diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index aed714afd..56c86d1b9 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -23,7 +23,8 @@ install:
   - git submodule update --init --recursive
   - git fetch --tags
   - pip install -r test-requirements.txt
-  - pip install codecov sphinx
+  - pip install -r doc/requirements.txt
+  - pip install codecov
 
   # generate some reflog as git-python tests need it (in master)
   - ./init-tests-after-clone.sh
diff --git a/doc/requirements.txt b/doc/requirements.txt
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..98e5c06a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/requirements.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+sphinx<2.0
+sphinx_rtd_theme
diff --git a/doc/source/conf.py b/doc/source/conf.py
index 2df3bbb63..96cbd6675 100644
--- a/doc/source/conf.py
+++ b/doc/source/conf.py
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@
 extensions = ['sphinx.ext.autodoc', 'sphinx.ext.doctest']
 
 # Add any paths that contain templates here, relative to this directory.
-templates_path = ['.templates']
+templates_path = []
 
 # The suffix of source filenames.
 source_suffix = '.rst'
@@ -94,14 +94,10 @@
 # Options for HTML output
 # -----------------------
 
+html_theme = 'sphinx_rtd_theme'
 html_theme_options = {
 }
 
-# The style sheet to use for HTML and HTML Help pages. A file of that name
-# must exist either in Sphinx' static/ path, or in one of the custom paths
-# given in html_static_path.
-html_style = 'default.css'
-
 # The name for this set of Sphinx documents.  If None, it defaults to
 # "<project> v<release> documentation".
 #html_title = None
@@ -121,7 +117,7 @@
 # Add any paths that contain custom static files (such as style sheets) here,
 # relative to this directory. They are copied after the builtin static files,
 # so a file named "default.css" will overwrite the builtin "default.css".
-html_static_path = ['.static']
+html_static_path = []
 
 # If not '', a 'Last updated on:' timestamp is inserted at every page bottom,
 # using the given strftime format.