Static Site Generators

Gitlab's guide:

• part 1, background: https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/06/03/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-1-dynamic-x-static/

• part 2: SSGs: https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/06/10/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-2/

• part 3: using Gitlab: https://about.gitlab.com/blog/2016/06/17/ssg-overview-gitlab-pages-part-3-examples-ci/

• Using with Joomla - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHpfhnsbYXY&t=69s

• Using with Tiddly - https://nesslabs.com/tiddlywiki-static-website-generator

The Generators

Seems to be a continuum of complexity with Gatsby at one end, with the nicest themes but most complex file output; and Eleventy at the other, with few themes but simpler/cleaner output. Jekyll sits in the middle somewhat as a Goldilocks SSG.

Gatsby - React/Node -

https://www.gatsbyjs.com

++ Crazily fast. Handles data sources via React. Components. Lots of plugins. Andy theme.

• Creates so many files. HTML/DOM output is unreadable. It doesn't want you to use the static files; they're just there. A three page static site is 305mb, and 55,604 files. How is that secure? Even excluding the Node modules, there's 49 files, 2.7mb for a 3 page site. ++ But andy's & Mathieu's themes are so nice.
• But the speed looks like it's because each page is turned into json and then dynamically generated server side?

[[Jekyll]] -Ruby

https://jekyllrb.com

• long time and lot of effort setting up ruby. Final result's underwhelming, and adding a new page doesn't generate anything. - 26 items, but didn't include Ruby. but then: https://simply-jekyll.netlify.app/posts/exploring-the-features-of-simply-jekyll and https://digital-garden-jekyll-template.netlify.app/cats and https://maximevaillancourt.com/blog/setting-up-your-own-digital-garden-with-jekyll and https://refinedmind.co/obsidian-jekyll-workflow

NEXT NIGHT>> it never worked because I was running off the wrong Ruby, and had to install that. Removing the filename: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/27099427/jekyll-filename-without-date/27101060 So it works. And it works nice. https://stackify.com/install-ruby-on-your-mac-everything-you-need-to-get-going/ https://refinedmind.co/obsidian-jekyll-workflow

Hugo - Go -

https://gohugo.io/ - this is easy to install, quick to generate, load, navigate, intuitive, not too many files - 149 items / 12mb, not including Go. 134 items are for the theme Ananke. Good seo defaults. Nice looking themes: https://getdoks.org/docs/prologue/introduction/ https://adityatelange.github.io/hugo-PaperMod/ https://themes.gohugo.io//theme/hugo-theme-diary/ https://themes.gohugo.io//theme/hugo-theme-cactus backlinks - https://hugokasten.netlify.app/features.html

11ty - JS/Node

https://github.com/11ty/eleventy / https://www.11ty.dev/ / Nice but too simple out the box, demands time to learn how to make something nicer. Smaller template selection than the others. But it seems a good bridge because it can read all the other template engines; and isn't particular about folder names/structure, so a Jekyll/Gatsby site could be ported to 11ty later.

Next.js

205mb + 12,387 files, including React/node. But very nice tutorials and somehow felt more mature than Gatsby. Fewer Digital Garden themes, however.

Others

Hexo - Node - https://hexo.io/docs/setup Scully - JS/Angular - https://scully.io/ Pelican - Python - https://blog.getpelican.com/

Comparing their speed

Build time

https://css-tricks.com/comparing-static-site-generator-build-times/ TLDR: advanced SSGs like Gatsby & Next are slow; simpler like Jekyll, Eleventy and Hugo are quicker – Hugo the quickest; gatsby the slowest.