--- title: Differences between Xeo and Simple Blog date: "2025-12-31T13:00Z" author: Ricky de Laveaga tags: - Date - Design - Front Matter - Lume - Title - Xeo draft: false --- Wondering how [**Xeo**](https://github.com/famebot/xeo) differs from [**Simple Blog**](https://lume.land/theme/simple-blog/)? This post is for you! To recap [How to install Xeo:](/instructions/) > **Xeo** began as a variant of the > [**Simple Blog**](https://lume.land/theme/simple-blog/) theme for > [**Lume**](https://lume.land/) by [Óscar Otero](https://oscarotero.com/). Over > time, eventually Xeo diverged substantially enough from Simple Blog that Óscar > and Ricky agreed it was time for Xeo to become a fully stand-alone theme. > > Starting with version 7, Xeo no longer depends on Simple Blog as its parent > theme. Because Xeo is no longer a child theme, using Xeo as a parent theme to > make your own child theme just got easier. Another bonus of the split is that > Simple Blog can now freely implement features that landed in Xeo first (like > custom fonts and colors) without having to worry about compatibility issues > with Xeo or downstream themes and sites that depend on Xeo. Where do they diverge? ## Typography > [!tip] > > Lume’s Google Fonts plugin needs the **share page link**, or share URL, not > the embed code. - Xeo uses [Lume’s Google Fonts plugin](https://lume.land/plugins/google_fonts/) in [`plugins.ts`](https://github.com/famebot/xeo/blob/trunk/plugins.ts) to set display (for larger sized headings and titles) and text (normal body and smaller sizes) typefaces from the [Google Font Library](https://fonts.google.com/). - By default, Xeo sets [Bebas Neue](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Bebas+Neue) for display and [Lexend](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Lexend) for text. Preview Bebas Neue + Lexend at **[xeo.land](https://xeo.land/).** You can customize this when you **[personalize your copy of Xeo](/instructions/#typography).** - To get the correct URL for your `display` and `text` font choices, I recommend selecting the “Get font” button at the top right on the specimen page, which will take you the [selection](https://fonts.google.com/selection) page where you can select the “Share” button and then the “Copy share page link” button, which shows a copy icon that looks like one rectangle stacked on top of another rectangle. The share button should be underneath the text “1 font family selected.” Use the “Remove all” button to clear each choice before selecting another, so the share page links stay separate. - If you are looking for more options, [Poppins](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Poppins) is an alternative to Lexend we considered for Xeo. The example custom font site, **[xogo.xeo.land](https://xogo.xeo.land/),** showcases the fun, playful pairing of Poppins & [Playpen](https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Playpen+Sans). [**Xogo** means _play_ or _game_](https://translate.google.com/?sl=gl&tl=en&text=Xogo&op=translate) in Galician, like [**Xeo** means _ice_](https://translate.google.com/?sl=gl&tl=en&text=Xeo&op=translate) and [**Lume** means _fire_](https://translate.google.com/?sl=gl&tl=en&text=Lume&op=translate). The source code powering the example is in the [`xogo` branch on GitHub](https://github.com/famebot/xeo/blob/xogo/_config.ts#L6-L18). We chose Lexend over Poppins because [variable fonts](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_fonts/Variable_fonts_guide) have performance benefits since they combine many different variations of a typeface into a single file, reducing requests. - You can [browse variable Google fonts](https://fonts.google.com/variablefonts) or learn about [Pairing](https://fonts.google.com/knowledge/choosing_type/pairing_typefaces) and [Combining Typefaces](https://blog.typekit.com/2016/04/29/combining-typefaces-free-guide-to-great-typography/) for inspiration and wisdom. Learn more about Xeo’s typography in [How to install Xeo](/instructions/#typography). ## Design - **Spacing:** Xeo adjusts spacing around various elements, particularly page headers and the [search box](/archive/), which is relocated to the bottom of pages to reduce layout shift when search results appear. - **Color:** Xeo has a [foundation](https://github.com/famebot/xeo/blob/trunk/styles.css) that will lead to eventual support of [Rainbow Mode](https://eleventeen.netlify.app/about/#rainbow-mode) powered by [Chromagen](https://chromagen.io/), like Xeo’s predecessor [eleventeen](https://eleventeen.netlify.app/about/). Chromagen generated Xeo’s current color schemes, but has not yet been wired up to Xeo to the degree it has been integrated into eleventeen. ## [Front matter optional](/2025-12-solstice/) Xeo uses [Lume’s Extract date plugin](https://lume.land/plugins/extract_date/) to parse dates and titles from filenames. > You have to prepend the date to the filename using the `yyyy-mm-dd` syntax > followed by a hyphen `-` or an underscore `_` (or `yyyy-mm-dd-hh-ii-ss` if you > also need the time). Note that [the date] is removed [by default] when > generating the final url […] Dates can be defined in folders, so it's shared > by all pages inside […] – [Extract date, lume.land](https://lume.land/plugins/extract_date/#description) The date must be at the beginning and complete. The trailing hyphen or underscore following the date and preceding the title is required by Extract date. Providing the time is optional. There is a draft in the example posts that tests the scenario with a date and title in the filename and supplies 13:00, as `-13-00-00` at the end. This gets around most [time offsets from UTC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UTC_offsets) that cause the date to shift in certain time zones, most often in New Zealand, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, and USA Minor Outlying Islands. The [No title](/no-title/) and [2025-12 solstice](/2025-12-solstice/) example posts both have `date` and `author` in the [front matter](https://lume.land/docs/getting-started/page-data/). With [No title](/no-title/), the title in the built site comes from the [`basename`](https://lume.land/docs/creating-pages/urls/#basename) of the `no-title` folder containing the `index.md` file. Because the partial, incomplete date in the `2025-12-solstice.md` source filename does not have a day value, it gets parsed as part of the title, [2025-12 solstice](/2025-12-solstice/).