455 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
455 lines
19 KiB
Markdown
<h1>zona</h1>
|
|
|
|
[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.
|
|
|
|
**Note:** This project is in early development, there are no versioned releases
|
|
yet, and breaking changes are likely. Versioned releases will be made and zona
|
|
will be published to PyPI once it's stable. zona was previously implemented in
|
|
Go; I decided to rewrite the project in Python. If you're interested in seeing
|
|
the previous codebase (which is feature incomplete), visit the
|
|
[zona-go](https://git.ficd.sh/ficd/zona-go) repository.
|
|
|
|
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).
|
|
|
|
<!--toc:start-->
|
|
|
|
- [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)
|
|
- [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)
|
|
|
|
<!--toc:end-->
|
|
|
|
## 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.
|
|
- 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 is not yet packaged on PyPI. You may use `uv` to install it from this
|
|
repository:
|
|
|
|
```sh
|
|
uv tool install 'git+https://git.ficd.sh/ficd/zona'
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
## 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.
|
|
|
|
_Note: the previous build is _not_ cleaned before the new site is built. If
|
|
you've deleted some pages, you may need to remove the output directory before
|
|
rebuilding._
|
|
|
|
### 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 or any templates, 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.
|
|
|
|
#### 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 prioritized 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. 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`. |
|
|
|
|
#### 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.**
|
|
|
|
### 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.com/ficd/pygments-kakoune)
|
|
- A lexer providing for highlighting Kakoune code. Available under the `kak`
|
|
and `kakrc` aliases.
|
|
- [pygments-ashen](https://codeberg.com/ficd/ashen/tree/main/item/pygments/README.md)
|
|
- An implementation of the [Ashen](https://codeberg.com/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
|
|
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
The above results in the following HTML:
|
|
|
|
```html
|
|
<div class="image-container"><img src="static/markdown.png" title=
|
|
""> <small>This <strong>image</strong> has
|
|
<em>markup</em>.</small></div>
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
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. |
|
|
| `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. |
|
|
| `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
|
|
base_url: /
|
|
sitemap:
|
|
Home: /
|
|
ignore:
|
|
- .marksman.toml
|
|
markdown:
|
|
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
|
|
server:
|
|
reload:
|
|
enabled: true
|
|
scroll_tolerance: 100
|
|
```
|
|
|
|
| Name | Description |
|
|
| -------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
|
|
| `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. |
|
|
| `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.com/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.
|