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+---
+title: HUGO Static Site Generator
+date: 2021-12-26
+author: "ahmza"
+draft: false
+weight:
+
+tags: ["web dev"]
+description: "HUGO is a static site generator. No idea what that is ? Check out this post to learn more !"
+---
+
+## **Introduction**
+
+_HUGO_ is a static site generator, which basically means it's a tool that
+allows us to pre-compile all of our website into static HTML, CSS and
+JS. The main benefit of using such methods to crate a static site is speed. A
+Static site takes a lot less time to load than a site that uses
+databases for example.
+
+## **Disadvantages**
+
+Some of the disadvantages (for me):
+
+- A lot more infrastructure setup (for my setup)
+- Editing and creating content can be a pain
+
+**This is to no fault of _HUGO_ itself but the complexity of my infrastructure!!**
+Deploying the site in my environment was a challenge as I had to get the site
+files from gitlab and build a docker image that would compile the site as well
+as create an image to be deployed in my [docker
+swarm.](https://blog.ahmza.com/posts/building-a-docker-swarm-with-pis) I do feel
+I made this more complicated than it needed to be, but now that I have it
+working the workflow is great.
+
+Because there is no integrated webui or CMS for _HUGO_, the experience
+you get when creating content will vary person to person depending on
+the environment you use to create the content. When using a CMS I took
+dragging and dropping images for granted where now I have to explicitly
+define full paths to images which can get me out of the flow of writing
+content. Finding solutions for these challenges that makes this interesting.
+
+## **Then Why?**
+
+The main reason for switching to a static site generator is speed and
+how lightweight the final product is, at the time of writing this the
+total size of the content on this site including images is ~5mb which
+is considerably smaller than a full CMS and database alone with no
+content.
+
+{{< video label="i love it" webm="/webm/i-love-it.webm" >}}
+
+Some advantages of static sites in general:
+
+- Security
+- Reliability
+- Scalability
+- Low Resource Requirement
+
+Although the pursuit of speed brought me to _HUGO_, here are a few other great
+reasons:
+
+- Git
+- Markdown
+- Simplicity
+- Live Preview
+
+I have recently started to use git a lot more and I'm able to implement a
+content versioning system that can follow me everywhere.
+
+Markdown is quick, gives me what I need and doesn't require me to right click.
+
+_HUGO_ allows you to import pre-made themes or if your feeling up to it, make
+your own.
+
+Although at the start _HUGO_ seemed difficult to me I managed to learn and
+appreciate the simplicity it brings to the table. My workflow is not perfect but
+I feel _HUGO_ makes it easy to develop a smooth workflow.
+
+Live Preview allows you to start up a light weight web server locally
+and has an auto refresh feature so whenever a change is made the web
+page refreshes so you can see changes without manually refreshing.
+
+## **Conclusion**
+
+You've had a quick intro to _HUGO_ and why I choose to use it, I wrote another
+post on setting up a _HUGO_ site from start to finish.
+
+[Setting Up a _HUGO_ Site](https://blog.ahmza.com/posts/setup-a-hugo-site)