Update composer dependencies, add website name and description attributes to the environment file, add the laravel-head plugin and use it along with the site name and description attributes in the environment file to configure the website head element

.env.example

@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+SITE_NAME=Hypothetical Template
+SITE_DESC=A website template
+
 APP_ENV=local
 APP_DEBUG=true
 APP_KEY=random_string

composer.json

@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@
         "php": ">=5.5.9",
         "laravel/framework": "5.1.*",
         "radic/blade-extensions": "~6.0",
-        "erusev/parsedown": "~1.5"
+        "erusev/parsedown": "~1.5",
+        "gwnobots/laravel-head": "dev-master"
     },
     "require-dev": {
         "fzaninotto/faker": "~1.4",

config/app.php

@@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ return [
          * Custom Service Providers...
          */
         Radic\BladeExtensions\BladeExtensionsServiceProvider::class,
+        Gwnobots\LaravelHead\LaravelHeadServiceProvider::class,
 
     ],
 

config/laravel-head.php

@@ -0,0 +1,240 @@
+<?php
+
+return array(
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Encoding
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set a default value for <meta charset=""> tag.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'charset' => 'utf-8',
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Title
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Settings for <title> tag. You can define the default name of your site,
+    | that will fill the <title> tag if no other title is defined. You can also
+    | choose to automatically add the sitename at a defined title in the <title>
+    | tag for each page of your site. Define a separator to be displayed between
+    | the sitename and the title, and if the title should be displayed first, like
+    | <title>Title - Sitename</title>, or not (<title>Sitename - Title</title>).
+    |
+    */
+
+    'title' => array(
+
+        'sitename' => env('SITE_NAME', ''),
+
+        'show_sitename' => true,
+
+        'separator' => ' - ',
+
+        'first' => true,
+
+    ),
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Description
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Define a default description to fill the <meta name="description"> tag if
+    | no other description has been defined.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'description' => env('SITE_DESC', ''),
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Favicon
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Define a default favicon if no other is defined. Set favicon's name and
+    | path relative to public path, without extension. For example, 'favicon'
+    | will render (if files exist):
+    |
+    | <link rel="shortcut icon" href="http::mydomain.com/favicon.ico">
+    | <link rel="icon" href="http::mydomain.com/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">
+    | <link rel="icon" href="http::mydomain.com/favicon.png" type="image/png">
+    |
+    */
+
+    'favicon' => 'favicon',
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Internet Explorer Compatibility
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set to true to automatically display two commonly used utilities to force
+    | IE compatibility.
+    |
+    | ie_edge:
+    | <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,chrome=1">
+    |
+    | html5_shiv:
+    | <!--[if lt IE 9]>
+    |   <script src="http://html5shiv.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"></script>
+    | <![endif]-->
+    |
+    */
+
+    'ie_edge' => true,
+
+    'html5_shiv' => false,
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Responsive utility for viewport
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set to true to automatically display a commonly used meta tag for
+    | responsive design:
+    |
+    | <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
+    |
+    */
+
+    'responsive' => true,
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Facebook's Open Graph
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set to true to automatically display a bunch of meta tags for Facebook's
+    | Open Graph Protocol, and define default values. No blank tag will be
+    | displayed. 'Image' is file's name with extension and path relative to
+    | public path. No og:image will be displayed if file does not exist.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'facebook' => array(
+
+        'active' => false,
+
+        'page_id' => '',
+
+        'app_id' => '',
+
+        'admins' => '',
+
+        'image' => '',
+
+    ),
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Twitter Card
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set to true to automatically display a bunch of meta tags for Twitter
+    | Card, and define default values. No blank tag will be displayed. 'Image'
+    | is file's name with extension and path relative to public path. No
+    | og:image will be displayed if file does not exist.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'twitter' => array(
+
+        'active' => false,
+
+        'image' => '',
+
+        'site' => '',
+
+        'creator' => '',
+
+    ),
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Assets: .css and .js files
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set paths to .css and .js files, and url's for external resources. Default
+    | ones are already defined for recent versions of jQuery and Twitter's
+    | Bootsrap. The name of cdn's should be the same as the one defined
+    | manually with the addCss() and addScript() methods.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'assets' => array(
+
+        'paths' => array(
+
+            'css' => '',
+
+            'js' => '',
+
+        ),
+
+        'cdn' => array(),
+
+    ),
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Google's Universal Analytics
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Set to true to automatically display Google's new Universal Analytics
+    | script at the end of the <head> section. Set also your product id like
+    | 'UA-XXXX-Y'.
+    |
+    | The script will never be displayed if not in production mode.
+    |
+    | You can also override default script, for example if you have custom methods,
+    | or for a script of another service provider. Paste it without <script>
+    | </script> tag.
+    |
+    */
+
+    'analytics' => array(
+
+        'active' => false,
+
+        'id' => '',
+
+        'script' => '',
+
+    ),
+
+    /*
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    | Custom layouts
+    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
+    |
+    | Here you can override any settings for a particular layout. Add an array
+    | named as your layout and fill it with values you want to override.
+    |
+    | You can add as many layouts as you like. A blank value will be considered
+    | as not null. You just need to add the settings you want to override, not
+    | the entire default array: if a config value does not appear in the
+    | custom array, default values defined previously will be used.
+    |
+    | You need to respect path structure if your layouts are in a particular
+    | directory.
+    |
+    | Ex: (for a layout called custom.php or custom.blade.php in views/layouts)
+    |
+    | 'layouts' => array(
+    |
+    |    'custom' => array(
+    |
+    |       'charset' => 'ISO-8859-1',
+    |
+    |    ),
+    |
+    | ),
+    |
+    */
+
+);

resources/views/base.blade.php

@@ -1,18 +1,16 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <html lang="en">
     <head>
-        <title>Hypothetical Template</title>
+        {!! Head::render() !!}
-        <meta charset="UTF-8">
+        <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ elixir('css/app.css') }}">
-        <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge">
-        <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
         <script src="{{ elixir('js/lib.js') }}"></script>
         <script src="{{ elixir('js/app.js') }}"></script>
+
         @if (Config::get('app.debug'))
             <script type="text/javascript">
                 document.write('<script src="//localhost:35729/livereload.js?snipver=1" type="text/javascript"><\/script>')
             </script>
         @endif
-        <link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ elixir('css/app.css') }}">
     </head>
     <body class="{{ Request::path() == "/" ? "index" : preg_replace('/\//', '-', Request::path()) }}">
         @yield('page-top')