I'm looking at changing my entire personal site platform. Right now, I have WordPress running the blog, and then a whole bunch of different stuff for the little things I've done for fun over the years. Apologies in advance for the jumble my thoughts are in about this. It's been on the back burner in my brain for a while, but nothing focused.
For my new site, I want:
- Two distinct pieces: content served via API and content presented via the website
- Static site for ease and security
- Server-side rendered so I'm not delivering unnecessary JavaScript to the client
- Support for multiple content types so that I'm not shoving every custom bit into a "post"
- Start integrating ideas from IndieWeb, particularly the "own your content" ethos
I've given a cursory look at these Static Site Generators and made this comparison table:
| Generator | Language(s) | Templating | Server-side Rendered/"Pre-rendered" | Support for multiple content types | Support for content from API | Github Stars | Stack Overflow Questions for Tag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eleventy/11ty | JavaScript | Mix and match from:
| Yes | Yes, with layouts? | Yes (JavaScript Data Files) | 1833 | SO Tag doesn't exist |
| Gatsby | JavaScript | React | No? | Yes | Yes (JavaScript Data Files) | 32549 | 967 |
| Hexo | JavaScript | Markdown | Yes | No | No | 25584 | 220 |
| Hugo | Go |
| Yes | Yes | No | 33387 | 458 |
| Jekyll | Ruby |
| Yes | No | No | 37080 | 4749 |
| Next | JavaScript | React | Yes (but does it for the static HTML app export with API?) | Yes | Yes | 35632 | 761 |
| Nuxt | JavaScript | Vue | Yes | Yes | Yes | 18666 | 1381 |
No clear winner, but Eleventy, Next, and Nuxt check a lot of the boxes. I believe my next step will be to get my hands dirty with some of these and see which ones I like.