4 ms·

Or you could just install wordpress? Unless your aim is to jump through the hoops, or satisfy the nerdy carving of coding we all have.

elithrar 15y ago
> Or you could just install wordpress? Unless your aim is to jump through the hoops, or satisfy the nerdy carving of coding we all have. I think a reason Jekyll is popular is because it's relatively simple to update & use once it's running. Since it's also just static HTML via your web-server, it's also significantly more secure (no app code to exploit). That, and it's fast. Serve it with nginx and you'll endure traffic magnitudes larger than even a tweaked WP install can on a small VPS.
- switz 15y ago
  Not to mention there are many (good!) free options for hosting it (due to the lack of a database): heroku, github, etc.
  - jonursenbach 15y ago
    Also S3 now that you can host static websites there.
methoddk 15y ago
Wordpress requires a database, Jekyll does not. Jekyll is also much easier to maintain, with it's built in web server for testing, and static page generation, using a github repo is so simple it's stupid. Jekyll is the way to go.
- tnorthcutt 15y ago
  Jekyll is the way to go. That's quite the over-generalization.
- kingsidharth 15y ago
  I don't remember every having to deal with database after installation. And with most host nowadays, it's sort of auto-managed. Update with wordpress is a click-away. I've seen much difference between two when it comes to maintaing, having to touch databases etc.
  - ceol 15y ago
    I think methoddk meant GitHub does not allow you access to a database.
  - _delirium 15y ago
    Judging by the number of Wordpress blogs that become unresponsive when they hit the front page of HN, it doesn't seem like it's too easy to keep them running with any traffic (or at least, people seem not to be doing it).
- kappaknight 15y ago
  Yes, WordPress requires a database; but when has this been an issue for business people, real bloggers, etc. to find a decent host with database support? Sure, Jekyll sounds like a more efficient solution, but most people don't have a "pain" point when running WordPress - at least not one that can't be solved with a plugin. (Most people)
xm1994 15y ago
> Or you could just install wordpress? Unless your aim is to jump through the hoops, or satisfy the nerdy carving of coding we all have. I would have to agree with you. Now, as far as satisfying the craving... lately I've wanted to try Jekyll and serve the site from Amazon S3 + Cloudfront. Seems to me it would handle a tremendous amount of traffic and be very fast. Now, if only I had content that a few million people wanted to read...
- kappaknight 15y ago
  Yeah, I think you're missing the point of running a blog. A blog is about producing and publishing content. It's not thinking about scaling when there's absolutely no need for it. If one has something worthwhile to say, then spending anything more than 5 minutes to setup a blog is just a waste of time. That's almost like having an important meeting to get to, but taking a few weeks to reinvent the wheel just so you can get there.
- biftek 15y ago
  I do just that actually. Although my reasoning was more about how insanely cheap and reliable it is, and wanting to get familiar with the technologies for the first time. I would say Cloudfront is actually overkill for a static site, I didn't really notice any decreased page load times in my testing, and having it purge the caches is another hoop you have to jump through. There is something entirely geeky about it though, and it puts a smile on my face knowing how unnecessary the technology behind my site is. I'd be willing to share my rakefiles for publishing this set up if anyone is interested.
kmfrk 15y ago
I created my static blog using Blogofile a couple of weeks ago, and the best take-away from the experience is the ease of backing it up. My entire blog is in a GitHub repo, so my own clumsiness, governmental misappropriation and such are not likely to destroy my blog for good. There is obviously a lot to say about static blogs in general, but this is by far the upside I am most content with. On the flip-side, figuring out how to enable gzipping and having to use a www. subdomain are nuisances people setting up their blog on Wordpress won't have to bother with - at least on a number of Wordpress hosts.

elithrar 15y ago

> Or you could just install wordpress? Unless your aim is to jump through the hoops, or satisfy the nerdy carving of coding we all have. I think a reason Jekyll is popular is because it's relatively simple to update & use once it's running. Since it's also just static HTML via your web-server, it's also significantly more secure (no app code to exploit). That, and it's fast. Serve it with nginx and you'll endure traffic magnitudes larger than even a tweaked WP install can on a small VPS.

switz 15y ago
Not to mention there are many (good!) free options for hosting it (due to the lack of a database): heroku, github, etc.
- jonursenbach 15y ago
  Also S3 now that you can host static websites there.

methoddk 15y ago

Wordpress requires a database, Jekyll does not. Jekyll is also much easier to maintain, with it's built in web server for testing, and static page generation, using a github repo is so simple it's stupid. Jekyll is the way to go.

tnorthcutt 15y ago
Jekyll is the way to go. That's quite the over-generalization.
kingsidharth 15y ago
I don't remember every having to deal with database after installation. And with most host nowadays, it's sort of auto-managed. Update with wordpress is a click-away. I've seen much difference between two when it comes to maintaing, having to touch databases etc.
- ceol 15y ago
  I think methoddk meant GitHub does not allow you access to a database.
- _delirium 15y ago
  Judging by the number of Wordpress blogs that become unresponsive when they hit the front page of HN, it doesn't seem like it's too easy to keep them running with any traffic (or at least, people seem not to be doing it).
kappaknight 15y ago
Yes, WordPress requires a database; but when has this been an issue for business people, real bloggers, etc. to find a decent host with database support? Sure, Jekyll sounds like a more efficient solution, but most people don't have a "pain" point when running WordPress - at least not one that can't be solved with a plugin. (Most people)

xm1994 15y ago

> Or you could just install wordpress? Unless your aim is to jump through the hoops, or satisfy the nerdy carving of coding we all have. I would have to agree with you. Now, as far as satisfying the craving... lately I've wanted to try Jekyll and serve the site from Amazon S3 + Cloudfront. Seems to me it would handle a tremendous amount of traffic and be very fast. Now, if only I had content that a few million people wanted to read...

kappaknight 15y ago
Yeah, I think you're missing the point of running a blog. A blog is about producing and publishing content. It's not thinking about scaling when there's absolutely no need for it. If one has something worthwhile to say, then spending anything more than 5 minutes to setup a blog is just a waste of time. That's almost like having an important meeting to get to, but taking a few weeks to reinvent the wheel just so you can get there.
biftek 15y ago
I do just that actually. Although my reasoning was more about how insanely cheap and reliable it is, and wanting to get familiar with the technologies for the first time. I would say Cloudfront is actually overkill for a static site, I didn't really notice any decreased page load times in my testing, and having it purge the caches is another hoop you have to jump through. There is something entirely geeky about it though, and it puts a smile on my face knowing how unnecessary the technology behind my site is. I'd be willing to share my rakefiles for publishing this set up if anyone is interested.

kmfrk 15y ago

I created my static blog using Blogofile a couple of weeks ago, and the best take-away from the experience is the ease of backing it up. My entire blog is in a GitHub repo, so my own clumsiness, governmental misappropriation and such are not likely to destroy my blog for good. There is obviously a lot to say about static blogs in general, but this is by far the upside I am most content with. On the flip-side, figuring out how to enable gzipping and having to use a www. subdomain are nuisances people setting up their blog on Wordpress won't have to bother with - at least on a number of Wordpress hosts.