This post explores how a simple static site generator can power a complete blog system. With a pinch of JavaScript for filtering, you can maintain multiple niches without any backend or build pipeline.

Why Static?

Static sites offer compelling advantages:

  • Speed — no server-side rendering, just pre-built HTML
  • Security — no database or server to exploit
  • Cost — free hosting on GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages
  • Simplicity — write Markdown, push to git, done

The Stack

For this blog we use:

Markdown → Jekyll → HTML/CSS/JS → GitHub Pages

How It Works

  1. Write articles as .md files in _posts/
  2. Add front matter (title, date, category)
  3. Push to GitHub
  4. GitHub Pages builds and deploys automatically

Adding a New Post

Create a file in _posts/ with this naming convention:

_posts/YYYY-MM-DD-your-post-title.md

Add front matter at the top:

---
layout: post
title: "Your Post Title"
date: 2025-12-01
category: vlm
author: Your Name
excerpt: "A short summary of your post."
---

Then write your content in Markdown below the front matter.

Category Filtering

The homepage uses simple JavaScript to filter posts by category. Each post card has a data-cat attribute that matches the category from the front matter.

Simple, fast, and easy to host anywhere.

What’s Next

  • Add search functionality
  • RSS feed for subscribers
  • Dark/light theme toggle
  • Comments via GitHub Discussions or Giscus