As someone who is an experienced back-end developer, and used Hugo quite early on, and has understood enough of the Hugo/Goldmark integration to write and install a custom markdown plugin, all I can say is that I _completely identify_ with this critique.
I would add:
- the ecosystem of Hugo theme production/rating seems SEO-scammy
- the docs seem uncertain on whether you should use “Modules”
That said, I was able to hack pikchr.org support into my blog, and the ability to create beautiful diagrams[1] while previewing with live refresh has been amazing.
As someone who is(was?) a competent web developer, all I can say is that Hugo templating turned me off of the project. For as long as I used Hugo, I felt like I was in a horror corn maze.
I would add:
That said, I was able to hack pikchr.org support into my blog, and the ability to create beautiful diagrams[1] while previewing with live refresh has been amazing.[1] eg: https://zellyn.com/2022/02/cs-ramble/1c/