HibbittsDesign.org
Open Education & Publishing Your Content, Your Control No Database Required

Where Systems‑Oriented UX Shapes Open Source

Your Markdown, Published Your Way

Pick your level of publishing capability – no build step, full portability – powered by Docsify (31.5k ★s) or Grav (15.7k ★s): publish instantly with Docsify-This, launch a site on GitHub Pages with a Docsify Starter Kit, or level up to Grav for a full CMS. Everything here is free and open source – including full Grav sites for open guides, books and courses, with optional Grav Premium Helios versions as a step up. Built by Paul Hibbitts, drawing on over 25 years of software interaction design, UX consulting, and university teaching experience.

Jump to: Three Levels of Capability · Projects in Detail

yoursite.md → published

README.mdNew to Markdown?

# Docsify‑This

Turn any Markdown file into a
**shareable, styled web page** – instantly.

- No signup, no install
- Embeds in Canvas, Moodle, WordPress, or any page
- Point-and-click page builder

[Try it live →](https://docsify-this.net)

Published page

Docsify‑This

Turn any Markdown file into a shareable, styled web page – instantly.

  • No signup, no install
  • Embeds in Canvas, Moodle, WordPress, or any page
  • Point-and-click page builder

Try it live →

The same Markdown file, before and after – this is what every project below does, at a different scale.

One idea, three levels of capability

Start with Docsify-This to publish instantly, no setup required. Move to a Docsify Starter Kit when you want your own domain or custom CSS. Graduate to Grav when you want a full CMS with an admin panel – start free with Open Publishing Space or Open Course Hub, and step up to Grav Premium Helios for its more polished, app-like design. Your content stays as plain Markdown files you control, portable across every option below.

Instant · Docsify

Docsify-This

Point at a file, published instantly, nothing installed

Static Site · Docsify

Docsify Starter Kits

A whole repository, your own domain and CSS, zero build step

Full CMS · Grav

Grav CMS Projects

A flat-file CMS with a full admin panel, no database required – free, or Premium Helios

Which one do I need?

I want to publish a page – or several – right now, with no setup and nothing to install.

Docsify‑This

I want my own domain or custom CSS, with a whole site living in my own GitHub repository (no coding needed), deployed to GitHub Pages for free.

Docsify Starter Kits

I'm publishing an open textbook or other long-form OER (open educational resource) and want a web-first reader experience, with a full admin panel, no database required.

Grav Open Guides & Books

I'm building a single or multiple course site and want a modern course home for my students, or Markdown content to embed in my LMS, with a full admin panel, no database required.

Grav Course Sites

I'd like to compare every Grav project, free or Premium Helios – on one map.

Grav CMS Projects at a Glance

Projects

Instant · Docsify
147 Award Finalist

Docsify‑This v2.1 · Docsify v5

Turn any online Markdown file into a shareable, styled web page or embeddable widget – instantly, with no signup and no build step. Point it at a file on GitHub, Codeberg, or anywhere public, and it's a live page; point it at several, and it's a full multi-page site. Open Infrastructure Finalist, 2024 Open Education Awards for Excellence.

  • No signup, no install
  • Embeds in Canvas, Moodle, WordPress, or any page
  • Point-and-click page builder

Learn more about Docsify‑This →

→ Try it live View on GitHub
Static Site · Docsify

Docsify Starter Kits Docsify v5

Ready-to-use templates for building a full Markdown-based site on GitHub Pages (free hosting), with room for your own domain and full control over the CSS – no build tooling, edit pages directly on GitHub.

  • Your own domain & CSS support
  • Embeds in Canvas, Moodle, Microsoft Teams, or any page
  • Edit-on-GitHub workflow, or sync local edits with GitHub Desktop – no coding required, just text files

Learn more about Docsify Starter Kits →

Open Course Kit

51

Hidden navigation for pages framed inside a course.

→ Demo GitHub

Open MultiCourse Kit

13

The Open Course Kit plus a course-selection layer, for managing several courses from one site.

→ Demo GitHub

Open Publishing Kit

61

Suits articles, tutorials, and documentation.

→ Demo GitHub
Full CMS · Grav
27 Cost-Free
Screenshot of the Grav Open Publishing Space home page on the Quark 2 theme, showing an open guide with a cover image beside its title and details, a Start Reading button, and section cards

Grav Open Publishing Space Free · Grav 2 & 1.7

An open guide or book site – such as a course reader, handbook, or short open textbook – with a blog and almost any other Grav page alongside it. Content lives as ordinary Markdown files, edited in the browser, with no database. On Grav 2, even the free version gets the completely new Admin 2 panel and Markdown output for every page.

  • Section cards, parts, reading progress, Keep My Place & a Previous/Next bar on phones
  • Free Pressbooks Converter imports your existing books (beta)
  • Embeds in Canvas, Moodle & Brightspace – no special integration needed

Learn more about Grav Open Publishing Space →

→ See the demo Download View on GitHub

Step up · Grav Premium Helios

Grav Helios Open Reader (below) is the dedicated reading site version, with a table of contents beside every page – your guides move across unchanged.

Full CMS · Grav
47 Cost-Free
Screenshot of the Grav Open Course Hub home page, showing a header photo, Modules and Blog in the course navigation, and links to this week's module

Grav Open Course Hub Free · Grav 2 & 1.7

A free, open home on the web for a single course, inside or outside your LMS – plain Markdown files, edited in the browser, with no database. On Grav 2, even the free version gets the completely new Admin 2 panel.

  • A Home page with this week’s reminders, modules or weekly units, and an optional course blog
  • Embeds in Canvas, Moodle & Brightspace – no special integration needed
  • Free Common Cartridge Converter imports Canvas, Moodle & Brightspace courses (beta)
  • Several courses? Grav Open MultiCourse Hub gives each course its own look, from one site (demo)

Learn more about Grav Open Course Hub →

→ See the demo Download View on GitHub

Step up · Grav Premium Helios

Grav Helios Course Hub (below) runs one or several courses in Helios’s app-like layout – your course content moves across with a few adjustments.

Full CMS · Grav Premium Helios
Made Possible by Premium Helios
Screenshot of a Grav Helios Open Reader page, showing a section overview with a callout box and sidebar table of contents

Grav Helios Open Reader Premium Helios · Grav 2

A web-first reader skeleton for open textbooks and other long-form OER, built on the database-free Grav CMS and the Grav Premium Helios theme ($50 per site). Includes example reader content, the Helios Open Reader plugin, and a full admin panel – content still lives as ordinary Markdown files, not database rows.

  • "Keep My Place" reading position, a progress bar & a table of contents that highlights where you are
  • Embeds directly in Canvas, Moodle & Brightspace – no special integration needed
  • Free Pressbooks Converter imports your existing content (beta)

Learn more about Grav Helios Open Reader →

→ See the demo Download View on GitHub
Full CMS · Grav Premium Helios
6 Made Possible by Premium Helios
Screenshot of a Grav Helios Course Hub course home page, showing upcoming due dates and required reading

Grav Helios Course Hub Premium Helios · Grav 2

A single- or multi-course hub skeleton for the Grav Premium Helios theme ($50 per site), for educators who want a modern course home without a database. Includes example course content, the Helios Course Hub plugin, and an admin panel for managing everything through the browser.

  • Single or multi-course, with course cards, instructor names & status badges
  • Write in Markdown and embed directly in your LMS (Canvas, Moodle & Brightspace) – no special integration needed
  • Free Common Cartridge Converter imports Canvas, Moodle & Brightspace courses (beta)

Learn more about Grav Helios Course Hub →

→ See the demo Download View on GitHub

See what educators and users are saying →

Beta

Free Converters

Bring an existing course or book into Docsify or Grav. These free tools handle the common cases well, but course and book content varies enough that the result is a strong starting point to review and finish by hand, not a guaranteed one‑click migration. All three are ongoing beta projects – not finished products, and likely to stay that way. The Grav ones are also on the Grav Converters page.

Docsify Cartridge Converter

Imports a Canvas, Moodle, or Brightspace Common Cartridge export into a ready-to-edit Docsify site, for Docsify‑This or the Docsify Starter Kits.

→ Try it GitHub

Pressbooks Converter

Imports a Pressbooks book into the free Open Publishing Space or Helios Open Reader.

→ Try it GitHub

Common Cartridge Converter

The same Common Cartridge import, for the free Open Course Hub (modules) or Open MultiCourse Hub (a whole course), or Helios Course Hub.

→ Try it GitHub

Markdown Content for Your LMS

Write your course content as plain Markdown files and show it inside Canvas, Moodle, or Brightspace by embedding a page's URL. These tools are content layers, not learning management systems – enrollment, grading, and assessment stay in your LMS.

Curious about using Markdown for open education, open publishing, or OER?

If you're deciding which tool fits, or working through a migration, questions are welcome.

Get in touch →