1.1. What Is Bookdown?

Bookdown generates DocBook-like HTML output using CommonMark (a variation of Markdown) and JSON files instead of XML.

Bookdown is especially well-suited for publishing project documentation to GitHub Pages.

Features include:

  • Automatic table-of-contents generation as index pages at each hierarchy level

  • Custom index-page titles via JSON configuration

  • Automatic numbering of page headings

  • Automatic previous/next/up navigation headers and footers

  • Multi-page hierarchical output

  • Loading of remote content files via HTTP

  • Templated output for theming

  • Overridable page processing, especially for rendering

  • Downloading of linked images

  • CommonMark extension support

  • Depth level of table of contents

  • Setting a copyright hint

  • Support for 3rd party templates

Bookdown can be used as a static site generator, or as a way to publish static pages as a subdirectory in an existing site.