brace-tags
Dev tools
static site generator
SHOW HN2014
94points
76comments
#293of 2,272 in 2014
Top 13%of 2014 by points
How HN took it
DebatedReal support and real criticism
8 positive, 13 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 11 critical, out of 32 comments about the project. Thread score -0.11.
Idea: 6 for, 6 againstDesign: 2 for, 0 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Simple and easy to use, less complex than alternatives.
From 4 comments
I've been looking at some of the options on that website, and this one seems to be less complex than many of the tools there. This isn't meant to be a blogging tool, but rather a…
bmj on HNWhy do we need another one? Because this one is much simpler to use than Jekyll and doesn't require you to install Ruby.
workhere-io on HNI like this very much. I used to do very similar with PHP, but I'm now a Python dev. Sometimes, just sometimes, writing plain old simple html is easier, and having a basic…
dangayle on HNVery nice and easy to use.
workhere-io on HN
Objections
Many static site generators already exist.
From 1 comment
I'm not being facetious, but this "yet another static site generator" joins the list with 230+ other generators. (see http://staticsitegenerators.net/) Why do we need another one?
kurrent on HN
Server side includes already solve this.
From 1 comment
You could use server side includes instead, which have been a feature of web servers for about 20 years now...
bryanlarsen on HN
Python install and watchdog dependency are painful, especially on Mac.
From 2 comments
Is there any way you could make the watch feature not dependant on watchdog? The watchdog installation fails on pip on Mac. I then had to install Homebrew just to be able to…
workhere-io on HNDon't use easy_install. http://stackoverflow.com/a/3220572/2363
tghw on HN
Includes from outside the site root won't work.
From 2 comments
Not Invented Here syndrome, at all? Sure, I understand wanting to use Python for templates rather than relying on an external application. But why ignore the many, many existing…
steve_barham on HNFair point. Python was chosen because it's an accessible language for new programmers. As for template languages, most are very complex. We wanted something minimal. As for that…
colevscode on HN
Requests
Ruby port.
From 1 comment
I like it! Great concept, thanks for simplifying something that should be dead easy and simple. A ruby port would be nice.
LouisSayers on HN
Better example showing conditionals.
From 1 comment
I actually found the “Highlight this” example at the top a bit confusing. Could you write “Display this” instead? Or give a better example to demonstrate conditionals?
rooodini on HN
Drop the watchdog dependency or use Node.
From 2 comments
Is there any way you could make the watch feature not dependant on watchdog? The watchdog installation fails on pip on Mac. I then had to install Homebrew just to be able to…
workhere-io on HNWhich is why this should have been written in Node. Seriously, Python/Ruby environments+package managers are the abomination of programmer's time.
xixixao on HN
Questions
Why build another static site generator?
From 2 comments
I'm not being facetious, but this "yet another static site generator" joins the list with 230+ other generators. (see http://staticsitegenerators.net/) Why do we need another one?
kurrent on HNWhy do we need another one? Because this one is much simpler to use than Jekyll and doesn't require you to install Ruby.
workhere-io on HN
Why not use an existing template library like Jinja2?
From 2 comments
> I will most likely soon build my own static site generator, because none of the ones out there do exactly what I want. Why bother with the templating? Use Jinja2?
irahul on HNNot Invented Here syndrome, at all? Sure, I understand wanting to use Python for templates rather than relying on an external application. But why ignore the many, many existing…
steve_barham on HN
Alternatives named
Jekyll
From 1 comment
Why do we need another one? Because this one is much simpler to use than Jekyll and doesn't require you to install Ruby.
workhere-io on HN
Metalsmith
From 1 comment
Had the same problem ourselves while building Segment.io that every static site generator was a bit too opinionated in weird ways, so we made Metalsmith[0]. Check it out, and you…
ianstormtaylor on HN
Server side includes
From 2 comments
You could use server side includes instead, which have been a feature of web servers for about 20 years now...
bryanlarsen on HNor you could just, 'y'know, run SSI. what web server doesn't have SSI? What problem are we actually solving here?
TheZenPsycho on HN
PHP includes
From 2 comments
I've been using PHP to generate static HTML pages. It's usually as simple as `php somepage.php > somepage.html` and you have all the advantages of a full featured language.
laurent123456 on HNWhat's the reason for this? Why don't you just build the website using standard HTML? Genuine question.
newaccountfool on HN