Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary • Hacker News Board

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#71

Post by pdimitar » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:31 PM UTC

southerntofu wrote: post #68

pdimitar wrote: post #30

I keep trying to return to Zola but it seems I have to do much of the work there myself. It's kind of the other end of the spectrum for me: too much freedom! I wouldn't mind some convention-over-configuration there. Also the templating language isn't at all intuitive to me but it might be just me being stupid. But I also want multi-lingual articles and article revisions so maybe Zola is not for me. I absolutely love…

> I wouldn't mind some convention-over-configuration there. I strongly agree. I started some of that with my theme https://tildegit.org/southerntofu/zola-water and i'd be pleased to cooperate on "standard" conventions across themes so we can swap themes easily without having to reconfigure/reorganize everything. > But I also want multi-lingual articles and article revisions so maybe Zola is not for me. zola supports…

I do have suggestions and ideas but I feel like the author(s) are too busy and would appreciate code PRs much more. I mean, everyone can just talk and talk, right?

> Linking across revisions, as it is not supported by zola would require either an external component (eg. in an iframe) or a build script that rewrites output pages to be aware of their revisions.

Ah, I mean something much simpler than that. Imagine having a combo box at the top of the article, named "Versions" (or "Revisions") that has the value of "latest (2020-02-28)" at the top and currently selected and then has all others just as dates below. When you choose one, the page loads another HTML file. Extremely simple vanilla JS, likely 5-10 lines.

Or you can just have a limited list (say the last 5 revisions) with direct links -- again before the content starts. Clicking those would not even need any JS at all. It would be a plain old 2020-01-31 markup.

And if an article has no revisions (only has been written once) then the needs for such a combo-box or list of links disappears and they should just not be rendered at the article's page at all.

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#72

Post by swayvil » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

I do my site with .md files and ParseDown. And a smidge of PHP and CSS.

It's mind bogglingly robust and manageable.

I've tried several "simple CMS" packages. This is way better.

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#73

Post by southerntofu » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:32 PM UTC

Hello, i'm not the creator/maintainer but i contribute to zola, and i'm happy to answer questions and receive feedback/criticism.

In particular for the next release, we're currently talking about making paths/links more consistent across zola [1], reworking the translations/internationalization system [2], and improving the README. [3]

[1] https://github.com/getzola/zola/issues/977 [2] https://zola.discourse.group/t/rfc-internationalization-syst... [3] https://github.com/getzola/zola/pull/1373

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#74

Post by jeromenerf » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:33 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #52

jeromenerf wrote: post #48

I use Hugo for projects, it’s plenty powerful and easy to automate with data. For personal stuff, I use org mode. It’s more free form and provides just enough publishing features. SSGs seems like popular bikeshedding matter.

I tried Org Mode the other day and gave up when Emacs didn't allow me to edit an in-place SQL fragment with some cryptic error that you can't edit it in-line, so had to use a keybind to open a new buffer in order to be able to edit something that in Markdown is as as simple as triple backticks, the word "sql", the SQL code, and then another block of triple backticks. Am I missing something? Org Mode is always so glor…

I do edit inline code and I have never had this issue. It is indeed a basic feature that should just work.

Most probably a plug-in bug.

Emacs, org and Babel are great to write “live” documents.

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#75

Post by brainzap » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:40 PM UTC

regus wrote: post #7

I though this was about the wedding registry site at first. Anyway, I liked this line from the Github: > Hugo gets ehh for the template engine because while it is probably the most powerful template engine in the list (after Jinja2) it personally drives me insane, to the point of writing my own template engine and static site generator. Yes, this is a bit biased. This seems to be the life cycle of static site generat…

I use hugo but a script that converts my folder based writing style to Hugo markdowns, before build

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#76

Post by pdimitar » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

jeromenerf wrote: post #74

pdimitar wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried Org Mode the other day and gave up when Emacs didn't allow me to edit an in-place SQL fragment with some cryptic error that you can't edit it in-line, so had to use a keybind to open a new buffer in order to be able to edit something that in Markdown is as as simple as triple backticks, the word "sql", the SQL code, and then another block of triple backticks. Am I missing something? Org Mode is always so glor…

I do edit inline code and I have never had this issue. It is indeed a basic feature that should just work. Most probably a plug-in bug. Emacs, org and Babel are great to write “live” documents.

I am using it with Spacemacs so there's likely something there.

I love Emacs but after ~18 years with it it's basically a death by a thousand paper cuts. It gets tiring to always have to fight for some basic features. :(

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#77

Post by southerntofu » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:41 PM UTC

pdimitar wrote: post #71

southerntofu wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't mind some convention-over-configuration there. I strongly agree. I started some of that with my theme https://tildegit.org/southerntofu/zola-water and i'd be pleased to cooperate on "standard" conventions across themes so we can swap themes easily without having to reconfigure/reorganize everything. > But I also want multi-lingual articles and article revisions so maybe Zola is not for me. zola supports…

I do have suggestions and ideas but I feel like the author(s) are too busy and would appreciate code PRs much more. I mean, everyone can just talk and talk, right? > Linking across revisions, as it is not supported by zola would require either an external component (eg. in an iframe) or a build script that rewrites output pages to be aware of their revisions. Ah, I mean something much simpler than that. Imagine havin…

> I do have suggestions and ideas but I feel like the author(s) are too busy and would appreciate code PRs much more.

That is correct, and it would be sad and damaging to believe exhausted volunteer maintainers should satisfy each and every desire of yours. However, stating expectations and desires respectfully is really helpful, especially when it is done in a precise manner so someone with time and energy can try to implement it.

> When you choose one, the page loads another HTML file.

Well if you're keeping different versions of the Markdown file within your content folder, then it's not a problem. A page can link to its siblings just like you described.

But zola, like all SSGs i know, uses a simple folder for content so there is no notion of history of a single file. We usually use a version control system (like git) for that.

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#78

Post by southerntofu » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:43 PM UTC

jacques_chester wrote: post #70

southerntofu wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> support for its templating language is scarce Hello, i would say there's a few missing template features in Zola (especially hashmap literals/functions) but i don't find it scarce. Could you elaborate with your painpoints so they can be addressed for others as well? Zola is constantly evolving for the better, and the community forums are also a good place to exchange feedback/criticism

The Tera template language is not in wide use, so multi-language integrations with HTML were non-existent when I checked. That's tremendously inconvenient.

Well there is only a single Rust implementation for the moment, but tera templates are really similar to jinja (only difference i know is usage of named arguments in filters/functions).

If i may, what's your usecase?

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#79

Post by ThePadawan » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:45 PM UTC

ibraheemdev wrote: post #46

cercatrova wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Zola seem the most popular static site generator that allows you to generate a website without any JS bundle without using some strange hack. I'd say Gatsby or NextJS are more popular due to being written in JS. They can both produce zero JS websites.

I doubt people who want to avoid javascript will use a javascript based static site builder.

I made that choice, based on two completely separate wishes:

- "I want my visitors to be able to view this static page without enabling JS" and

- "I already know React, I might as well just write this in TSX"

Re: Zola: A fast static site generator in a single binary

#80

Post by chrisweekly » Fri, Mar 05, 2021, 5:46 PM UTC

CJefferson wrote: post #53

regus wrote: post #7

I though this was about the wedding registry site at first. Anyway, I liked this line from the Github: > Hugo gets ehh for the template engine because while it is probably the most powerful template engine in the list (after Jinja2) it personally drives me insane, to the point of writing my own template engine and static site generator. Yes, this is a bit biased. This seems to be the life cycle of static site generat…

Personally, all I want is a full proper programming language in my templating. Every templating language ends up being irritatingly limited, for me at least.

JSX (or even MDX) might fit the bill!