content. Support for the 5 Rs of OER provides public access to source content with optional “Edit this Page” links, and Authors Helping Authors manifests through shareable configurations and templates.
What participants will learn:
- Describe the purpose and key usage scenarios of Docsify-This
- Display Markdown files as web pages
- Change the visual appearance of pages
- Share Docsify-This pages and config
Session format: Hands-on demos using https://Docsify-This.net . Participants will explore examples and learn valuable tips and techniques from the project author.
Session Resources:
Comments Archive
reclaimhosting: Welcome to the Chat
HibbittsDesign: Welcome everyone! Here is the guide I will be following for our session today: https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paulhibbitts/published-markdown-files/main&homepage=leap-into-open-publishing-session-guide.md&edit-link=https://github.com/paulhibbitts/published-markdown-files/blob/main/leap-into-open-publishing-session-guide.md&edit-link-text=View Source Markdown File&edit-link-emoji=:page_facing_up:&browser-tab-title=Leap into Open Publishing&sidebar
Christina: Waving from also Vancouver!
Tom Woodward: Hi from Virginia
taylorjadin: Love docsify-this! Excited to tune in to the session
Rushaw: Hello from Jacksonville
Christina: I finally learned Markdown by using Obsidian. Hadn't realized how easy it is.
Tom Woodward: I always reverse the least one part of the markdown link syntax.
HibbittsDesign: https://github.com/paulhibbitts/demo-markdown-file/blob/main/README.md
HibbittsDesign: https://docsify-this.net/#/
HibbittsDesign: https://github.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/blob/main/home.md
HibbittsDesign: Docsify-This: https://Docsify-This.net
Christina: Adjusted some settings to make this: https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&browser-tab-title=TEST!!&maxLevel=3&font-family=Courier,monospace&link-color=04b2b5&searchbox=true&header-weight=700&image-captions=true&zoom-images=true#/
Tom Woodward: dark mode with some greens https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&page-copy-button=true&logo=https://reclaimopen.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/A-fistful-of-wires.jpg&searchbox=true&link-color-hover=b5f7bf&zoom-images=true&coverpage-color=88f7c0&dark-mode=on&link-color-dark-mode=0f8f0d#/
Alexis Block: https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&toc-narrow=true&font-family=Open Sans,sans-serif&font-size=20px&link-color=007a37&header-weight=700&max-width=90&dark-mode=on#/
Tom Woodward: Love URL parameter stuff. I find it endlessly amusing. Pages look really nice too.
Pilot: These is super slick, and so easy
taylorjadin: https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/TaylorJadin/site-archiving-toolkit/master&homepage=README.md&sidebar=true&page-copy-button=true&maxLevel=4&font-family=system-ui,sans-serif&searchbox=true&header-weight=700&dark-mode=on#/
HibbittsDesign: https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-size=24px&header-weight=700&close-sidebar=true&max-width=55ch&dark-mode=on
Christina: Agree with Pilot--so easy and really powerful!
Christina: content needs to be online with a URL though, right?
taylorjadin: Thats wonderful. Not many things are designed to have good "exit points" I'd say
HibbittsDesign: 'https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-size=24px&header-weight=700&close-sidebar=true&max-width=55ch&dark-mode=on'
HibbittsDesign: 'https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-size=24px&header-weight=700&close-sidebar=true&max-width=55ch&dark-mode=on'
Tom Woodward: If you remove the https, I think it'll work.
HibbittsDesign: docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-size=24px&header-weight=700&close-sidebar=true&max-width=55ch&dark-mode=on
Tom Woodward: almost :)
HibbittsDesign: ?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-size=24px&header-weight=700&close-sidebar=true&max-width=55ch&dark-mode=on#/
Christina: I had to make the window full size then can read
Alexis Block: It's readable!
HibbittsDesign: &homepage=home.md&edit-link=https://github.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/blob/main/home.md&edit-link-text=Suggest_an_Edit&edit-link-top=true&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-family=Merriweather,Georgia,serif&font-size=16px&link-color=cc0000&header-weight=600&max-width=65ch&dark-mode=auto
taylorjadin: @Christina yep content needs to be online but many many things can host the markdown file like github, codeberg, other code repo services, but also you can drop plain text files into a cpanel account too
HibbittsDesign: &homepage=home.md
HibbittsDesign: &edit-link=https://github.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/blob/main/home.md
HibbittsDesign: &edit-link-text=Suggest_an_Edit
HibbittsDesign: &edit-link-top=true
HibbittsDesign: &sidebar=true
HibbittsDesign: &maxLevel=3
HibbittsDesign: &font-family=Merriweather,Georgia,serif&font-size=16px
HibbittsDesign: &link-color=cc0000
HibbittsDesign: &header-weight=600
HibbittsDesign: &max-width=65ch
HibbittsDesign: &dark-mode=auto
twwoodward:
https://docsify-this.net/?basePath=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hibbitts-design/docsify-this-one-page-article/main&homepage=home.md&sidebar=true&maxLevel=3&font-size=24px&header-weight=700&close-sidebar=true&max-width=55ch&dark-mode=on'#/Christina: Thanks, @Taylor!
twwoodward: Didn't take
Christina: Are there examples anywhere of various ways people have used this tool?
HibbittsDesign: https://docsify-this.net/#/?id=see-what-people-are-doing-with-docsify-this
Christina: Great--thanks!
Pilot: This was awesome, Paul! Thank you so much
Rushaw: This was awesome!
Tierney Steelberg: Thank you so much for this session – I learned a lot!
alan: sorry i missed session!
Christina: Wonderful way to introduce this very useful tool!
twwoodward: Very cool. Thanks!
Rushaw: Thank you, Paul!
taylorjadin: thanks!
alan: i have mybown docsify running in my github
alan: I use an embedded iframe via dicdifyvthis as focunentstiin links avsilsble in my SPLOT themed, aldo yo embed examples in web site https://splot.ca