Static site generators

I use Hugo (Go) for both my website and this knowledge base. In the past I’ve used Jekyll (Ruby) as well as Pelican (Python).

For the more technical folk, my general recommendation is to use a static site generator written in a language that you’re familiar in. In particular I think generators written in JavaScript are the most flexible, and probably the best option if you intend to stray off the happy path.

Hugo is simple if you stay on their happy path. However once you stray off it and start wanting to implement more complicated layouts or functionality, you find yourself having to write code using Go templates. I use Go on a daily basis, I enjoy writing Go, but even I think that the Go template syntax is a giant pain to write complex logic in. I’m somewhat familiar with the syntax so I can get by, but it’s not pleasant.

For JavaScript I quite like the look of Eleventy. Unlike other JS static site generators (e.g. Gatsby), Eleventy doesn’t depend on any client-side JS. It being JS also means you can easily build complex components, since you have a proper programming language, rather than having to wrestle with a DSL like Go text templates.

For non-technical folk… well first I’d recommend a blogging platform like Wordpress. However if you’re dead set on a static site generator, I’d recommend Jekyll. It being supported natively by GitHub Pages makes deployment extremely simple, plus you get a reasonable looking domain for free ({username}.github.io)..