Dr Jekyll && Mr Hide

using static site generator as a CMS engine

A little bit of history

How we used to do CMSes in our company

CMS == ?

Comfortable Mexican Sofa: summary

Comfortable Mexican Sofa: verdict

Nice as fully customizable landing page, but would not integrate it with existing admin panel for any commercial app.

Refinery CMS

RefineryCMS: summary

RefineryCMS: verdict

Perhaps nice as standalone application if you're sticking to "refinery way".
Would not integrate with existing system tho.

Custom solution with ActionText

Custom solution with ActionText: summary

Custom solution with ActionText: verdict

Best way to integrate simple content editing into existing app.
However, forget about adjusting wysiwyg or changing it.

Dr Jekyll

CLI

					
bundle exec jekyll build -s SOURCE -d DESTINATION
					
				

OUR USE CASE

						
jekyll
|-- _config.yml
|-- _data
| |-- footer_default.json
| |-- footer.json
| |-- header_default.json
| |-- header.json
| |-- modals_default.json
| |-- modals.json
| `-- theme.json
|-- footer.de.html
|-- footer.en.html
|-- header.de.html
|-- header.en.html
|-- _includes
| |-- footer.scss
| |-- header.scss
| |-- _modals.scss
| `-- _shared.scss
`-- theme.haml
				
			

						
app/views/static
|-- footer.de.html
|-- footer.en.html
|-- header.de.html
|-- header.en.html
`-- theme.haml
					
				

VARIABLES

	
---
simple_variable: "I'm just a variable"
---

{{ page.simple_variable }}
	

SIMPLE JSON STORE

// jekyll/_data/store.json

{
  "simple_variable": "Another content"
}
				

---
---

{{ site.data.store.simple_variable }}
				

USING IN CONTROLLER

def rebuild
  options = {
    "source" => File.expand_path("jekyll"),
    "destination" => File.expand_path("app/views/static"),
  }
  Jekyll::Commands::Build.process(options)
  redirect_to root_path
end
			

USING AS MODEL

class Content
  attr_reader :text

  def initialize
    @path = "jekyll/_data/store.json"
    content = read
    @text = content[:text]
  end

  def save(attributes)
    File.write(@path, attributes.to_json)
  end

  def read
    JSON.parse(File.open(@path).read, symbolize_names: true)
  end
end
				

JEKYLL WITH WISPER

            
# config/initializers/wisper.rb
require "jekyll_builder_listener"

default_options = {
  prefix: :on,
  async: true,
}

Wisper.subscribe(JekyllBuilderListener, **default_options)
            
          

            
# lib/jekyll_builder_listener.rb
class JekyllBuilderListener
  def self.on_element_change
    Jekyll::Commands::Build.process({
      "source": File.expand_path("jekyll"),
      "destination": File.expand_path("app/views/static"),
    })
  end
end
            
          

# app/controllers/pages_controller.rb

  include Wisper::Publisher

# in action:
  publish(:element_change)
          

Sample theme changer with jekyll

JEKYLL WITH I18N

              
# config/environment.rb, lib/jekyll_builder_listener.rb
Rails.root.join(
  "config",
  "locales",
  "themes",
  theme_name,
  "*.yml"
)
.then(&Dir.method(:[]))
.then(&I18n.backend.method(:load_translations))
              
            

WHAT ABOUT CACHING?

# config/environments/production.rb
config.action_view.cache_template_loading = false

SOMETHING ISN'T WORKING?

Worry not!

jekyll doctor

CONCLUSION