divshot/themestrap — pull request #9 by eins78 (2013-08-29 19:16:39+00:00)
Title: generating static sites

I am thinking about ways to generate a theme's index page and maybe the examples using a static site generator.

The first choice would be `jekyll` since it is supported by github pages. It would add a ruby dependency though; and we already have `nodejs`. Also, the theme is compiled with `grunt` anyhow, so just adding a compile step to the `Gruntfile` might be easier.

Another bonus of using a node-based static site generator would be that it can read `JSON` data. This could be used to read the basic theme data from the `bower.json` (no more typing new version numbers more than once). Long-term this could maybe also used in some clever way to build the theme gallery (using the package metadata).

What do you think, and do you have any preferences?

Tools I know of:

- `jekyll` (ruby but github-native, [see example in my `jekyll-pages` branch](https://github.com/eins78/themestrap/tree/jekyll-pages))
- [`punch`](http://laktek.github.com/punch) (kind of standalone, have used and like it)
- [`assemble`](http://assemble.io) (grunt-based, have not used it)
- [`blacksmith`](http://blacksmith.jit.su) (from nodejitsu, seems complicated but flexible)

What I would really want, but have not found/verified: Something as easy as `jekyll`, but more configurable, and with the ability to 'list' the html files in the `/examples` directory…