diff --git a/mkdocs/main.py b/mkdocs/main.py
index d73f9091..8b9a9412 100755
--- a/mkdocs/main.py
+++ b/mkdocs/main.py
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ def main(cmd, args, options=None):
         build(config, clean_site_dir=clean_site_dir)
         gh_deploy(config)
     elif cmd == 'new':
-        new(args, options)
+        new(args)
     else:
         print('MkDocs (version {0})'.format(__version__))
         print('mkdocs [help|new|build|serve|gh-deploy|json] {options}')
diff --git a/mkdocs/new.py b/mkdocs/new.py
index 88531757..af969670 100644
--- a/mkdocs/new.py
+++ b/mkdocs/new.py
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 # coding: utf-8
 from __future__ import print_function
+
 import os
 from io import open
 
-config_text = 'site_name: My Docs\n'
-index_text = """# Welcome to MkDocs
+from mkdocs import compat
+
+config_text = compat.unicode('site_name: My Docs\n')
+index_text = compat.unicode("""# Welcome to MkDocs
 
 For full documentation visit [mkdocs.org](http://mkdocs.org).
 
@@ -21,10 +24,11 @@ For full documentation visit [mkdocs.org](http://mkdocs.org).
     docs/
         index.md  # The documentation homepage.
         ...       # Other markdown pages, images and other files.
-"""
+""")
+
 
+def new(args):
 
-def new(args, options):
     if len(args) != 1:
         print("Usage 'mkdocs new [directory-name]'")
         return

`mkdocs new` broken under python2
current master, python 2.7.9 virtualenv
only top directory and mkdocs.yml created, no docs dir or index.md

```
(karasu)[lashni@orphan src]$ mkdocs new karasu
Creating project directory: karasu
Writing config file: karasu/mkdocs.yml
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/lashni/dev/karasu/bin/mkdocs", line 9, in <module>
    load_entry_point('mkdocs==0.11.1', 'console_scripts', 'mkdocs')()
  File "/home/lashni/dev/karasu/src/mkdocs/mkdocs/main.py", line 74, in run_main
    main(cmd, args=sys.argv[2:], options=dict(opts))
  File "/home/lashni/dev/karasu/src/mkdocs/mkdocs/main.py", line 58, in main
    new(args, options)
  File "/home/lashni/dev/karasu/src/mkdocs/mkdocs/new.py", line 47, in new
    open(config_path, 'w', encoding='utf-8').write(config_text)
TypeError: must be unicode, not str
```

current master, python 3.4.3 virtualenv, files/dirs created successfully
```
(test)[lashni@orphan src]$ mkdocs new karasu
Creating project directory: karasu
Writing config file: karasu/mkdocs.yml
Writing initial docs: karasu/docs/index.md
```
diff --git a/mkdocs/tests/new_tests.py b/mkdocs/tests/new_tests.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e54fcb58
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mkdocs/tests/new_tests.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+# coding: utf-8
+
+import tempfile
+import unittest
+import os
+
+from mkdocs import new
+
+
+class NewTests(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_new(self):
+
+        tempdir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
+        os.chdir(tempdir)
+
+        new.new(["myproject", ])
+
+        expected_paths = [
+            os.path.join(tempdir, "myproject"),
+            os.path.join(tempdir, "myproject", "mkdocs.yml"),
+            os.path.join(tempdir, "myproject", "docs"),
+            os.path.join(tempdir, "myproject", "docs", "index.md"),
+        ]
+
+        for expected_path in expected_paths:
+            self.assertTrue(os.path.exists(expected_path))

pip install -e .[dev]
parse_log_pytest
requirements.txt
pytest pytest-cov pytest-xdist pytest-mock pytest-asyncio
apt-get update apt-get install -y gcc
3.9
requirements.txt
pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
coverage==7.8.0
exceptiongroup==1.2.2
execnet==2.1.1
ghp-import==2.1.0
importlib_metadata==8.6.1
iniconfig==2.1.0
Jinja2==3.1.6
Markdown==3.7
MarkupSafe==3.0.2
-e git+https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs.git@74d3191e419b7cb79fe66f700119ead3365f70d0#egg=mkdocs
packaging==24.2
pluggy==1.5.0
pytest==8.3.5
pytest-asyncio==0.26.0
pytest-cov==6.0.0
pytest-mock==3.14.0
pytest-xdist==3.6.1
python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
PyYAML==6.0.2
six==1.17.0
tomli==2.2.1
typing_extensions==4.13.0
watchdog==6.0.0
zipp==3.21.0

name: mkdocs
channels:
  - defaults
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/main
  - https://repo.anaconda.com/pkgs/r
  - conda-forge
dependencies:
  - _libgcc_mutex=0.1=main
  - _openmp_mutex=5.1=1_gnu
  - ca-certificates=2025.2.25=h06a4308_0
  - ld_impl_linux-64=2.40=h12ee557_0
  - libffi=3.4.4=h6a678d5_1
  - libgcc-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libgomp=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - libstdcxx-ng=11.2.0=h1234567_1
  - ncurses=6.4=h6a678d5_0
  - openssl=3.0.16=h5eee18b_0
  - pip=25.0=py39h06a4308_0
  - python=3.9.21=he870216_1
  - readline=8.2=h5eee18b_0
  - setuptools=75.8.0=py39h06a4308_0
  - sqlite=3.45.3=h5eee18b_0
  - tk=8.6.14=h39e8969_0
  - tzdata=2025a=h04d1e81_0
  - wheel=0.45.1=py39h06a4308_0
  - xz=5.6.4=h5eee18b_1
  - zlib=1.2.13=h5eee18b_1
  - pip:
      - coverage==7.8.0
      - exceptiongroup==1.2.2
      - execnet==2.1.1
      - ghp-import==2.1.0
      - importlib-metadata==8.6.1
      - iniconfig==2.1.0
      - jinja2==3.1.6
      - markdown==3.7
      - markupsafe==3.0.2
      - packaging==24.2
      - pluggy==1.5.0
      - pytest==8.3.5
      - pytest-asyncio==0.26.0
      - pytest-cov==6.0.0
      - pytest-mock==3.14.0
      - pytest-xdist==3.6.1
      - python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0
      - pyyaml==6.0.2
      - six==1.17.0
      - tomli==2.2.1
      - typing-extensions==4.13.0
      - watchdog==6.0.0
      - zipp==3.21.0
prefix: /opt/conda/envs/mkdocs

mkdocs/tests/new_tests.py::NewTests::test_new
mkdocs/new.py mkdocs/main.py
mkdocs/new.py mkdocs/main.py