For years, I’ve been passionate about sharing my technical findings, ponderings and open-source insights through a weblog. My journey started with hand-crafted HTML, evolved into a PHP-powered custom database solution and eventually landed me with WordPress. While each approach had its merits, they all shared a common Achilles’ heel: maintenance.
In the early days, painstakingly writing HTML was a labor of love, but quickly became tedious. As my site grew, managing updates and content became a nightmare. Then came my foray into PHP and a custom database—a step up in terms of dynamic content, but a significant leap in complexity. Debugging database queries and ensuring security were constant headaches.
WordPress seemed like the perfect solution at first. Its ease of use and vast plugin ecosystem were incredibly appealing. However, the honeymoon phase didn’t last. The endless cycle of plugin updates, theme compatibility issues and the constant fear of PHP version conflicts turned maintenance into a full-time job. Each PHP update felt like playing Russian roulette with my site and the security vulnerabilities were a constant worry.
I realized I was spending more time maintaining the platform than creating content. This wasn’t sustainable. I wanted to focus on what truly mattered: sharing my knowledge and promoting the spirit of open source.
That’s when I discovered static site generators and Hugo in particular. Hugo’s simplicity and speed were immediately appealing. It offered a clean, distraction-free writing experience, allowing me to focus solely on content.
Here’s why Hugo clicked:
- Simplicity: No databases, no complex server-side logic. Just Markdown files and a static site generator.
- Speed: Hugo generates sites blazingly fast, resulting in a smooth user experience.
- Security: Static sites are inherently more secure, as there’s no dynamic server-side code to exploit.
- Version Control: Using Markdown files makes it easy to manage content with Git, ensuring version control and easy collaboration.
- Focus on Content: I can concentrate on writing without worrying about server maintenance or plugin updates.
- Open Source: Hugo itself is an open source project, which aligns with my values.
- Debian Friendly: Hugo is very easy to install on Debian based systems, which is a big plus for me.
But the real game-changer in my workflow has been integrating GitHub Actions. Now, my entire deployment process is automated. I simply write my posts in Markdown, commit them to my Git repository and push them to GitHub.
Here’s how it works:
- GitHub Actions detects the push to my repository.
- It automatically installs Hugo, builds my site and deploys the generated static files to my web server.
- This automation eliminates the need for manual deployments, saving me time and effort.
- This also allows me to keep a full version history of all my posts.
This shift allows me to dedicate my time to what I love: exploring technical topics, promoting open source and sharing my experiences with the community.
If you’re tired of the maintenance burden of dynamic websites, I highly recommend exploring Hugo and GitHub Actions. It’s a game-changer for anyone who wants to focus on content creation.
I hope this post inspires you to consider static site generators and automation for your own projects.