# Zona

Zona is a tool for building a static website, optimized for lightweight blogs
following minimalist design principles.

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> [!NOTE] 
> Zona is currently in development. The `main` branch of this repository
> does not yet contain the software. The `dev-stable` branch contains the code
> used to generate [ficd.ca](https://ficd.ca) -- although the program is
> undocumented and missing features, so please proceed at your own risk. The
> `dev` branch contains the latest development updates and is not guaranteed to
> be functional (or even compile) at any given commit. Kindly note that the
> commit history will be cleaned up before the program is merged into the `main`
> branch.
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## Design Goals

Zona is intended to be easy-to-use. A user should be able to build a reasonably
complex website or blog with only a directory of Markdown content and a single
command, without needing to write any HTML or configuration. However, users
should optionally have access to sensible and flexible configuration options,
including writing HTML. The output of Zona should also be lightweight, retaining
the smallest file sizes possible. These characteristics make Zona well-suited
for both beginners and power users that wish to host a website on a service like
Neocities or GitHub Pages.

## Feature Progress

- [x] Write pages purely in Markdown.
- [x] Single-command build process.
- [x] Lightweight output.
- [x] Sensible default template and stylesheet.
- [x] Configuration file.
- [x] Internal links preserved.
- [x] Custom image element parsing & formatting.
- [x] Site header and footer defined in Markdown.
- [x] YAML frontmatter support.
- [ ] Automatically treat contents of `posts/` directory as blog posts.
- [ ] Automatically generated `Archive`, `Recent Posts`, and `Image Gallery` [ ]
      elements.
- [ ] Support for custom stylesheets, favicons, and page templates.
- [ ] Image optimization and dithering.
- [ ] Custom markdown tags that expand to user-defined templates.
- [ ] Live preview server.
- [ ] Robust tests.

## Inspirations

- [Zoner](https://git.sr.ht/~ryantrawick/zoner)
- [Zonelets](https://zonelets.net/)

> Note: I am aware of `Zola`, and the similar name is entirely a coincidence. I
> have never used it, nor read its documentation, thus it is not listed as an
> inspiration.