This is a static site built with metalsmith -- see metalsmith.js for the pipeline. Most of the standard metalsmith plugins are used, plus a few tricks.
I don't like YAML frontmatter, and the only per-post metadata I need is date and template type, so I encode them in the file name and extension, respectively. metalsmith-date-in-filename gets the date; a custom metalsmith middleware sets the template.
I use metalsmith-browserify to generate a static site JavaScript bundle for the WebGL animations. Within the bundle I use many stackgl modules. Thanks in particular to glslbin for example code.
I use metalsmith-serve and metalsmith-watch for local development. I use the directory animations as the build destination, then serve the root of the project, so that paths start with /animations like in production.
I use this trick for pushing the animations subtree to the gh-pages branch, and thus publishing to GitHub pages.
This is my first time using metalsmith. Here are some pros and cons as I see them.
Pros:
- Good architectural fundamentals.
- Superb low-level control. I couldn't do this with Jekyll.
- Works well once you make the (significant) initial investment.
Cons:
- Variable module quality. Even the most commonly used modules have odd design choices that'll trip you up. (E.g. metalsmith-permalinks's
relativeoption.) - Setting up a pipeline is time consuming. You will need to read the source code of most every module you use and step through it in a debugger to figure out why it isn't working.
- No common convention for flow control; most modules invent their own pattern matching or filtering convention.
- Key modules are effectively unmaintained. (
metalsmith-collectionsandmetalsmith-permalinks.)