Making a Static Site Generator, and Trying Out Static Site Generators
Posted: 11-19-2025
Static Site Generators, in simplified terms, are programs that generate a webpage (or a website) based on two files, the template, and the content (typically in .md format). These generators allow developers create their static websites easily, which is particularly useful for portfolio sites, or blog websites where there tends to be a consistent format on how website elements are presented.
There are many static site generators such as jekyll, gatsby, astro, and many others. To an extent, react can also be utilized to create a static website. These utilities allow developers not just in creating their static websites, but also in updating and maintaining their websites, as new posts are easily developed without much manual copypasting of html/css/js code, using a seamless automated process instead.
As of writing, I have never tried static site generators yet, but I have been developing a static site generator of sorts using node.js, and so far, it is fascinating trying to make one from scratch. I initially started said project as a stepping stone for updating Study Notes, but in the future, I may use what I have learned from it in many areas of web development.
Yesterday I came across a video about vite, which seems completely separate from SSGs, but there I learned that vite is an essential tool in streamlining the frontend development process, and under the hood, it is a large pipeline of processes that aim to automate the tedious parts of the build process. Automation and making development seamless is what reminded me of static site generators, that they are very important especially for those not inclined with designing a website from scratch.