Have any preferred static site generators?

[gummi]

i'm extremely new to coding but i've been slowly learning and picking away at my site. it's been really awesome and fun so far, BUT i'm quickly realizing that it's intimidating to create (or in this case, update) a layout, because it means that i'd have to update every single page individually, and that just seems tedious and unfun.

i've heard static site generators can help big-time with creating and updating layouts- does anyone have personal experience with any SSGs in particular? there are a lot online, and i'm not really sure what's what in regards to how easy they are to use, which ones are considered good, etc.

if it helps in any way for extra context:
- my site is just a basic neocities, i'm not self-hosting or anything
- as mentioned i am a newbie coder, just started fiddling with HTML and CSS hands on a few months ago, though i've dabbled in basic HTML changes with existing codes prior to that
- mostly, i just want it so if i decide to add an extra link to a sidebar, or remove a horizontal rule somewhere, or maybe even add a footer, i don't have to copy-paste several blocks of code every. single. time.

i'm not expecting anyone to walk me through the entire process, i'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with an SSG they like so i have somewhere to start looking :] thanks in advance!

edit: fixed a typo i noticed

[какЖеЛюблюЯphbBB?]

in this situation https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... ent/iframe would be enough but seriously, https://gohugo.io/ has built-in tools suitable for most cases

[Arevakhach]

but seriously, https://gohugo.io/ has built-in tools suitable for most cases

I second Hugo.

I think static site generators are an interesting topic, particularly in this yesterweb culture. Clearly, there is a hunger for independence and autonomy in this movement. There's a lot more than just that, but it is a cornerstone. Making use of another's platform can be seen as giving in to the current state of the internet, not always (like with Neocities) but definitely if that platform hinders your self-expression via either your design or content or both. On the aspect of design, static site generators, I feel, could contribute to website homogenization; specifically with the factor of themes. A completely optional factor, sure, but a powerful one in my opinion. I'm not as big on design, but I mention it because I know many of you here are.

If, like me, you don't care as much about design, please consider checking out: https://themes.gohugo.io/

They could also be seen as making you more dependent, be it on the generator itself, a theme you are using, or dependent on dependencies in the event that your site is more layered (as some pre-built themes are). In a way, though, that's where I feel the independence as an ideal, as an extreme, can stand to loosen up. The reality is we are dependent on countless things, for better or worse. In comparison to glorifying effective, kind, productive cooperation, we see autonomy as virtuous far more frequently. So greatly do we want to stand on our own that perhaps we too often forsake standing together.

[fLaMEd]

Let's clear something up about static site generators.

Themes are made available to use, they're not mandatory. Create your own!

With any static site generator, you can use your own HTML/CSS so you can still be `homegrown`.

All a static site generator does is take your creative inputs and spit out static HTML/CSS/JS files that you can host on any server or platform that accepts HTML/CSS/JS files.

The power of static site generators is in the template (among other things) that you can create templates in any combination of template files, PHP, Nunjucks, Pug, etc to create the design and structure of your site. The end result is not having to use iframes, or inject javascript into the client to have a consistent header/menu/footer across all of your pages.

When you build your site, it can be done locally. This means that you use the static site generator and your templates to generate the website files that you can then copy/paste/upload/deploy, to where ever you like!

You have complete freedom within the capabilities of the static site generator of your choice!

[Starfia]

gummi –

Hope you're having fun getting started with HTML and CSS! I remember doing a lot of what you're talking about in my early web pages. When I had a site with four pages and wanted to update just one button in my menu, I'd be copying and pasting the same code between four HTML files – that kind of thing.

I wanted to suggest also keeping your ears open about the term "preprocessors" or "preprocessed languages." These are alternative languages in which you write your web pages, which are then converted to HTML and CSS. To my mind, some simply "look and feel" nicer than HTML and CSS, and that alone might be enough for me to use them once I'd found them, but they also add features that solve those maintenance problems.

There are a number of them, but my own preferred language for writing HTML is "Jade" (later renamed "Pug"), where I have the ability, for example, to write a block of code for a static menu, then within each of any number of files, write a single line to say "this is where the code for the menu should be inserted."

I'll stop there unless you want to ask any questions or anything, but that should be a starting point if you care to investigate those. (Perhaps this is what you meant by "static site generator," but I imagine that to be more of a complete product that produces a web page without any coding.)

[fLaMEd]

i'm not expecting anyone to walk me through the entire process, i'm just wondering if anyone has any experience with an SSG they like so i have somewhere to start looking :] thanks in advance!

I have a guide I wrote last year, https://flamedfury.com/guides/11ty-homepage-neocities/ I haven’t finished the deploy part yet. But the end result of this guide you can drag and drop into your Neocities and it will work.