Web Based Static Site Generator?

azdle@news.idlestate.org to Selfhosted@lemmy.world – 39 points –

That may seem like an oxymoron, but I'm looking for some sort of server that I can self-host where I can edit blog posts and whatnot, but that then deploys to something like neocities (or any other pure static host).

I'm not finding anything, but maybe it's a thing and I just don't know what it's called?

25

You can do all of the through GitHub and GitHub actions by picking a static website generator.

I'd personally like to not depend on infra like github, but I hadn't considered just using the web UI of a code forge. That's a good idea, I'm going to try that and see if I like it, thanks!

(Still interested in other suggestions if others know of things that are more fit for purpose, tho.)

Fair enough. If you want to self host, you can go with forgjo as your web ui and forgjo CI/woodpecker CI for building and deploying the site.

I don’t know of any other self-hostable way to build and push a static site. There was forestry but they discontinued it for a paid service.

Lektor maybe?

Ah, nice. I think that's exactly what I was trying to describe. Thanks for the suggestion!

Though, I think the git forge 'backend' + "Static CMS" frontend seems a bit more featureful and slick. I think I'm going to keep going down that path instead for now. Good to have a backup of exactly what I originally thought I wanted though.

grav is another option for what you were looking for. cli with optional web interface. run local and generate static sites or on a web server (like a traditional cms) https://getgrav.org

for a static site generator that runs locally (with local or git storage), check out https://jamstack.org/generators/ for lots of other options.

I run a static site using Hugo, Gitea, Gitea Runners, Cloud Front, and S3.

Do you just use the gitea web editor for that? (I assume it has one right?) Does it provide a nice markdown-aware editor?

I use a local text editor and push the git repository, which triggers automation to generate and publish the content. vscode is my editor for that work.

You can all the config and content of a gohugo blog in github and it built and hosted by netlify. For the local dev, hugo server.

That's what I do. And it's all free!

Just a note though: netlify runs on AWS.

That's also my setup (just with gitlab) and it works very well. Only I deploy to my own host. I use the gitlab web editor sometimes, to quickly write stuff down, it also works well if you're used to writing markdown.

I use my own gogs/gitea for now. I need to check if I need to change since the name issue.

And as CI, I use drone.

There are also WordPress plugins that allow for exports of static html. Of course you need a theme without comment sections and all that jazz, as that is disfunctional in the static export anyways.

you can place content in gemini

I used to use movabletype to so this back in the day

@azdle maybe Ghost fits what you're looking for?
https://www.nedmcclain.com/static-ghost-site/

Nifty. At first blush just making a static clone of a dynamic site doesn't feel as elegant as using a code forge editor, but I'll keep that idea in mind if I find the editing experience (images and whatnot) to be too clunky with the gitea suggestion.

@azdle yeah understandable .I've had a good experience with just editing files locally (markdown or html) too. in case you miss some niceties of your local IDE

@azdle as in, edit locally, preview locally, push with git

Gotcha, I'm trying to find something that doesn't require me to use a local editor. I want to give myself as smooth of an opportunity as possible to write small thoughts. That's my current setup and even that little bit of friction seems to keep me from writing. (Or that's my current excuse anyway...)

GitHub to host. Chatgpt to generate quick and dirty code if you’re not great at coding and don’t want a wysiwyg editor.