[cschwarm]

I'm trying to get away from a DB-based CMS for some company web sites. Static generators won't do for a number of reasons, so a flat-file CMS seems like a good fit.

Currently I'm looking at GravCMS [1] as an alternative. It's free initially, but it can become somewhat expensive with many official plugins. But it's file format is Markdown, and one can combine multiple files into a so-called modular page. It has a backend for editing, forms and e-mailing of form submissions. Seems perfect for small and mid-sized company web site.

Another option I considered was Kirby [2]. Its backend UI is configurable. That's nice in theory but the documentation is somewhat lacking, in my opinion. I've used the starterpack and it took me hours to find the one command to be able to add new pages. Its content format is also custom, not Markdown. Finally, it's €100 per site.

Also, a few days ago, I stumbled upon Typemill [3] which I will check next week.

[1] https://getgrav.org/

[2] https://getkirby.com/

[3] https://typemill.net/

[trough]

I can wholeheartedly vouch for Grav. It’s absurdly fast, easy to deploy and even easier to template for thanks to Twig. When I was still freelancing and a project was beyond the scope of htmlcssjs, Grav CMS became my tool of choice. Their admin plug-in makes for a easy to use backend GUI and it’s configurable enough to have non-techies use it without losing sleep.

One of the newer features are the so called FlexObjects. It’s an absolutely great idea for a CMS but explaining the possibilities and technical intricacies seems moot as the documentation and Discord community are a better place to start learning. [1]

Websites built with Grav compare to SSG speeds while maintaining a different ease of use and much less time invest to roll out.

And sticking to the topic: being completely flat-file centric, those websites are a breeze to maintain and according to my albeit limited experience also a bit sturdier security wise.

[1] https://learn.getgrav.org/17/advanced/flex