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There are dozens of such projects now, all of them 1 or 2% different from the others, little differences that would be more suitable as plugins or extensions to

by nikcub 14y ago

There are dozens of such projects now, all of them 1 or 2% different from the others, little differences that would be more suitable as plugins or extensions to a defacto static generator (Jekyll). Instead we get a mass duplication of effort into implementing essentially the same thing, a common problem with open source projects. What is really required is a dead-simple static generator, the equivalent to what Wordpress and Movable Type did for the old style of blogging. A simple app that ordinary computer users can plug their FTP or S3 details into and then publish.

pekk 14y ago
Why don't you write the dead-simple static generator. Then we can observe that it is only 2% different from the others and throw it on the pile :)
- nikcub 14y ago
  I tried: https://github.com/nikcub/floyd https://github.com/nikcub/floyd I had a bunch of friends and family members who needed simple static sites so I generated it for them (this was before Jekyll). I could use it myself, but I could never get them to do the updates themselves from their own machines. Once Jekyll and the rest came out, I switched my own use over and switched everybody else over to Weebly, and then didn't bother continuing work on Floyd and just let it idle (I pushed it up to GitHub). Each time one of these projects is released I scan through them and try them out to see if there is any new idea to pick up on. It then occurred to me that a real innovation in this space is a lot of work and trial+error. For technical people, you have Jekyll, Hyde, etc. For non-technical people you don't really have anything at the moment. I think a project with a web interface that generates files would be interesting, or having a folder of text files (or Word, Pages etc. documents) that are then generated and uploaded by double-clicking on an icon. I know there are a bunch of apps in the Mac AppStore in this space, but I haven't tried any of them - so it is possible that this solution already exists. I am not so in love with the idea that I would drop everything else right now to work on it. Edit: I realize my original comment might offend OP but I didn't intend it to be that way, there are only so many ways you can say "work on expanding the potential uses rather than reimplementing etc." without it sounding dickish
stevekemp 14y ago
Yes, I've been slowly reviewing several of them: https://github.com/skx/static-site-generators https://github.com/skx/static-site-generators Still found I had to write my own..
brycecammo 14y ago
(Shameless plug) I got sick of trying out different static site generators that were all just a little bit too complicated to setup and install, so I went about building just what you describe - a simple, plug-in-your-ftp-and-click-publish static site generator[1]. I'm still working out the finer details, but I'm happy with where it's at at the moment. [1]: https://staticmate.com https://staticmate.com

by nikcub 14y ago

pekk 14y ago

Why don't you write the dead-simple static generator. Then we can observe that it is only 2% different from the others and throw it on the pile :)

nikcub 14y ago
I tried: https://github.com/nikcub/floyd https://github.com/nikcub/floyd I had a bunch of friends and family members who needed simple static sites so I generated it for them (this was before Jekyll). I could use it myself, but I could never get them to do the updates themselves from their own machines. Once Jekyll and the rest came out, I switched my own use over and switched everybody else over to Weebly, and then didn't bother continuing work on Floyd and just let it idle (I pushed it up to GitHub). Each time one of these projects is released I scan through them and try them out to see if there is any new idea to pick up on. It then occurred to me that a real innovation in this space is a lot of work and trial+error. For technical people, you have Jekyll, Hyde, etc. For non-technical people you don't really have anything at the moment. I think a project with a web interface that generates files would be interesting, or having a folder of text files (or Word, Pages etc. documents) that are then generated and uploaded by double-clicking on an icon. I know there are a bunch of apps in the Mac AppStore in this space, but I haven't tried any of them - so it is possible that this solution already exists. I am not so in love with the idea that I would drop everything else right now to work on it. Edit: I realize my original comment might offend OP but I didn't intend it to be that way, there are only so many ways you can say "work on expanding the potential uses rather than reimplementing etc." without it sounding dickish

stevekemp 14y ago

Yes, I've been slowly reviewing several of them: https://github.com/skx/static-site-generators https://github.com/skx/static-site-generators Still found I had to write my own..

brycecammo 14y ago

(Shameless plug) I got sick of trying out different static site generators that were all just a little bit too complicated to setup and install, so I went about building just what you describe - a simple, plug-in-your-ftp-and-click-publish static site generator[1]. I'm still working out the finer details, but I'm happy with where it's at at the moment. [1]: https://staticmate.com https://staticmate.com