huwfulcher.com, now running with gohuw
Nov 9, 2023
While perusing Hacker News recently I came across Why You Should Write Your Own Static Site Generator. Not one to turn down a challenge I decided that I should as well. Reasons being:
- I don't like Hugo that much. It's definitely one of the best generators out there but I didn't like its structure or limitations it imposes.
- I wanted to try Go. I've only gotten as far as "Hello World" previously with Go so doing a Static Site Generator seemed to be a good way to understand things.
- I wanted a binary to run. I love the idea that with Go you can build a binary and then bundle that with your website. It means I have no external dependencies to weigh me down if I choose not to.
The result is gohuw, a Frankenstein-esque SSG that I wouldn't recommend others use. I have it on good authority from my Go expert friend that the code is bad. But that's okay, it does the job for me.
Why not call it "huwgo"? I felt that was a bit on the nose being so close to "hugo" and I didn't want people having the misunderstanding that I have written this to be widely adopted.
This was a fun project and something I'll likely try and replicate in other languages I want to learn (e.g. Rust). It provides a good range of techniques to be used and also ends with something actually useful.