zona

[zona](https://git.ficd.sh/ficd/zona) is an _opinionated_ static site generator written in Python. From a structured directory of Markdown content, zona builds a simple static website. It's designed to get out of your way and let you focus on writing. **What do I mean by opinionated?** I built zona primarily for myself. I've tried making it flexible by exposing as many variables as possible to the template engine. However, if you're looking for something stable, complete, and fully configurable, zona may not be for you. If you want a minimal Markdown blog and are comfortable with modifying `jinja2` templates and CSS, then you're in luck. For an example of a website built with zona, please see [ficd.sh](https://ficd.sh). For a list of known problems, see [Known Problems](#known-problems). - [Features](#features) - [Installation](#installation) - [Usage](#usage) - [Getting Started](#getting-started) - [Building](#building) - [Live Preview](#live-preview) - [Live Reload](#live-reload) - [How It Works](#how-it-works) - [Site Layout](#site-layout) - [Templates](#templates) - [Markdown Footer](#markdown-footer) - [RSS Feed Generation](#rss-feed-generation) - [Internal Link Resolution](#internal-link-resolution) - [Syntax Highlighting](#syntax-highlighting) - [Markdown Extensions](#markdown-extensions) - [Image Labels](#image-labels) - [Frontmatter](#frontmatter) - [Post List](#post-list) - [Configuration](#configuration) - [Sitemap](#sitemap) - [Ignore List](#ignore-list) - [Drafts](#drafts) - [Known Problems](#known-problems) ## Features - Live preview server: - Automatic rebuild of site on file changes. - Live refresh in browser preview. - `jinja2` template support with sensible defaults included. - Basic page, blog post, post list. - RSS feed generation. - Glob ignore. - YAML frontmatter. - Easily configurable sitemap header. - Site footer written in Markdown. - Smart site layout discovery. - Blog posts are automatically discovered and rendered accordingly (can be overridden in frontmatter). - Extended Markdown renderer: - Smart internal link resolution. - Syntax highlighting. - Includes Kakoune syntax and [Ashen] highlighting. - [Image labels](#image-labels). - Many `python-markdown` extensions enabled, including footnotes, tables, abbreviations, etc. - LaTeX support. ## Installation Zona can be installed as a Python package. Instructions for [`uv`](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/) are provided. ```sh # install latest release uv tool install zona # install bleeding edge from git uv tool install 'git+https://git.ficd.sh/ficd/zona' # you can also run without installation uvx zona build --help ``` ## Usage _Note: you may provide the `--help` option to any subcommand to see the available options and arguments._ ### Getting Started To set up a new website, create a new directory and run `zona init` inside of it. This creates the required directory structure and writes the default configuration file. The default templates and default stylesheet are also written. ### Building To build the website, run `zona build`. The project root is discovered according to the location of `config.yml`. By default, the output directory is called `public`, and saved inside the root directory. If you don't want discovery, you can specify the project root as the first argument to `zona build`. You may specify a path for the output using the `--output/-o` flag. The `--draft/-d` flag includes draft posts in the output. ### Live Preview To make the writing process as frictionless as possible, zona ships with a live preview server. It spins up an HTTP server, meaning that internal links work properly (this is not the case if you simply open the `.html` files in your browser.) Additionally, the server watches for changes to all source files, and rebuilds the website when they're modified. _Note: the entire website is rebuilt — this ensures that links are properly resolved._ Drafts are enabled by default in live preview. Use `--final/-f` to disable them. By default, the build outputs to a temporary directory. Use `-o/--output` to override this. **Note**: if the live preview isn't working as expected, try restarting the server. If you change the configuration, the server must also be restarted. The live preview uses the same function as `zona build` internally; this means that the output is also written to disk --- a temporary directory by default, unless overridden with `-o/--output`. #### Live Reload Optionally, live reloading of the browser is also provided. With this feature (enabled by default), your browser will automatically refresh open pages whenever the site is rebuilt. The live reloading requires JavaScript support from the browser — this is why the feature is optional. To start a preview server, use `zona serve`. You can specify the root directory as its first argument. Use the `--host` to specify a host name (`localhost` by default) and `--port/-p` to specify a port (default: `8000`). The `--live-reload/--no-live-reload` option overrides the value set in the [config](#configuration) (`true` by default). _Automatic site rebuilds are not affected_. If you are scrolled to the bottom of the page in the browser, and you extend the height of the page by adding new content, you will automatically be scrolled to the _new_ bottom after reloading. You may tune the tolerance threshold in the [configuration](#configuration). #### How It Works The basic idea is this: after a rebuild, the server needs to notify your browser to refresh the open pages. We implement this using a small amount of JavaScript. The server injects a tiny script into any HTML page it serves; which causes your browser to open a WebSocket connection with the server. When the site is rebuilt, the server notifies your browser via the WebSocket, which reloads the page. Unfortunately, there is no way to implement this feature without using JavaScript. **JavaScript is _only_ used for the live preview feature. The script is injected by the server, and never written to the HTML files in the output directory.** ### Site Layout The following demonstrates a simple zona project layout: ``` config.yml content/ templates/ public/ ``` The **root** of the zona **project** _must_ contain the configuration file, `config.yml`, and a directory called `content`. A directory called `templates` is optional, and merged with the defaults if it exists. `public` is the built site output — it's recommended to add this path to your `.gitignore`. The `content` directory is the **root of the website**. Think of it as the **content root**. For example, suppose your website is hosted at `example.com`. `content/blog/index.md` corresponds to `example.com/blog`, `content/blog/my-post.md` becomes `example.com/blog/my-post`, etc. - Internal links are resolved **relative to the `content` directory.** - Templates are resolved relative to the `template` directory. Markdown files inside a certain directory (`content/blog` by default) are automatically treated as _blog posts_. This means they are rendered with the `page` template, and included in the `post_list`, which can be included in your site using the `post_list` template. ### Templates The `templates` directory may contain any `jinja2` template files. You may modify the existing templates or create your own. Your templates are merged with the packaged defaults. To apply a certain template to a page, set the `template` option in its [frontmatter](#frontmatter). The following public variables are made available to the template engine: | Name | Description | | ----------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | | `content` | The content of this page. | | `url` | The resolved URL of this page. | | `metadata` | The frontmatter of this page (_merged with defaults_). | | `header` | The sitemap header in HTML form. Can be `False`. | | `footer` | The footer in HTML form. Can be `False`. | | `is_post` | Whether this page is a post. | | `newer` | URL of the newer post in the post list. | | `older` | URL of the older post in the post list. | | `post_list` | A sorted list of `Item` objects. Meant for internal use. | #### Markdown Footer The `templates` directory can contain a file called `footer.md`. If it exists, it's parsed and rendered into HTML, then made available to other templates as the `footer` variable. If `footer.md` is missing but `footer.html` exists, then it's used instead. **Note: links are _not_ resolved in the footer.** ### RSS Feed Generation Zona can also generates an RSS feed containing your blog posts. This feature is disabled by default, and you can enable it in the [configuration](#configuration). The default location is a file called `rss.xml` in the content root. All RSS related configuration is specified in `config.yml`. If you plan to use the feed, make sure to replace the placeholder `link`, `title`, `description`, and `author` configuration values before you set `enabled: true`. ### Internal Link Resolution When zona encounters links in Markdown documents, it attempts to resolve them as internal links. Links beginning with `/` are resolved relative to the content root; otherwise, they are resolved relative to the Markdown file. If the link resolves to an existing file that is part of the website, it's replaced with an appropriate web-server-friendly link. Otherwise, the link isn't changed. For example, suppose the file `blog/post1.md` has a link `./post2.md`. The HTML output will contain the link `/blog/post2` (which corresponds to `/blog/post2/index.html`). Link resolution is applied to _all_ internal links, including those pointing to static resources like images. Links are only modified if they point to a real file that's not included in the ignore list. ### Syntax Highlighting Zona uses [Pygments] to provide syntax highlighting for fenced code blocks. The following Pygments plugins are included: - [pygments-kakoune](https://codeberg.org/ficd/pygments-kakoune) - A lexer providing for highlighting Kakoune code. Available under the `kak` and `kakrc` aliases. - [pygments-ashen](https://codeberg.org/ficd/ashen/tree/main/item/pygments/README.md) - An implementation of the [Ashen](https://codeberg.org/ficd/ashen) theme for Pygments. If you want to use any external Pygments styles or lexers, they must be available in zona's Python environment. For example, you can give zona access to [Catppucin](https://github.com/catppuccin/python): ```yaml # config.yml markdown: syntax_highlighting: theme: catppucin-mocha ``` Then, run zona with the following `uv` command: ```sh uvx --with catppucin zona build ``` Inline syntax highlighting is also provided via a `python-markdown` extension. If you prefix inline code with a shebang followed by the language identifier, it will be highlighted. For example: ``` `#!python print(f"I love {foobar}!", end="")` will be rendered as `print(f"I love {foobar}!", end="")` (the #!lang is stripped) ``` ### Markdown Extensions - [BetterEm](https://facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-extensions/extensions/betterem/) - [SuperFences](https://facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-extensions/extensions/superfences/) - `disable_indented_code_blocks=True` - [Extra](https://python-markdown.github.io/extensions/extra/) - Excluding Fenced Code Blocks. - [Caret](https://facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-extensions/extensions/caret/) - [Tilde](https://facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-extensions/extensions/tilde/) - [Sane Lists](https://python-markdown.github.io/extensions/sane_lists/) - [EscapeAll](https://facelessuser.github.io/pymdown-extensions/extensions/escapeall/) - `hardbreak=True` - [LaTeX2MathML4Markdown](https://gitlab.com/parcifal/l2m4m/-/tree/develop?ref_type=heads) - Disable per-file with the `math: false` frontmatter option. ### Image Labels A feature unique to zona is **image labels**. They make it easy to annotate images in your Markdown documents. The alt text Markdown element is rendered as the label — with support for inline Markdown. Consider this example: ```markdown ![This **image** has _markup_.](static/markdown.png) ``` The above results in the following HTML: ```html
This image has markup.
``` The `image-container` class is provided as a convenience for styling. The default stylesheet centers the label under the image. Note: _links_ inside image captions are not currently supported. I am looking into a solution. ### Frontmatter YAML frontmatter can be used to configure the metadata of documents. All of them are optional. `none` is used when the option is unset. The following options are available: | Key | Type & Default | Description | | ------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | `title` | `str` = title-cased filename. | Title of the page. | | `description` | `str \| none` = `none` | Description. If omitted, default from [config](#configuration) will be used. | | `date` | Date string = file modified time. | Displayed on blog posts and used for post_list sorting. | | `show_title` | `bool` = `true` | Whether `metadata.title` should be included in the template. | | `header` | `bool` = `true` | Whether the header sitemap should be rendered. | | `footer` | `bool` = `true` | Whether the footer should be rendered. | | `template` | `str \| none` = `none` | Template to use for this page. Relative to `templates/`, `.html` extension optional. | | `post` | `bool \| none` = `none` | Whether this page is a **post**. `true`/`false` is _absolute_. Leave it unset for automatic detection. | | `draft` | `bool` = `false` | Whether this page is a draft. See [drafts](#drafts) for more. | | `ignore` | `bool` = `false` | Whether this page should be ignored in _both_ `final` and `draft` contexts. | | `math` | `bool` = `true` | Whether the LaTeX extension should be enabled for this page. | **Note**: you can specify the date in any format that can be parsed by [`python-dateutil`](https://pypi.org/project/python-dateutil/). ### Post List Suppose you want `example.com/blog` to be a _post list_ page, and you want `example.com/blog/my-post` to be a post. You would first create `content/blog/index.md` and add the following frontmatter: ```markdown --- title: Blog post: false template: post_list --- Welcome to my blog! Please find a list of my posts below. ``` Setting `post: false` is necessary because, by default, all documents inside `content/blog` are considered to be posts unless explicitly disabled in the frontmatter. We don't want the post list to list _itself_ as a post. Then, you'd create `content/blog/my-post.md` and populate it: ```markdown --- title: My First Post date: July 5, 2025 --- ``` Because `my-post` is inside the `blog` directory, `post: true` is implied. If you wanted to put it somewhere outside `blog`, you would need to set `post: true` for it to be included in the post list. ## Configuration Zona is configured in YAML format. The configuration file is called `config.yml` and it **must** be located in the root of the project — in the same directory as `content` and `templates`. Your configuration will be merged with the defaults. `zona init` also writes a copy of the default configuration to the correct location. If it exists, you'll be prompted before overwriting it. **Note:** Currently, not every configuration value is actually used. Only the useful settings are listed here. Please see the default configuration: ```yaml feed: enabled: true timezone: UTC path: rss.xml link: https://example.com title: Zona Website description: My zona website. language: en author: name: John Doe email: john@doe.net sitemap: Home: / ignore: - .marksman.toml markdown: image_labels: true tab_length: 2 syntax_highlighting: enabled: true theme: ashen wrap: false links: external_new_tab: true build: clean_output_dir: true include_drafts: false blog: dir: blog defaults: description: A blog post server: reload: enabled: true scroll_tolerance: 100 ``` | Name | Description | | -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `feed.enabled` | Whether RSS feed should be generated. **Off by default**. | | `feed.timezime` | Timezone to use for post `pubDate` values. Must be an IANA compliant string. | | `feed.path` | Location of the feed, relative to content root. | | `feed.link` | The base URL of the website. | | `feed.title` | Website title. | | `feed.description` | Website description. | | `feed.language` | String specifying website's language code. | | `author.name` | Your full name. | | `author.email` | Your email address. | | `sitemap` | Sitemap dictionary. See [Sitemap](#sitemap). | | `ignore` | List of paths to ignore. See [Ignore List](#ignore-list). | | `markdown.tab_length` | How many spaces should be considered an indentation level. | | `markdown.syntax_highlighting.enabled` | Whether code should be highlighted. | | `markdown.syntax_highlighting.theme` | [Pygments] style for highlighting. | | `markdown.syntax_highlighting.wrap` | Whether the resulting code block should be word wrapped. | | `markdown.links.external_new_tab` | Whether external links should be opened in a new tab. | | `build.clean_output_dir` | Whether previous build artifacts should be cleared when building. Recommended to leave this on. | | `build.include_drafts` | Whether drafts should be included by default. | | `blog.dir` | Name of a directory relative to `content/` whose children are automatically considered posts. | | `blog.defaults.description` | Default description for blog posts with no `description` in their frontmatter. | | `server.reload.enabled` | Whether the preview server should use [live reload](#live-preview). | | `server.reload.scroll_tolerance` | The distance, in pixels, from the bottom to still count as "scrolled to bottom". | ### Sitemap You can define a sitemap in the configuration file. This is a list of links that will be rendered at the top of every page. The `sitemap` is a dictionary of `string` to `string` pairs, where each key is the displayed text of the link, and the value if the `href`. Consider this example: ```yaml sitemap: Home: / About: /about Blog: /blog Git: https://git.ficd.sh/ficd ``` ### Ignore List You can set a list of glob patterns in the [configuration](#configuration) that should be ignored by zona. This is useful because zona makes a copy of _every_ file it encounters inside the `content` directory, regardless of its type. The paths must be relative to the `content` directory. ### Drafts zona allows you to begin writing content without including it in the final build output. If you set `draft: true` in a page's frontmatter, it will be marked as a draft. Drafts are completely excluded from `zona build` and `zona serve` unless the `--draft` flag is specified. [Ashen]: https://codeberg.org/ficd/ashen [Pygments]: https://pygments.org/ ## Known Problems 1. If the user triggers rebuilds in quick succession, the browser is sent the reload command after the first build, even though a second build may be underway. This results in a `404` page being served, and the user needs to manually refresh the browser page. **Mitigation:** Don't allow a rebuild until the browser has re-connected to the WebSocket after the first reload.