What's the best way (or package) to build a static site using Node.js?

javascript node.js pug docpad
Ory Band picture Ory Band · Sep 7, 2011 · Viewed 8.7k times · Source

In Short

What's the best way to set up a static blog with Markdown and RSS support, just like this guy did, but use Node and a JavaScript web-framework instead of Python & Django?

In Length

I'd like to build a static site using Node.js, preferably using the help of a ready-made package, similiar to Ruby's Jekyll or Python's Hyde. I'll need some server-side templating (e.g. jade, HAML, Jinja), and maybe some Markdown support, though not necessary.

I've already found out about Express, Petrify, and Node-blog, but I'm not sure they're the right choice.

Any recommendations on the recommended way of action?

Answer

mnewt picture mnewt · Jan 29, 2013

I highly recommend wintersmith. It is built on node and written in coffeescript.

From wintersmith's features page:

  • Easy to use
  • Generated sites can be hosted anywhere (output is plain html)
  • Write articles/pages using markdown
  • Robust templating using Jade
  • Preview server (no need to rebuild every time you make a change)
  • Highly configurable
  • Extendable using plugins
  • FAST!

To see it in action, check out these examples.

You can also get a working wintersmith site going with:

$ npm install wintersmith -g
$ wintersmith new <path>
$ cd <path>
$ wintersmith preview

I have tried DocPad, wheat, scotch, and blacksmith and have found wintersmith much simpler than DocPad (a true static site generator) and better out of the box, better maintained, and better supported by plugins than the rest.

I am in the process of rebuilding two of my sites to use it.

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