Processed Assets vs Static Files

Jekyll does not treat every file the same way.

Some source files are processed through Jekyll/Liquid/front matter or asset tooling.

Others are copied into the destination as static files.

Start with an asset tree

assets/
├── css/
├── images/
└── js/

The official step-by-step tutorial uses a similar structure and also introduces Sass through _sass.

Static-copy mental model

A plain image such as:

assets/images/robot.jpg

normally does not need Liquid rendering.

Jekyll can copy it into the generated site so the browser can request it.

SOURCE IMAGE
   ↓ copy during build
_site/assets/images/robot.jpg

Processed asset mental model

A stylesheet source can also be processed.

The upstream tutorial demonstrates an SCSS file with empty front matter:

---
---
@import "main";

That front matter tells Jekyll the file should be processed. The Sass source can become generated CSS.

Inspect your own output

Add one image and one plain CSS file or processed stylesheet appropriate to your setup.

Build.

Compare:

Use actual file contents to decide.

Important boundary

Do not say:

Everything in assets is static.

A source asset can be processed depending on its format/front matter/tooling.

The folder name alone does not determine the entire pipeline.

Checkpoint

Choose two portfolio assets and trace each from source path to generated path to browser request.