Static website workflow recommendations?

Software
, ,
1

I found a discussion from last year. Thanks for the info there!

What insights have you gained since then?

I’m leaning toward Jekyll.

What I’d like:

  • Markdown
  • Simple workflow
  • Decent aesthetics
  • No giant full screen picture upon landing
  • A professional/academic appearance
  • I don’t anticipate “blogging” per se
  • maybe just a page about different projects in-progress or completed
  • Pushing to Dreamhost would be nice. Open to GitHub with a custom domain too.

I currently have a Wordpress site on Dreamhost. If I used it weekly, WordPress would probably be fine, but it’s not something I can just jump back into after long absences. (Things are hard to find, as I recall.)

1 Like
2

I’m currently using Jekyll and I really like it. My entire site is available on GitHub open source if anyone is curious:

I’ve set up a GitHub action to SSH into my server and build the blog, but I could host it on GitHub Pages. (The SSH solution is definitely a “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should!” example.)

One thing I like about it is there is no new feature per day. Jekyll is solid, has most features people want, and just stays up to date. If there’s a missing feature there’s almost certainly a plug-in for it.

4 Likes
3

I like Hugo and Zola and hosting with Cloudflare pages or netlify is super easy and free!

2 Likes
4

I can second Hugo. Fast compilation times are great once you have more than a few dozen pages.

I’d also move away from any server-based hosting platform and go with a provider that specializes in static sites. Cloudflare, Netlify or Vercel are excellent options, have free tiers, and all integrate to auto-deploy when you push changes to GitHub.

2 Likes
5

Thanks for the input everyone!

I decided on Jekyll, and that has been my day’s work.
I realized the Wordpress site I’m replacing doesn’t really have much that is relevant now, so I’m just starting from scratch (although I did back up my whole account at Dreamhost, and export Wordpress to Jekyll using a Wordpress plugin).

After initially grousing about needing to tweak HTML and such, the workflow is going to be pretty easy. I just open my local folder of website files and assets in Typora, and I can create/edit/delete markdown files there. I can run a local server to make sure things look right, then a build to a static site. I can deploy using a one-line ncftp command. Pretty low friction.

I also tried pushing and deploying to GitHub Pages. I think I might hold off on that and just point to my other website in my README.md.

Thanks again!

2 Likes