diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES
index 13f0b3817..f7e892d9b 100644
--- a/CHANGES
+++ b/CHANGES
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ Bugs fixed
 ----------
 
 * #3821: Failed to import sphinx.util.compat with docutils-0.14rc1
+* #3829: sphinx-quickstart template is incomplete regarding use of alabaster
 
 Testing
 --------
diff --git a/doc/theming.rst b/doc/theming.rst
index 711d0ae72..c8cad2ba2 100644
--- a/doc/theming.rst
+++ b/doc/theming.rst
@@ -119,10 +119,12 @@ These themes are:
 
 * **alabaster** -- `Alabaster theme`_ is a modified "Kr" Sphinx theme from @kennethreitz
   (especially as used in his Requests project), which was itself originally based on
-  @mitsuhiko's theme used for Flask & related projects. You can get options information
-  at `Alabaster theme`_ page.
+  @mitsuhiko's theme used for Flask & related projects.
+  Check out at its `installation page`_ how to set up properly
+  :confval:`html_sidebars` for its use.
 
   .. _Alabaster theme: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/alabaster
+  .. _installation page: http://alabaster.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html
 
 * **classic** -- This is the classic theme, which looks like `the Python 2
   documentation <https://docs.python.org/2/>`_.  It can be customized via
diff --git a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t
index 60a8f5cdc..f8b0f5f60 100644
--- a/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t
+++ b/sphinx/templates/quickstart/conf.py_t
@@ -96,6 +96,18 @@ todo_include_todos = {{ ext_todo }}
 #
 html_theme = 'alabaster'
 
+# refs: http://alabaster.readthedocs.io/en/latest/installation.html#sidebars
+html_sidebars = {
+    '**': [
+        'about.html',
+        'navigation.html',
+        # 'relations.html', # hidden by alabaster css anyway
+        'searchbox.html',
+        # 'donate.html',
+    ]
+}
+
+
 # Theme options are theme-specific and customize the look and feel of a theme
 # further.  For a list of options available for each theme, see the
 # documentation.