From: Chris Pearl <chrispearl@...>
Date: 2006-11-27T21:45:20+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby tools for managing static websites?

On 11/2/06, Craig Beck <craigbeck@luckybonza.com> wrote:
>
> Okay, I have a similar problem and I'm curious as to the other
> options (i.e. the Python suggestions)
>
>
> --
> Craig Beck
>
> AIM: kreiggers

OK, a word about the Python alternatives:

I posted the same message to the relevant Python ML. Python has *a
lot* of templating solutions. Some of the major ones are listed on the
main Python wiki at [1].

What we're looking for on this thread is a tool that does integrate a
templating solution, but quite a few other features as well. The wiki
refers to those as "Static Website Generators" [2]. Entry
qualifications for this section are pretty strict, so only relatively
few systems warranted listing, and they generally use a 3rd-party
solution for their inherent templating needs.

Of these, rest2web [3] seems pretty impressive, relying on the highly
evolved and mature reStructuredText markup syntax and parser system
[4], which doesn't seem to have its equal in Ruby.

Others are worth a look as, including some which haven't made it into
the prestigious "Static Website Generators". XIST [5], for instance,
and others, are high quality, well maintained solutions for at least
the majority of needs discussed in this thread.

We should mention that Python doesn't readily lend itself to embedding
in markup, being whitespace sensitive. It's a valid point, though
frequently overplayed, as many of the more advanced Pythonic
templating systems shun direct embedding, avoiding that issue
altogether, such as the remarkably evolved and powerful Genshi [6].

Still, I like Ruby better as a language. I'd probably consider the
Pythonic alternatives much less seriously, if not for two
platform-related considerations:

1. Python's superb Unicode support, compared to Ruby's non-existing one.

2. Performance: I regularly use both Ruby and Python programs/scripts
for my work, and the Python ones are generally much faster.
Considering the reasonable expectation to generate the entire website
multiple time per editing session, that becomes a factor.

The final part of the comparison is still ahead of me. Results soon.

-Chris

[1] http://wiki.python.org/moin/Templating
[2] http://wiki.python.org/moin/Templating#head-dec71bc1e1073ea52c66c7e3c2a6ff484e07bf40
[3] http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/rest2web/ . also worth
mentioning is the offline blog management tool by the same author:
http://www.voidspace.org.uk/python/firedrop2/
[4] http://docutils.sourceforge.net/rst.html
[5] http://www.livinglogic.de/Python/xist/
[6] http://genshi.edgewall.org/