# \[SOLVED\] New Theme Not Rendering

**URL:** <https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319>\
**Category:** support\
**Created:** [August 2, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319 "2018-08-02T22:27:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![theovenbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@theovenbird](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/theovenbird)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/1 "2018-08-02T22:27:20Z")

</div>

I’m brand new to Hugo and would like to get a new theme off the ground. But none of the changes I make to the theme files seem to render. In fact, nothing seems to render at all. I created a new project:

```
hugo new site test

```

and created a new theme:

```
cd themes
hugo new theme test

```

My config.toml looks like

```
baseURL = "http://example.org/"
languageCode = "en-us"
title = "My New Hugo Site"
theme = "test"

```

And now my directory structure looks like this:

```
├── archetypes
│ └── default.md
├── config.toml
├── content
├── data
├── layouts
├── public
│ ├── categories
│ │ └── index.xml
│ ├── index.xml
│ ├── sitemap.xml
│ └── tags
│ └── index.xml
├── resources
├── static
└── themes
    └── test
        ├── LICENSE
        ├── archetypes
        │ └── default.md
        ├── layouts
        │ ├── 404.html
        │ ├── _default
        │ │ ├── baseof.html
        │ │ ├── list.html
        │ │ └── single.html
        │ ├── index.html
        │ └── partials
        │ ├── footer.html
        │ ├── head.html
        │ └── header.html
        ├── static
        │ ├── css
        │ └── js
        └── theme.toml

```

I made some changes to the head and header partial (added a `head` and `title`, and a “Hello, world!”, respectively) but they don’t show when I use `hugo server`. I’ve also edited the baseof.html with the same info the same thing happens. I’ve downloaded the Ananke theme and that shows up even with no content to the site, though sometimes it persists even if I shut down the server, delete the ananke theme and change the config.toml, and restart the server.

Has anyone got a clue as to what I’m doing wrong?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![funkydan2](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/funkydan2/32/5636_2.png) [@funkydan2](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/funkydan2)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 12:10am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/2 "2018-08-03T00:10:40Z")

</div>

I’m pretty sure the test theme is very bare. It gives you the necessary files but they’re empty.

To get started, put some valid HTML in `themes/test/layouts/index.html` and run `hugo server`, and you should see the output at `localhost:1313`.

Though I wonder if you’d be better off working from a theme—[there’s loads to choose from.](https://themes.gohugo.io)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![theovenbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@theovenbird](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/theovenbird)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/3 "2018-08-03T15:22:59Z")

</div>

Thanks for the reply @funkydan2, I am able to see changes made to my `themes/test/layouts/index.html`, but I am still scratching my head as to why the changes made to my `themes/test/layouts/_default/baseof.html` aren’t showing up, nor are my changes to the partials. Do you have any idea why that might be the case?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![funkydan2](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/funkydan2/32/5636_2.png) [@funkydan2](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/funkydan2)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 5:34am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/4 "2018-08-04T05:34:42Z")

</div>

I’ve got a few ideas of what you may be doing wrong, but without seeing your code it’s impossible to know.

Probably best to commit what you’ve got to a git repository and then we can see what you’re attempting.

[https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/requesting-help/9132](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/requesting-help/9132)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![theovenbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@theovenbird](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/theovenbird)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 6:29pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/5 "2018-08-04T18:29:37Z")

</div>

Thanks again @funkydan2. Here is the [github repo](https://github.com/andystevensname/hugo_test).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![anon94969202](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@anon94969202](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/anon94969202)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 7:40pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/6 "2018-08-04T19:40:10Z")

</div>

Keep working on it. Don’t let up. We look forward to your theme. You don’t need to settle on someone else’s. Just be ready to put in the time to learn.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![funkydan2](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/funkydan2/32/5636_2.png) [@funkydan2](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/funkydan2)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 5:53am UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/8 "2018-08-05T05:53:43Z")

</div>

So in your `baseof.html` you’ve got a call to a block called _main_. Where is that block defined?

> <https://github.com/andystevensname/hugo_test/blob/03ab46299f15481d315e8017a581e6fa48febb23/themes/test/layouts/_default/baseof.html#L7>

> **[Base Templates and Blocks](https://gohugo.io/templates/base/)**
>
> The base and block constructs allow you to define the outer shell of your master templates (i.e., the chrome of the page).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![theovenbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@theovenbird](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/theovenbird)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/9 "2018-08-05T15:19:03Z")

</div>

Thanks @funkydan2, I defined _main_ in `index.html` and the rest of my changes to `head.html` and `header.html` are showing up!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![funkydan2](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex036/user_avatar/discourse.gohugo.io/funkydan2/32/5636_2.png) [@funkydan2](https://discourse.gohugo.io/u/funkydan2)\
**Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://discourse.gohugo.io/t/solved-new-theme-not-rendering/13319/10 "2018-08-05T20:01:15Z")

</div>

Good to hear.