diff --git a/_includes/footer-minimal.html b/_includes/footer-minimal.html
index f3cce3ac8f15..af9d2c111230 100644
--- a/_includes/footer-minimal.html
+++ b/_includes/footer-minimal.html
@@ -1,7 +1,9 @@
 <footer class="footer-min">
   <div class="text-muted">
+	{% if site.author.name %}
 	{{ site.author.name }}
 	&nbsp;&nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;&nbsp;
+	{% endif %}
 	{% if page.date %}
 	  {{ page.date }}
 	{% else %}
@@ -13,4 +15,4 @@
     <a href="{{ '' | absolute_url }}">{{ site.url-pretty }}</a>
     {% endif %}
   </div>
-</footer>
\ No newline at end of file
+</footer>
diff --git a/_includes/footer.html b/_includes/footer.html
index 0d34afd87079..4198cba5e954 100644
--- a/_includes/footer.html
+++ b/_includes/footer.html
@@ -25,8 +25,10 @@
           {%- endfor -%}
         </ul>
       <p class="copyright text-muted">
+      {% if site.author.name %}
       {{ site.author.name }}
       &nbsp;&bull;&nbsp;
+      {% endif %}
       {{ site.time | date: '%Y' }}
 
       {% if site.url-pretty %}
diff --git a/_includes/head.html b/_includes/head.html
index 0c298c0271bc..e88d01641ecb 100644
--- a/_includes/head.html
+++ b/_includes/head.html
@@ -3,15 +3,17 @@
   <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
   <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, viewport-fit=cover">
 
-  <title>{% if page.use-site-title %}{{ site.title }} {{ site.title-separator }} {{ site.description }}{% elsif page.title %}{{ page.title }}{% else %}{{ site.title }}{% endif %}</title>
-
+  <title>{% if page.use-site-title %}{{ site.title }} {{ site.title-separator | default: '-' }} {{ site.description }}{% elsif page.title %}{{ page.title }}{% else %}{{ site.title }}{% endif %}</title>
+  
+  {% if site.author.name %}
   <meta name="author" content="{{ site.author.name }}" />
-
+  {% endif %}
+  
   {% if page.subtitle %}
   <meta name="description" content="{{ page.subtitle }}">
   {% endif %}
 
-  <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="{{ site.title }} {{ site.title-separator }} {{ site.description }}" href="{{ '/feed.xml' | absolute_url }}" />
+  <link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="{{ site.title | default: 'Untitled' }} {{ site.title-separator | default: '-' }} {{ site.description }}" href="{{ '/feed.xml' | absolute_url }}" />
 
   {% include gtag.html %}
   {% include gtm_head.html %}
@@ -62,7 +64,7 @@
   <meta property="og:title" content="{{ page.meta-title }}" />
   {% elsif page.title %}
   <meta property="og:title" content="{{ page.title }}" />
-  {% else %}
+  {% elsif site.title %}
   <meta property="og:title" content="{{ site.title }}" />
   {% endif %}
 
diff --git a/_includes/header.html b/_includes/header.html
index 5338f226a5f2..49ab1c807e61 100644
--- a/_includes/header.html
+++ b/_includes/header.html
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 <!-- TODO this file has become a mess, refactor it -->
 
+{% assign date_format = site.date_format | default: "%B %-d, %Y" %}
+
 {% if page.bigimg or page.title %}
 
 {% if page.bigimg %}
@@ -36,7 +38,7 @@ <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</h2>
 		  {% endif %}
 		  
 		  {% if include.type == "post" %}
-		  <span class="post-meta">Posted on {{ page.date | date: site.date_format }}</span>
+		  <span class="post-meta">Posted on {{ page.date | date: date_format }}</span>
 		  {% endif %}
         </div>
       </div>
@@ -61,7 +63,7 @@ <h2 class="{{ include.type }}-subheading">{{ page.subtitle }}</h2>
 		  {% endif %}
 		  
 		  {% if include.type == "post" %}
-		  <span class="post-meta">Posted on {{ page.date | date: site.date_format }}</span>
+		  <span class="post-meta">Posted on {{ page.date | date: date_format }}</span>
 		  {% endif %}
         </div>
       </div>
diff --git a/_includes/nav.html b/_includes/nav.html
index c2bdf66822b5..264756e2f219 100644
--- a/_includes/nav.html
+++ b/_includes/nav.html
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
       </button>
       {%- if site.title-img -%}
         <a class="navbar-brand navbar-brand-logo" href="{{ '' | absolute_url }}"><img src="{{ site.title-img }}"/></a>
-      {%- else -%}
+      {%- elsif site.title -%}
         <a class="navbar-brand" href="{{ '' | absolute_url }}">{{ site.title }}</a>
       {%- endif -%}
     </div>
diff --git a/css/main.css b/css/main.css
index 65e7174e6f2a..322ea1188bbd 100644
--- a/css/main.css
+++ b/css/main.css
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ body {
   font-size: 18px;
   color: #404040;
   position: relative;
-  background-color: {{ site.page-col }};
+  background-color: {{ site.page-col | default: "#FFFFFF" }};
   {% if site.page-img %}
   background-image: url({{ site.page-img | relative_url }});
   background-attachment: fixed;
@@ -26,11 +26,11 @@ h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {
   font-weight: 800;
 }
 a {
-  color: {{ site.link-col }};
+  color: {{ site.link-col | default: "#008AFF" }};
 }
 a:hover,
 a:focus {
-  color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
 }
 blockquote {
   color: #808080;
@@ -68,12 +68,12 @@ hr.small {
 ::-moz-selection {
   color: white;
   text-shadow: none;
-  background-color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  background-color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
 }
 ::selection {
   color: white;
   text-shadow: none;
-  background-color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  background-color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
 }
 img::selection {
   color: white;
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ img {
 /* --- Navbar --- */
 
 .navbar-custom {
-  background-color: {{ site.navbar-col }};
+  background-color: {{ site.navbar-col | default: "#F5F5F5" }};
   border-bottom: 1px solid #EAEAEA;
   font-family: 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;
   {% if site.navbar-img %}
@@ -124,14 +124,14 @@ img {
 .navbar-custom .navbar-brand,
 .navbar-custom .nav li a {
   font-weight: 800;
-  color: {{ site.navbar-text-col }};
+  color: {{ site.navbar-text-col | default: "#404040" }};
 }
 
 .navbar-custom .navbar-brand:hover,
 .navbar-custom .navbar-brand:focus ,
 .navbar-custom .nav li a:hover,
 .navbar-custom .nav li a:focus {
-  color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
 }
 
 .navbar-custom .navbar-brand-logo {
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ img {
   display: block;
   padding: 10px;
   padding-left: 30px;
-  background-color: {{ site.navbar-children-col }};
+  background-color: {{ site.navbar-children-col | default: "#F5F5F5" }};
   text-decoration: none !important;
   border-width: 0 1px 1px 1px;
   font-weight: normal;
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ footer {
   border-top: 1px #EAEAEA solid;
   margin-top: 50px;
   font-size: 14px;
-  background-color: {{ site.footer-col }};
+  background-color: {{ site.footer-col | default: "#F5F5F5" }};
   {% if site.footer-img %}
   background-image: url({{ site.footer-img | relative_url }});
   background-attachment: fixed;
@@ -279,11 +279,11 @@ footer {
 }
 
 footer p.text-muted {
-  color: {{ site.footer-text-col }};
+  color: {{ site.footer-text-col | default: "#777777" }};
 }
 
 footer a {
-  color: {{site.footer-link-col}};
+  color: {{ site.footer-link-col | default: "#404040" }};
 }
 
 footer .list-inline {
@@ -337,7 +337,7 @@ footer .theme-by {
 .post-preview a:focus,
 .post-preview a:hover {
   text-decoration: none;
-  color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
 }
 
 .post-preview .post-title {
@@ -401,14 +401,14 @@ footer .theme-by {
 }
 
 .blog-tags a {
-  color: {{ site.link-col }};
+  color: {{ site.link-col | default: "#008AFF" }};
   text-decoration: none;
   padding: 0px 5px;
 }
 
 .blog-tags a:hover {
   border-radius: 2px;
-  color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
   background-color: #EEE;
 }
 
@@ -614,8 +614,8 @@ footer .theme-by {
 .pager li a:hover,
 .pager li a:focus {
   color: #FFF;
-  border: 1px solid {{ site.hover-col }};
-  background-color: {{ site.hover-col }};
+  border: 1px solid {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
+  background-color: {{ site.hover-col | default: "#0085A1" }};
 }
 
 .pager {
diff --git a/feed.xml b/feed.xml
index c5b566416b92..dcb79c6c1717 100644
--- a/feed.xml
+++ b/feed.xml
@@ -4,8 +4,12 @@ layout: null
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
 <rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
   <channel>
+    {% if site.title %}
     <title>{{ site.title | xml_escape }}</title>
+    {% endif %}
+    {% if site.description %}
     <description>{{ site.description | xml_escape }}</description>
+    {% endif %}
     <link>{{ '' | absolute_url }}</link>
     <atom:link href="{{ 'feed.xml' | absolute_url }}" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
     {% for post in site.posts limit:20 %}
diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
index 3c1ccd430133..554133a21473 100644
--- a/index.html
+++ b/index.html
@@ -19,7 +19,8 @@ <h3 class="post-subtitle">
     </a>
 
     <p class="post-meta">
-      Posted on {{ post.date | date: site.date_format }}
+        {% assign date_format = site.date_format | default: "%B %-d, %Y" %}
+        Posted on {{ post.date | date: date_format }}
     </p>
 
     <div class="post-entry-container">
@@ -31,9 +32,10 @@ <h3 class="post-subtitle">
       </div>
       {% endif %}
       <div class="post-entry">
-        {{ post.excerpt | strip_html | xml_escape | truncatewords: site.excerpt_length }}
+        {% assign excerpt_length = site.excerpt_length | default: 50 %}
+	{{ post.excerpt | strip_html | xml_escape | truncatewords: excerpt_length }}
         {% assign excerpt_word_count = post.excerpt | number_of_words %}
-        {% if post.content != post.excerpt or excerpt_word_count > site.excerpt_length %}
+        {% if post.content != post.excerpt or excerpt_word_count > excerpt_length %}
           <a href="{{ post.url | relative_url }}" class="post-read-more">[Read&nbsp;More]</a>
         {% endif %}
       </div>
diff --git a/tags.html b/tags.html
index 2c1c94965cae..04c193908ec9 100644
--- a/tags.html
+++ b/tags.html
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@
 title: 'Tag Index'
 ---
 
+{% assign date_format = site.date_format | default: "%B %-d, %Y" %}
+
 {%- capture site_tags -%}
     {%- for tag in site.tags -%}
         {{- tag | first -}}{%- unless forloop.last -%},{%- endunless -%}
@@ -25,7 +27,7 @@ <h2 id="{{- tag -}}" class="linked-section">
             <div class="tag-entry">
                 <a href="{{ post.url | relative_url }}">{{- post.title -}}</a>
                 <div class="entry-date">
-                    <time datetime="{{- post.date | date_to_xmlschema -}}">{{- post.date | date: site.date_format -}}</time>
+                    <time datetime="{{- post.date | date_to_xmlschema -}}">{{- post.date | date: date_format -}}</time>
                 </div>
             </div>
         {%- endfor -%}