I use a site generator that is 99 lines of Python to generate this website. It has one dependency, Pandoc
There are other scripts that accessorize it, but the core functionality of building the site is done by this script.
Questions you might have:
I’ll try to answer those as best I can.
I never felt like I could understand any of the design decisions behind other generators, and for me, understanding the why behind something is just as important as understanding the how.
In addition, other generators often felt wedded to a type of working that didn’t jive with my own personal workflows.
I can write my own software. That’s an incredible thing! It’s fun to write software, it’s a source of creative expression for me, and it’s so fulfilling to use a tool that you made.
On top of that, I feel far more comfortable extending psg than say, Jekyll. I know every bit of psg! And if I forget it, I can read the sourcecode in 10 minutes and understand everything again.
The other aspect here is that building psg ultimately was faster than learning how to use any of these other tools. I spent probably 2 hours on it to begin with, and by the end I had something usable that I understood from top-to-bottom.
Speed and my own understanding were my requirements, and I’m the only stakeholder!
I’ve written a handful of scripts that live alongside the source for this site
cloc reports that in total, there are 141 additional lines of code, in bash and Python.
These scripts do things like:
For me, psg is great. But I don’t think that means you should use it.
I think for people who like to craft their personal sites, a site generator is a personal tool, and is inextricably bound up with their ways of working.
If you’re like me, there’s a low chance anything off the shelf will satisfy your personal preferences. So, build your own! It’s an easier task than you might think.