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Hexo vs Jekyll: What are the differences?
Introduction
Markdown is a lightweight markup language that allows easy formatting of web content. It can be used to create static websites using static site generators like Hexo and Jekyll. In this task, we will format the provided content as Markdown code and provide the key differences between Hexo and Jekyll.
- Installation: Hexo and Jekyll differ in their installation process. Hexo requires Node.js and Git to be installed on the system, while Jekyll requires Ruby and RubyGems.
- Default Language: Hexo is primarily based on JavaScript, making it favorable for developers with a background in JavaScript. On the other hand, Jekyll is based on Ruby, making it more suitable for developers familiar with Ruby.
- Themes and Plugins: Hexo provides a wide range of themes and plugins, allowing users to easily customize the appearance and functionality of their websites. Jekyll also offers themes and plugins, but the selection is relatively smaller compared to Hexo.
- Performance: Hexo is known to have better performance compared to Jekyll. This is mainly due to the fact that Hexo generates the static site content during the build process, resulting in faster page load times.
- Ecosystem and Community Support: Jekyll has a larger and more mature ecosystem and community compared to Hexo. This means that there are more resources, documentation, and community support available for Jekyll users.
- Hosting Options: Jekyll websites can be hosted on GitHub Pages for free, making it an attractive choice for developers who want a simple hosting solution. Hexo, on the other hand, does not have the same level of integration with GitHub Pages and requires additional steps for hosting.
In summary, Hexo and Jekyll differ in terms of installation requirements, default languages, availability of themes and plugins, performance, ecosystem and community support, and hosting options.
I have been building a website with Gatsby (for a small group of volunteers). I track it in GitHub and push it to Amazon S3.
I am satisfied with it as a single user; however, I would like to get non-technical teammates to be able to post Markdown blog posts. I tried to teach them to add mdx files, git push, gastby build, and publish with gatsby-plugin-s3, but I am getting a fair amount of resistance :).
So I wonder if there are tools, preferably using Node.js, that allow multi-user blog authors a la wordpress, i.e. with an interface for non technical bloggers, but producing static/pre-rendered web pages.
(PS: I am considering having a node/express.js server where they could upload their mdx file and the server would re-build push and publish for them, without having them install anything, but I'd like to know if something already exists before jumping into this endeavor)
If you're after Markdown I would look at https://www.netlifycms.org. I've used it on several projects to allow clients to use Markdown to publish and it integrates really well with Gatsby. You can create your own content structures using it then implement them into your templates. These are all the widgets you can use: https://www.netlifycms.org/docs/widgets/
This keeps it strictly static file driven with no database or need for express etc.
As a Frontend Developer I wanted something simple to generate static websites with technology I am familiar with. GatsbyJS was in the stack I am familiar with, does not need any other languages / package managers and allows quick content deployment in pure HTML
or Markdown
(what you prefer for a project). It also does not require you to understand a theming engine if you need a custom design.
Pros of Hexo
- Ease of deployment18
- Uses NodeJS and npm13
- Easy GitHub Pages publishing12
- Powerful templating10
- Useful tools and plugins7
- Easy intergrating with js4
- Open source3
- Blazing Fast3
Pros of Jekyll
- Github pages integration74
- Open source54
- It's slick, customisable and hackerish37
- Easy to deploy24
- Straightforward cms for the hacker mindset23
- Gitlab pages integration7
- Best for blogging5
- Low maintenance2
- Easy to integrate localization2
- Huge plugins ecosystem1
- Authoring freedom and simplicity1
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Cons of Hexo
Cons of Jekyll
- Build time increases exponentially as site grows4
- Lack of developments lately2
- Og doesn't work with postings dynamically1