SSG is for putterers
Kev Quirk on static site generators:
SSGs are really cool and super fun to play with – I’m really enjoying it on my side project; but I wish a lot of devs would stop touting about how amazingly simple they are, as it’s just not the case.
– Kev Quirk, WordPress Creator Vs The Jamstack (2020-05-20)
I often see “such and such static site generator is simple!” tweets, and wonder what exactly they’re comparing it to. DIY dentistry perhaps?
As much as I love puttering with static site generators, “puttering” is the main charm of an SSG. The hooks to customize are right there on the surface. Heck some SSGs are nothing but hooks. And having everything in a git repository is just a developer-focused version of a smart backup plan.
For the Jamstack side of things, I’m not sure I see the advantage of relying on a load of external services over oh say for example having a database and an internal comment system. You know, like Wordpress. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot in relation to my own site leaning so much on webmention.io.
Activity Log
hackers.town: 2020-09-20 Sun 10:06
congratulations, little utility script. You’ve been promoted to library!
Probably should’ve done that at the start for testing, but constant babysitting is almost as good as testing.
hackers.town: 2020-09-20 Sun 13:59
Well hey would you look at that I got [redacted] working.
I’ll have my formal apology to ops ready for after they see I got [redacted] working without asking them first.
hackers.town: 2020-09-20 Sun 14:32
YOU CAN SEE THE SUN AGAIN
THE SKY IS BLUE
THE CLOUDS ARE WHITE
THE AIR IS AIR
IT’S BEAUTIFUL
ok that’s good enough i’m going back inside
hackers.town: 2020-09-20 Sun 17:55
I hate wearing headphones, but I hate all the other noises more.
hackers.town: 2020-09-20 Sun 23:43
got the teeny tiny fiddly wiggly thing fixed and it only took six hours but I forgot what it was blocking.