Simple Static Site Builder with Jinja2
If you've ever built a small, multi-page website (i.e., a company site, landing page, documentation site, or portfolio) you've likely experienced the pain of maintaining a bunch of HTML files that all contain the same header, navigation, footer, and bits of JavaScript. It works at first, but the moment you need to change something that exists on every page, it becomes tedious fast. At the other end of the spectrum are fully featured static site generators (SSGs) like Hugo, Jekyll, and Gatsby. They're powerful, but they can also be overwhelming and feel like overkill when all you want is a simple website with a few reusable components. In this post, I'll discuss building a lightweight SSG using Jinja2 in python. By treating your HTML files as templates, you can reuse layouts, components, and other shared code without introducing a complex toolchain. The result is a simple workflow that's easy to understand, easy to customize, and perfect for smaller projects whe...