March 2016 Summaries

Jekyll is a popular static web tool used by both professionals and amateurs, created by one of GitHub's cofounders. Its popularity stems from its use in powering GitHub pages. Recently, Jekyll 3.0 was launched, with Parker Moore, the current lead of Jekyll, taking part in a talk at the Static Web MeetUp. Parker shared his journey of getting involved with Jekyll and how he became its lead. He mentioned that he started using Jekyll during his summer internship at Cornell to build a new site for their website, cals.cornell.edu. After realizing the issues with Jekyll's repository, Parker decided to work on it and eventually joined GitHub as a software engineer where he helps maintain Jekyll. Parker wishes for static web tech to be better understood by companies interested in making websites, emphasizing accessibility and changing the conversation around terms used in the field. He also advises people not to give up when facing issues, as perseverance is key to learning and contributing to the solution.

We recently switched from a traditional PHP-based CMS to a static build on Netlify, which has improved our website's speed and made it easier to maintain. However, we still needed to handle dynamic functionality such as client records, payment processing, and customer records, which are not easily transferable to a static site. To solve this problem, we used Netlify's proxying feature to serve static pages for most visitors while keeping our existing server running to handle the dynamic content. This allowed us to make the switch in separate phases without disrupting our operations. We also implemented redirects to ensure that all URLs still worked correctly after the change. By using proxying and redirection, we were able to find a solution that balances speed, maintenance, and functionality, making it easier for us to focus on other aspects of our project.

This guide introduces Nanoc, a well-documented static site generator with ongoing support and a live community. It sets up a local Nanoc site, compiles it, views the compiled site, checks the nanoc.yaml file, edits the Rules file to accommodate kramdown, edits the landing page, edits the layout, builds the final site, sets up a GitHub repository, connects the repository to Netlify for continuous deployment.

Punch is a static site generator that aims to delight both designers and developers with its simplicity, intuitiveness, and good basic documentation. It's written in JavaScript with node.js and uses Mustache as its template engine, allowing users to build modern websites using only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Punch is not a blog engine but rather a framework that helps users create and maintain websites quickly and easily. With a basic setup and several good examples, Punch can be used for various purposes, including setting up a local site, pushing it to GitHub, and deploying it on Netlify. The guide provides step-by-step instructions on installing Punch, creating a site, running the server, configuring Punch for local folder, pushing to GitHub, connecting with Netlify, and building the site.

Foundation was created in 2011 by ZURB as a responsive frontend framework for development, with the goal of streamlining the build process and providing a more efficient way to create websites. Over time, Foundation has evolved into multiple open-source projects, including Foundation for Sites, Foundation for Apps, and Foundation for Email. The project's lead designer, Geoff Kimball, has spoken about his preference for simplifying the build process using tools like Panini and Netlify, and has expressed concerns about the limitations of following trends in the development community. Despite these challenges, Foundation remains a popular choice among developers, with a strong focus on building fast and efficient websites.