From WordPress to Jekyll. Why did I quit content managers

From WordPress to Jekyll

One of the things we broadcasters of free and open source software should remember is that not everyone has the same needs, time or desire to devote to installing or learning a new program. The philosophy behind free software is great, but if you're a freelance graphic designer, you'll be too busy getting and finishing the jobs that support you to learn how to do in Inkscape what you usually do with Adobe Illustrator.

From WordPress to Jekyll

Towards the end of last year I made the decision to stop using WordPress on my personal blog and switch to using a static site builder called Jekyll. Various problems of a personal nature plus work obligations caused that transfer to be delayed. Nor did the apparent inability of developers of open source projects to gather the necessary documentation in one place and write it in an understandable way.

I still think it was a good idea. For me. Unless you are a fan of technology, need to save server resources or require extreme customization, it is best to stick with WordPress. or try some other content manager.

Content managers, frameworks and creators of static sites.

Suppose you want to move into a house. You have three options:

  • Buy a house already built: In which you only have to take your furniture and hang the pictures.
  • Order a house based on prefabricated modules
  • Hire an architect and a construction company and make it to your liking.

Content managers like WordPress they allow you to focus only on the content. They have a series of templates that automate the representation of the information and add-ons that add additional functions.

The frameworks they are a set of components that you can combine to create custom web pages. You need to have coding skills to be able to combine them and to add interactivity.

Static site builders who already had spoken, from the content and certain instructions provided, they generate web pages that use HTML, CSS and Javascript. The static thing does not have to be taken at face value, since it is possible to make them interactive.

The main difference is that content managers require more server resources as they need a databases. It is that database where you will find the information on how to represent the content, the content to be represented, the roles and privileges of the users and the information about the page that search engines require.

When you use a framework, You must put page by page all the information required by the search engines, for the correct visualization of the site in different screen formats and the location of the external elementss that are displayed or added interactivity.

Static site builders allow to automate certain tasks how to show the identification data of the site, the grouping of the articles in categories or the pagination

It is important to make a difference. The content managers look for the information in the database and show it every time a user connects to the web page. Static site builders create a web page that includes that information embedded in its code.

I want to insist that this series of articles It should be read as a journal with my experiences and not as a recipe. If you are going to start in the world of blogging, you should dedicate all your time to the content and not to memorize the different Markdown abbreviations or Liquid commands. When you already have experience and a readership, you may want more customization options. Only then should you consider Jekyll

My departure from WordPress was due to the fact that the free option was too small for me, and the payment options, in a country where the dollar price does not stop rising, were not a viable alternative. To this we must add that the themes began to ask for the installation of add-ons, and if you wanted to have more than one theme you would find several different add-ons that fulfilled the same function.

In the next few articles I will expand more on the differences between one method or another of blogging that led me to make the decision.


4 comments, leave yours

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  1.   zicoxy3 said

    I'm interested. I have used WordPress for years, first on a paid host with a serious project that died and then on their .com platform in the free format. The price of the Premium version seems excessive to me.
    I discovered Jeckyll, but my inability made me opt for Blogger…. I'm still there, disgusted, although it works for me .. I find very little documentation on Jeckyll or Hugo, similar systems.

    1.    Diego German Gonzalez said

      What I did was look for a template of https://github.com/topics/jekyll-theme and start modifying

  2.   Delio G. Orozco Gonzalez said

    Diego:

    Each one approaches and looks for the solutions that are usually most useful and effective. In this segment of deep Cuba (Manzanillo, a city in the eastern part of the country), we created an application (Alarife) that visually allows us to create a static site on any subject; which, can become a Thematic Encyclopedia by virtue of the quantity, diversity and depth of the information offered.

    1.    Diego German Gonzalez said

      Put the link if it is available for download