One could use Apache2 .htaccess to set up a directory header/footer which load a script (hidden from listing in .htaccess) which parses a .md file listing into

One could use Apache2 .htaccess to set up a directory header/footer which load a script (hidden from listing in .htaccess) which parses a .md file listing into a list of articles, and fetches a couple of the first ones as a front page. Then just use a URL fragment to track which article is open, and fetch & render that article’s markdown fully onto the page. Disable JS and you have a list of markdown files. Enable JS and get a website.