October 6, 2025

Project Flux - Specification Document

By Infinity Spark 7 min read

Project Flux - Specification Document

Project Overview

Project Name: Flux

Description: A modern static website built using Zola (Rust-based static site generator) combined with Tailwind CSS v4 for styling. This project leverages the speed and efficiency of Zola with the utility-first approach of Tailwind CSS v4 to create a fast, maintainable, and highly customizable website.

Version: 1.0.0

Last Updated: October 6, 2025

Technology Stack

Core Technologies

  • Zola (v0.19.x or latest) - Static site generator written in Rust
  • Tailwind CSS v4 - Utility-first CSS framework (latest v4 release)
  • HTML5 - Markup language
  • JavaScript (optional) - For enhanced interactivity

Development Tools

  • Node.js & npm - For Tailwind CSS v4 installation and build process
  • Git - Version control
  • Text Editor/IDE - VS Code, Sublime Text, or similar

Project Goals

  1. Performance - Achieve sub-second page load times with optimized assets
  2. Developer Experience - Provide a smooth workflow with hot-reloading and fast builds
  3. Maintainability - Use component-based templates and utility classes for easy updates
  4. Customization - Leverage Tailwind's utility classes for flexible design
  5. SEO Optimization - Implement proper meta tags, semantic HTML, and sitemap generation

Project Structure

flux/
├── content/              # Markdown content files
│   ├── _index.md
│   ├── blog/
│   │   └── posts/
│   └── pages/
├── static/               # Static assets
│   ├── images/
│   ├── fonts/
│   └── js/
├── styles/               # CSS source files
│   └── main.css         # Tailwind CSS entry point
├── templates/            # Zola templates
│   ├── base.html        # Base template
│   ├── index.html       # Homepage template
│   ├── page.html        # Single page template
│   ├── section.html     # Section template
│   └── partials/        # Reusable template components
│       ├── header.html
│       ├── footer.html
│       └── nav.html
├── sass/                 # Additional SCSS (optional)
├── public/               # Generated site (git-ignored)
├── config.toml           # Zola configuration
├── package.json          # Node.js dependencies
├── tailwind.config.js    # Tailwind CSS v4 configuration
└── postcss.config.js     # PostCSS configuration

Features & Functionality

Core Features

  • Responsive Design - Mobile-first approach using Tailwind's responsive utilities
  • Dark Mode Support - Toggle between light and dark themes
  • Blog System - Markdown-based blog with tags and categories
  • Syntax Highlighting - Code blocks with syntax highlighting
  • Search Functionality - Client-side search using Zola's built-in search
  • RSS Feed - Automatic RSS feed generation
  • Sitemap - XML sitemap for SEO

Page Types

  1. Homepage - Hero section, featured content, recent posts
  2. Blog Posts - Individual blog entries with metadata
  3. Blog Index - Paginated list of all blog posts
  4. Static Pages - About, Contact, Portfolio, etc.
  5. 404 Error Page - Custom error page

Tailwind CSS v4 Integration

Setup Process

  1. Install Tailwind CSS v4 via npm
  2. Configure tailwind.config.js with custom theme settings
  3. Set up PostCSS processing pipeline
  4. Create styles/main.css with Tailwind directives
  5. Configure Zola to process CSS during build

Tailwind Configuration

// Example tailwind.config.js structure
module.exports = {
  content: [
    './templates/**/*.html',
    './content/**/*.md',
  ],
  theme: {
    extend: {
      colors: {
        // Custom color palette
      },
      typography: {
        // Custom typography settings
      }
    }
  },
  plugins: [
    // Typography plugin for prose content
  ]
}

Build Process

  • Use npm scripts to compile Tailwind CSS
  • Integrate with Zola's build process
  • Implement CSS purging for production builds
  • Minify final CSS output

Zola Configuration

config.toml Settings

base_url = "https://example.com"
title = "Flux"
description = "A modern static site"
default_language = "en"
theme = ""
generate_feed = true
compile_sass = false
minify_html = true
build_search_index = true

[markdown]
highlight_code = true
highlight_theme = "base16-ocean-dark"
smart_punctuation = true

[extra]
# Custom variables

Taxonomies

  • Tags
  • Categories
  • Authors (optional)

Content Management

Markdown Front Matter

+++
title = "Post Title"
date = 2025-10-06
description = "Post description"
[taxonomies]
tags = ["tag1", "tag2"]
categories = ["category"]
[extra]
author = "Author Name"
featured_image = "/images/post.jpg"
+++

Content Guidelines

  • Use semantic headings (H1-H6)
  • Include alt text for all images
  • Keep paragraphs concise
  • Use code blocks with language specification
  • Add meta descriptions for all pages

Development Workflow

Initial Setup

  1. Install Zola binary
  2. Clone/create project repository
  3. Run npm install to install Tailwind CSS v4 and dependencies
  4. Build Tailwind CSS: npm run build:css
  5. Start Zola development server: zola serve

Development Commands

# Start Zola dev server (with auto-reload)
zola serve

# Build Tailwind CSS for development
npm run dev:css

# Build Tailwind CSS for production
npm run build:css

# Build complete site
zola build

# Run concurrent dev servers (Tailwind watch + Zola)
npm run dev

Production Build

  1. Build optimized Tailwind CSS
  2. Run zola build with minification enabled
  3. Test generated site in public/ directory
  4. Deploy to hosting provider

Performance Optimization

Strategies

  • CSS Purging - Remove unused Tailwind classes in production
  • Image Optimization - Use WebP format, lazy loading
  • Asset Minification - Minify HTML, CSS, and JS
  • Caching - Implement proper cache headers
  • CDN Integration - Serve static assets via CDN

Performance Targets

  • Lighthouse Score: 95+ across all metrics
  • First Contentful Paint: < 1.0s
  • Time to Interactive: < 2.0s
  • Total Page Size: < 500KB (excluding images)

SEO Strategy

Implementation

  • Semantic HTML5 structure
  • Open Graph meta tags
  • Twitter Card meta tags
  • Structured data (JSON-LD)
  • Descriptive URLs and permalinks
  • XML sitemap
  • RSS feed
  • Robots.txt configuration

Accessibility

Requirements

  • WCAG 2.1 Level AA compliance
  • Proper heading hierarchy
  • ARIA labels where appropriate
  • Keyboard navigation support
  • Sufficient color contrast ratios
  • Alt text for all images
  • Focus indicators for interactive elements

Browser Support

Target Browsers

  • Chrome (last 2 versions)
  • Firefox (last 2 versions)
  • Safari (last 2 versions)
  • Edge (last 2 versions)
  • Mobile Safari (iOS 14+)
  • Chrome Mobile (Android 10+)

Deployment

Hosting Options

  1. Netlify - Automatic builds from Git
  2. Vercel - Zero-config deployment
  3. Cloudflare Pages - Fast global CDN
  4. GitHub Pages - Free hosting for static sites
  5. Custom VPS - Full control

Deployment Process

  1. Push changes to Git repository
  2. Trigger automated build
  3. Deploy to production
  4. Verify deployment
  5. Monitor performance

Testing Checklist

Pre-Launch Testing

  • [ ] Cross-browser compatibility
  • [ ] Mobile responsiveness
  • [ ] Performance benchmarks
  • [ ] SEO meta tags validation
  • [ ] Accessibility audit
  • [ ] Link validation
  • [ ] Form functionality (if applicable)
  • [ ] Search functionality
  • [ ] RSS feed validation
  • [ ] 404 error page

Future Enhancements

Potential Features

  • Newsletter subscription integration
  • Comment system (Disqus, utterances, etc.)
  • Progressive Web App (PWA) capabilities
  • Multi-language support
  • Advanced search filters
  • Related posts recommendations
  • Social sharing buttons
  • Reading time estimates
  • Table of contents for long posts

Resources & Documentation

Official Documentation

  • Zola Docs: https://www.getzola.org/documentation/
  • Tailwind CSS v4 Docs: https://tailwindcss.com/docs
  • Markdown Guide: https://www.markdownguide.org/

Community Resources

  • Zola Forum
  • Tailwind CSS Discord
  • GitHub Discussions

License

[Specify project license - MIT, Apache 2.0, etc.]

Contributors

[List project contributors and maintainers]

Contact

Project Maintainer: [Your Name]
Email: [your.email@example.com]
Repository: [GitHub repository URL]

Document Version: 1.0
Status: Draft / In Progress / Active Development