[hamaluik]

I did the same thing a couple years ago [0]. It's not the most elegant and my blog is miniscule, but it was a fun project and also born out of frustration with the existing site generators. I structured it as the source sitting next to the site contents, so from a fresh computer (with Rust installed), it's as straightforward as `cargo build`.

I think the best thing about this approach (writing your own generator) is that it really lets you build your site / content exactly the way you want to. Don't need categories and tags? Don't add them to begin with. Want to add an RSS feed? No problem, just add it. Want to do some fancy image compression and processing in the pipeline? No problem; you're the boss. It sounds simple but it really frees you up to write / generate your site however you want.

0: https://github.com/hamaluik/blog.hamaluik.ca

[mxuribe]

As enjoyable as this post was, i recalled my history with static site generators as follows: hand-code html pages --> hand-code html but w/ server-side includes (yes, back in the apache days) --> use php w/own custom templates and mysql db --> move to wordpress --> love the intent of wordpress, but regret the needed maintenance, so move back to custom php and custom templates --> move manage content via Lektor (python SSG) --> learn that i don't need a UI, and am content crafting my content in markdown --> start using pelican (python SSG) --> get bored, so move to Hugo as new SSG flavor of the month --> get annoyed with templating language --> move back to pelican --> realized i spent too much time bouncing around, just did away with any SSG tool set, and hand craft html pages whenever i want to publish something...and now only craft journal entries for my own private diary (with an occasional post on the fediverse). :-)

[annowiki]

I just linked your blog post in a separate comment because I was reading it over the weekend. I was looking for articles about writing static site generators and didn't realize most people don't roll their own templating engines. I was disappointed to see not much on templating in your post but it definitely gave me the confidence to keep going. Managed to get aspects I'd been struggling to work for months working yesterday.