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by palmfacehn 296 days ago
Next.js and React are the problem here. Adding another layer adds complexity. To simplify, you should remove complexity. To comprehensively address the problem you should strike at the root causes, rather than adding yet another layer of duct tape.
1 comments
dtedesco1 296 days ago
I agree, but it's just too difficult to get away from the React ecosystem...

Do you have suggestions on a better alternative?

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politelemon 293 days ago
It is not difficult to get away from that ecosystem, they simply need to not be included. It is in fact more work to include them and introduced unnecessary complexity.

Several markdown to html generators exist that are well established which simply use the base languages: node, python, go, etc. Instead of using a framework that isn't suited to the task, they focus on structure and features and work on that. By working on the features, structure, and grammar, the tooling will emerge.

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dtedesco1 290 days ago
This makes sense for one-way posting, but there are two issues for my main use case (personal and small company websites):

1. I want to edit the pages sometimes, and I want to do so using markdown without extra steps.

2. I still want to use React components *sometimes*.

3. I want it to be really easy to deploy and monitor. Nextjs is really easy for those things.

Solving the first issue and third issues don’t require React, but the second definitely does. So I’m still stuck.

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lelanthran 293 days ago
> I agree, but it's just too difficult to get away from the React ecosystem...

Why? What specifically are you using for "website with markdown" that needs React?

> Do you have suggestions on a better alternative?

Yes.

1. For turning markdown into html on the server (i.e. render the HTML on the server and then deliver it) use pandoc. I use it like this for my blog: https://gist.github.com/lelanthran/2634fc2508c93a437ba5ca511...

2. For turning markdown into html on the client, write a custom component that parses the markdown into DOM nodes allowing the page author to simply do `<dynamic-markdown remote-src=some/path/to/page.md>`. You can even use one of the many existing Vanilla JS libraries to do this within the custom component.

In either of those two options above, what value does React add?

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dtedesco1 290 days ago
It’s the I-sometimes-want-to-use-React-components issue that is my holdup. They make it easy to do some visual/behavioral stuff and are often directly portable from other sites or oss projects.
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pvtmert 292 days ago
Why not using marked.js or equivalent, plugging it with a Fetch API instead?

example:

  <html>
  <head><title>hello</title></head>
  <body>
  <main id=root ></main>
  <script src=./marked.min.js async defer ></script>
  <script>
  async function load() {
    let element = document.querySelector("main#root");
    await fetch("./index.md") 
      .then(resp => resp.text())
      .then(text => marked(text, { ... }))
      .then(html => {
        element.innerHTML = html;
      });
  }
  window.onload = load;
  </script>
  </body>
  </html>
since it directly injects the resulting html, you may set "unsafe HTML" option in marked (or markdown.js) and include <title> tags within your markdown document. this will _also_ rewrite the browser title(s)

> edit: formatting

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dtedesco1 290 days ago
That’s good if I’m really *only* ever using Markdown. But what about wanting to use React components sometimes? That’s my biggest problem.
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taude 293 days ago
https://htmx.org/. - for smaller sites. Likely the type of site you'd make content in markdown and have it transformed?
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dtedesco1 290 days ago
Can I still bring my React components when I want them? Haven’t tried out HTMX yet.
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dleeftink 293 days ago
Not op, but check out unsuck[0] for some inspiration.

[0]: https://unsuckjs.com/

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dtedesco1 290 days ago
These look really promising! Can I bring existing React components with me to any of them? That might be the biggest hold up. I’d also worry about maintainability as web standards evolve, since these (mostly) seem like pretty small projects.
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lawn 293 days ago
You could make it simpler in Python, Go, PHP, Rust, Elixir, Haskell, Ruby, and even in JavaScript if you want to step outside the JS ecosystem.

Just try to make something without React and you light see the light. It's actually not difficult.

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dtedesco1 290 days ago
Yep, but I still want to use React components sometimes. That’s my biggest holdup.
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iammrpayments 293 days ago
Not difficult at all
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