DevLab v0.9.0: layouts, collections and extension slots

v0.9.0 RiPetitor Published 02.10.2026 Updated 06.10.2026 7 min read

Layouts, collections, sidebar labels, community cards, icons and setup in DevLab 0.9.0.

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DevLab v0.9.0 lets a project combine a landing page, blog, several manuals and a book in one Zola site. Layouts are selected in content front matter, reading roots are registered in configuration, and template slots let a site replace individual parts of the interface.

Layouts follow content settings

The theme provides ordinary page and section layouts, dated articles, documentation, Reader, landing pages and downloads. Zola's template selects a layout. A section's page_template applies recursively to its descendants. A closer section or a page can override it.

A URL no longer implies a layout. A page under content/manual/ can use page.html without receiving a documentation shell. A post outside the blog directory can use blog-page.html and receive article metadata and a TOC. Custom layouts declare their context in the layout_context block.

Site architecture explains the content model, layout selection and ownership of site files.

Landing pages use ordered blocks

A landing page now reads an array of blocks. Authors choose their order and can repeat feature or content sections. The built-in types are hero, features, learn, workflow, cta and content.

For example, in content/product.md:

+++
title = "Acme"
description = "Tools for inspecting build logs."
template = "landing.html"

[extra.devlab.home]
blocks = [
  { type = "hero", actions = [{ label = "Read the manual", path = "/manual/" }] },
  { type = "features", title = "Tools", items = [{ title = "Log search", description = "Find failed jobs and related output." }] },
  { type = "content" },
]
+++

## Installation

Add the package and configure the log directory.

The hero uses the page title and description. The content block renders its Markdown body. A hero must come first and can appear only once. Duplicate block IDs and unknown block types stop the build. A site can add a block type through partials/landing-block.html.

See Landing blocks for fields and inheritance.

Manuals and books have named collections

A collection identifies a reading root by its content source. For a site with content/manual/_index.md and content/api/_index.md, configuration can contain:

[extra.devlab.collections.manual]
section = "manual/_index.md"

[extra.devlab.collections.api]
section = "api/_index.md"
show_toc = false

[extra.devlab.navigation]
links = [
  { name = "Home", path = "/" },
  { collection = "manual" },
  { collection = "api" },
]

The theme gets each root's URL and title from Zola. Sidebar, mobile tree, breadcrumbs and reading links use the active collection. Source ancestry keeps a page in that collection when the page sets a custom public path. The corresponding header link stays active and its sidebar branch stays open.

Reading options inherit from site defaults, then the collection, ancestor sections and current content. page_actions merges individual fields, so a local Copy link setting preserves the inherited Edit URL. Arrays replace the previous array.

Curated navigation selects distinct branches within the collection. Foreign, duplicate and overlapping entries fail the build. Catalog pages show one level of content in both automatic and curated modes: direct pages and links to child sections.

Navigation also accepts text dividers such as { label = "Applications" }. An optional translations map supplies labels for other languages. Dividers appear in the desktop sidebar and mobile Docs menu, without links, toggles or keyboard focus. They do not create pages or affect Previous/Next links. A group with no sections in the active language is omitted.

Collections and Docs navigation describe the configuration.

Active entries in the Docs sidebar and page TOC use text highlighting. Blog and author post lists use the same centered width as articles. Headings, descriptions and separators align within that width.

On the homepage, Blog and Downloads, the header separator appears after scrolling. Docs and Reader show it immediately. Without JavaScript, the separator remains visible on every page.

Reader keeps one chapter sequence

reader.html renders chapter pages and section introductions. One sequence controls the chapter list and Previous/Next links. By default, it contains the root introduction, direct pages in Zola order, then subsection introductions and descendants. Transparent sections contribute their content without adding an introduction of their own.

An explicit reading_order can place introductions and chapters in another order. Entries must be unique and belong to the book. Missing primary-language files fail the build. Untranslated entries are omitted from that language's sequence. Filenames containing _index are treated as ordinary chapter files unless the filename itself starts with _index..

Reader and Docs include a compact TOC on narrower screens. Edit links remain available below the content when the desktop panel is hidden. The print stylesheet removes navigation, announcements and controls, wraps code, and includes every tab panel with its label. Printing covers the current chapter. Whole-book PDF and EPUB export are outside this release.

See Reader for a root section, first chapter and explicit ordering example.

Small template changes use slots

Sites can replace header brand, navigation or tools separately. Shared page slots cover headings, extra heading content, metadata and actions. Sidebar, footer and icon slots cover the remaining common extension points.

A custom icon added through partials/icon.html works in content and footer links. A missing footer icon falls back to the link name. Linked cards use a heading link, allowing ordinary links in the Markdown body without nested anchors.

Base blocks also expose additions to the head, main landmark and body. layout_scripts belongs to a layout. extra_scripts adds site script tags after theme and layout tags. Use defer on dependent classic scripts. Theme templates keep ordinary inheritance paths, so site overrides continue to participate in Zola's lookup rules.

CSS tokens control colors, fonts and widths. Overrides loaded after the theme stylesheet apply in light, dark and system mode. Public slots and component arguments are listed in Extension API. partials/devlab/ and components/internal/ contain their implementation.

Community cards

devlab.people renders a grid of centered profiles with avatars or initials, names, optional nicknames and social links. Each profile can include a role, biography and a support action below the card body. Cards use authored records in the site's front matter or configuration and require no JavaScript.

Profile, social and support destinations use the shared route resolver, including the deployment prefix and active language for local links. A missing name or incomplete support action stops the build with an explanatory error.

The Community cards guide includes a complete page example. The People reference lists its fields.

Bundled SVG icons

Interface icons use Tabler Icons 3.48.0. Service logos use Simple Icons 16.34.0. The default header mark and favicon use a terminal symbol. SVG files are bundled with the theme and inherit the surrounding text color. Their licenses and source mappings are included in the repository.

The icon catalog shows every built-in icon. Sites can add their own icons through the existing partials/icon.html slot.

Translations use one interface catalog

English, German and Russian interface labels live in theme.toml. Sites can override individual keys or add another language. Controls and their accessible names use the same resolved catalog. Downloads use its nested downloads table, with optional overrides from the selected data file.

Content still needs its own translations. The switcher and hreflang metadata link to existing translated pages and sections. Missing translated collection roots remove that language's collection link. Zola language configuration also sets the translated site title, description, taxonomies and search index.

Search loads the active language's generated index on first interaction. German and Russian load the matching stemmer support and language modules before the index. Other indexed languages can supply ordered plugin paths. See Languages and Search configuration.

Single downloads lists one product and its files by release channel. Catalog lists several products with detail pages, search, support and vendor filters, sorting and result counts. Both layouts read an explicit TOML data file.

Product, channel and support IDs are validated during the build. A file becomes downloadable when its URL is present. Its maturity status does not enable the link. Preview and planned artifacts can therefore appear before files exist. Checksum and signature links are optional and require an enabled download. Each product can replace shared mirrors and override verification fields. Catalog counts include only enabled files, and download labels distinguish architecture and version. The theme does not query release APIs or invent verification files.

Single downloads, Catalog and the data reference cover the two layouts.

Setup starts with two site files

The installation guide links a local theme checkout or pins a published revision. Quick start then creates zola.toml and content/_index.md. Search, feeds and specialized layouts are added when the site needs them. Standalone starter projects are removed. Examples sit beside the settings or components they explain.

The supported API is documented directly. Retired configuration keys stop the build with an upgrade message. The v0.8 migration guide maps the old homepage and reading settings to blocks and collections. Parallel label tables and fixed homepage rendering are removed. Current configuration uses ordered landing blocks, named collections, explicit navigation destinations and the interface catalog.

A site build requires Zola 0.23.6 or newer. There is no frontend build step. Copy, tabs and diagrams load on pages that use them. Download layouts load their shared controls. Static navigation and content remain readable without JavaScript.

The publishing guide covers metadata, feeds, cache settings and host policies.

Publication and release checks

Blog lists and articles link to tag archives. Description text takes precedence in lists, with a plain-text summary fallback. Dated articles link to their adjacent posts. Author profiles require non-empty names and supply their display name and role to page metadata.

The Blog guide walks through the first post, authors, tags and feeds. Deployment covers uploading public/ and checking live routes. The release tag is published separately. Until it exists, the installation guide and Download page provide a repository checkout. The demo build enables versioned archive URLs only after verifying that the local and published tag point to the same commit and both archives are available.