So now I simply setup the Jekyll structure for any site and have it build as I commit. At that point I can either use Github as the host and commit content and template changes or grab the html from the _site folder and give it to a client or push it via FTP or whatever. SIMPLE.

Update

April 20, 2013

I recently released the DaVinci’s Pizzeria site using the process described below. It’s hosted on Github using gh-pages.

I won’t bore you with the “cms-less” movement. There has been plenty written about this approach over the past several months already. Google it.

Proof

But I will say that I have bought into the idea. I have already used this approach with 2 websites built for my employer, the FCC; the LEARN Program and Signal Boosters. I have also moved 2 sites that I built a while back to Github, as projects, and used Jekyll to re-build them; Wolfe Proposals and John Wolfe Dental. And now I’m using this site as my personal site.

Building - how to (and how not to)

For a while I just let Github’s gh-pages build process handle the builds but came to realize that this wouldn’t work. It’s nearly impossible to debug issues that way. So I had to get Jekyll installed and configured locally. This is pretty straight forward, a huge thanks to Andy Taylor for his post on “Installing Ruby & Jekyll on Mac OS X”. Following that will get you there.

So now I simply setup the Jekyll structure for any site and have it build. At that point I can either use Github as the host and commit content and template changes or grab the html from the _site folder and give it to a client or push it via FTP or whatever. SIMPLE.