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webgen / static website generator

static website generation made easy!

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  • The basics pagecontains everything one needs to get going with webgen!
  • Descriptions for plugins can be found in the plugins section

Latest news

2007-12-31: Minor release with feature enhancements. More...

2007-09-08: Small bug fix release. More...

2007-06-29: Some bug fixes and one small feature enhancement. More...

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Preface

This documentation is for webgen 0.4.7! However, most parts are valid for all webgen 0.4.x releases!

The source files for this website are in the doc/src directory of the webgen distribution. Have a look at them to see a real world example on how to use webgen!

Spelling of the name “webgen”

I often see that the name of the program is misspelled: WebGen, Webgen, WEBGEN, ... It is just webgen, all lower case!

Philosophy of webgen

There are some things about webgen which I think are important to mention. It’s about how webgen works and what you can expect when you start webgen.

  • webgen runs till the end and does not stop on errors!

    I did not like it when webgen stopped because there was an error in the configuration file or an error in a page file. So if something exceptional happens it is logged so that the user can see what happened and a useful default alternative is used instead. For example, if no default template was found in the source directory, a dummy template is used instead.

    Therefore it is also not necessary to install the dependencies (although you would be wise to do it, so that you can use all the features of webgen). If a dependency is not found (e.g. RedCloth for Textile support), the specific feature is turned off and a warning gets issued.

  • Useful default values for everything!

    You do not need to configure webgen if you are happy with the default values. webgen provides default values for every configuration option.

  • Every important thing gets logged!

    The logging mechanism is not only used to log error and warning messages, but also to log informational and debug messages. For the normal user, the error and warning messages are important. Developers who extend webgen by writing a new plugin can use the informational and debug messages to see what is going on and to help them develop the plugin.