blogdown + Netlify

Hello World!

• https://barug2019.netlify.com/
• GitHub repo: https://github.com/happyrabbit/BARUG201904
• Have a GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket account
• Create a new repo HelloBlogdown and git clone
• Create a R project (.Rproj) and point the path to the folder
• blogdown::new_site()
• blogdown::serve_site()
• blogdown::build_site()
• blogdown::new_post("Another awesome post")

Deploy

• Link your repo to Netlify: New site from Git
• Deploy:

• General -> Change site name

Go under the hood

• theme: http://themes.gohugo.io (themes do not work well with blogdown: https://github.com/rstudio/blogdown/issues)
• blogdown::new_site(theme="frjo/hugo-theme-zen")
• config.toml
• content/
• static/
• themes/
• layouts/

Modified version:

• https://github.com/happyrabbit/scientistcafe.com

Other ways to build and deploy your own website

1. html + css + rmarkdown: https://nerdyrabbit.netlify.com/
2. One-click solution: https://templates.netlify.com
3. Fork a template to GitHub/GitLab and link it to Netlify
   • Jekyll: http://jekyllthemes.org
   • Hugo: https://themes.gohugo.io

Static Site Generators: Over 400 Choices!

Primary considerations

• Familiarity of languages & tools used
• Availability/quality of docs & resources
• Features vs complexity
• Specialization (blogs, docs, etc.)
• Speed: to develop, build, load

How to start

• Browse the docs
• Search for tutorials and reviews
• Search for themes or starters
• Explore the files in a sample project
• Try it out!

Jekyll

• 10 years old! Lots of users, tutorials, themes
• Originally made for blogs, but used for more
• Built with Ruby: versions can be a hassle
• Liquid templating: fairly easy to read
• Markdown content
• Configuration and data files in yaml: easy to read, but whitespace sensitive
• Builds can be slow for large sites

Hugo

• Few years old; very active development
• Built with Go, but doesn’t require Go to run
• Go template language: steeper learning curve
• Content in Markdown, plus shortcodes
• Flexible and extendable, but complex
• Docs are extensive, but can be hard to read
• Reputation for very fast builds

Gatsby

• Few years old; venture-funded development
• Built with JavaScript (React): very popular
• React component templating: steeper learning curve unless you’re familiar with JS/React
• Content in Markdown or mdx (powerful but JS-heavy)
• Lots of plugins and themes (but still code-heavy)
• Static/SPA hybrid structure is fast to load

Join Us!

• San Francisco Netlify Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/sf-netlify/
  • How static site generators work, and why they’re useful
  • How to make your own generated site
  • How to easily add more features to your website: form, login, redirect etc.
• Interested in our data science team? Contact me hui@netlify.com