Scaffold a custom Zou! SSG project and more, with interactive prompts.
— Prononced more or less like 'zoo' ...
Zou! is a french interjection that stands for: JustDoIt! GoAhead! Let'sGo!
Simple SSG with close to zero configuration, going back to the basics.
No JS framework, no mega-bundler, almost nothing new to learn beyond HTML, CSS, JS yet it does the job "out of the box" . #HaveFun
| -Folder- | -Purpose- |
|---|---|
| Bin: | db.js will scan files and create an object from the Frontmatters |
| Docs: | -if enabled- JS and SCSS docs websites will generate here. |
| src/Data: | Add data in .js / load in zou.config.js / use in .njk templates |
| src/Layouts: | General .njk templates, composed with partials and more |
| src/Macros: | Styled components, functionalities, (many possibilities) |
| src/Pages: | Extending a layout. The main element with dynamic content |
| src/Partials: | Sub-pages to be included in others |
| src/Scripts: | The enty points for the .js or .ts files |
| src/Static: | Assets to be copied to public, generally images |
| src/Styles: | SCSS (w/ subfolders partials) / Tailwind. Whatever flavor you like |
| Tests | -if enabled- A default folder for thing.test.js files, but it's up to you |
PS: The package used to convert nunjucks is using cjs, so the zou.config.js is still using that syntax for the moment, but the main JS file is imported as Module, so we can go ESM there. At some point will eventually find a way to go fully ESM accros the board but things are working smoothly enough already.
From v1.4.0, simulating "yes" answers to the propmt, a core SCSS+JS project will be instantly created.
The optional flags -vsc, -vim, -nvim at the end npx zou create myProj -y -vim will open the generated folder in VSCode, Vim or neoVim, so you could finish from there with your favorite package manager. Just pnpm/yarn/npm i then run dev.
npx zou create myWebsite -y
// or first: npm i -g zoucli ...then:
zou create myWebsite -y
To scaffold an instant Tailwind & JS Zou! project:
zou create myWebsite -tw
The full machine with Jest, JS TypesChecking via JSDoc, docs generation for both Javascript and SCSS via jsDoc and sassDoc, plus the rest of the Zou! features. To disable/enable types chacking, edit tsconfig.json file in the root.
zou create myProject -full
For TypeScript, don't use any flag and anwser to the prompt ;)
No flags, just having a conversation:
zou create myWebsite
Author:
Defaulting to the great *DevMysterio*, here you obviously answer with your author name, for the package.json field.
What CSS flavor?
Choices: SCSS or Tailwind. On top of the SCSS one, OpenProps is also integrated, and managing the Dark/Light theming. We can indeed go for just Vanilla CSS in the SCSS setup. For Bootstrap, Chota and more, just {{ cdn.pkg('bootstrap')}} in the layout's Head. see available packages
What Scripting?
Choices: Javascript or Typescript. The Javascript is processed by ESBuild and optimised for production when ready. Hyperscript provides the interactivity (and some fun). On the side of Typescript, it's simply a main.ts as souce, tsconfig file and TSC compile NPM scripts.
Enable sassDoc generation?
Needs to be installed with `npm i -g sassdoc`. A setup for sassDoc, generating a mini-website with scss documentation via code annotations. Add comments, types, todos in your SCSS, then `npm run docs` to generate. Optional.
Enable JSDoc generation?
JSDoc generates great documentation for JS code. See: JSDoc Crash Course - Brad.Traversy. Optional.
Enable JS Testing with Jest?
Unit tests with the awesome Jest. It will create a `tests` folder in the root, but you can organize as you want. When ready ... `npm run test`, or just `npm t`. Optional.
TypesChecking via JSDoc ?
JSDoc Types Checking for vanilla JS code. See: JSDoc TypesCheck in 15min - codeSTACKr. Optional.
Your code Editor
Chose between VSCode, Vim or NeoVim as your primary code editor. The script can open your project in your editor.
Open the project in the Editor ?
If the answer to the previous question was not "Other", the project will open.
That's it. Enjoy.
On npm run dev, npm run build or directly from the root with node bin/db, Zou! will scan the /public folder for .html pages, and transform the HTML-frontmatter into the 'pages' object, stored and exporterd from /src/data/db.js
-
Each frontmatter object expecting at least 'title' and 'url' (here the date is a timestamp for now) https://timestamp.online/
<!-- src/pages/blog/article-one/index.njk --> {% block frontMatter %} title: Article One url: /blog/article-one date: 1701621848 tags: [one, two, racoon] {% endblock %} -
becomes an entry in the pages object
// src/data/db.js module.exports.pages = [ { "title": "Article One", "url": "/blog/article-one", "date": 1701621848, "tags": [ "one", "two", "racoon" ] } ] -
then is injected into the 'data' object for .njk files
// zou.config.js /* Import Data file*/ const db = require('./src/data/db.js'); /* Create the data object */ const data = { appName: 'myWebsite', pages: db.pages, };
urlInc('blog/') : Collection of any page where the 'url' field includes a pattern
Usage: {% for post in data.pages | urlInc('blog/') %}... Then inside we have access to {{ post.title }}, {{ post.url }}... We can nest the related tags if they exists, with something like {% for tags in post.tags %}... from inide the first loop. It can be virtually anything, as long as it can find some matching results.
urlIs('/blog/article-one') : Extracting the frontmatter data of a signle page
Usage: {% for page in data.pages | urlIs('/') %}... It can wrap everyting inside the {% block main %} and give acces to things like related categories/tags, or whatever else usefull from the frontmatter. A classic example would be blog posts pages files.
limitFromTo(0, 5) : Limitintg the results we recieve from *data.pages*
Usage: {% for page in data.pages | limitFromTo(0, 5) %}... will produce an array with the first 5 elements. To offset the list, obviously go for a grater than zero starting point
reverse : Builtin Nunjuck handy filter
Usage: {% for pages in data.pages | reverse %}... just that. The array, in reverse, newest first.
SuperCombo : The 5 most recent posts :)
Usage: {% for posts in data.pages | reverse | urlInc('blog/') | limitFromTo(0, 5) %}... Easy.
tags : A pre-filtered list of uniques tags
Usage: {% for tag in tags %}{{ tag }}{% endfor %} It exctracts uniques occurences from the `tags: [one, two, racoon]` lines in the frontmatters.
withTag('racoon') : Collection of all pges having a word in their `tags`
Usage: {% for posts in data.pages | withTag('racoon') %}... This can create the lists of posts on pages like `/posts-about/racoon` so a visitor could see when clicking on a tag link.
Navigations lists of links are stored in src/data/nav.js like the navMain block:
// src/data/nav.js
module.exports.navMain = [
{
url: "/",
label: "Home",
},
{
url: "/blog",
label: "Blog",
},
];
Then made available to the templates in zou.config.js
// zou.config.js
/* Import Data file*/
const nav = require('./src/data/nav.js');
/* Add to the data object */
const data = {
appName: 'myWebsite',
navMain: nav.navMain,
};
That way, in any template or partial like a header, we can just:
// someFile.njk
<ul>
{% for link in navMain %}
<li><a href="{{ link.url }}">{{ link.label }}</a></li>
{% endfor %}
</ul>
};
We can duplicate the block in src/data/nav.js and repeat the rest of the steps, to create things like navFooter, navSocials or whatever other list.
From 1.3.0, the SCSS files are organized in subfolders, inspired by the official 7-1 pattern, Kevin Powell and personnal preferences. The starting structure is:
@use "abstract";
@use "base";
@use "components";
@use "layout";
@use "pages";
@use "themes";
@use "vendors";
@use "utility";
@use "freestyle";The freestyle folder imports the _getWild.scss partial, for random stuff quickly thrown there while prototyping or for whatever reason. See it like the TypeScript's any:scss.
You can scaffold several Zou! projects, customize the SCSS folders and save them on github as starters with different structures.
From a terminal, just call:
zou make:file
The prompt will ask:
What type?
For the moment it will make you chose between Layout, Page or Partial. The goal is to have a quite complete scafold targets along the way.
Page
Zou! will ask for the title, the slug and the layout. Say you answer: About / about / base, it will create the `src/pages/about/index.njk` page, extending `src/layouts/base.njk`
Layout
Will ask for the layout's name (in slug format). Il will scaffold a layout boilerplate in `src/layouts/name.nkj`, with ///_Hyperscript and zouMacros included, plus the "main block" where the pages will be loaded.
Partial
Will ask for the file name to be created. Say you answer 'footer', it will create the `src/partials/footer.njk` file, that you could then include where needed with {% include 'src/partials/footer.njk' %}.
From the project's root folder:
zou git:save
It will prompt for a Commit message or generate one as Update from month/day at h:m, ask for the branch name and defaulting to master.
It will basically do (in one go) the equivalent of:
git add .
git commit -m "commitMessage"
git push origin branch
The basic "take everything and throw it on master", that's why it's called by a generic git:save like a Ctr/Cmd+S. Other git:commands might come later.
From the project's root folder:
zou deploy:vercel
It will build the project, move into /public and call vercel deploy --prod. The first time it will setup the distant project or link to an existant, and the next ones will just upload the website.
If you have "strange characters" in the terminal, just do the first deploy directly by cd public && vercel deploy --prod. From here, the deploy:vercel from the root will roll. Nothing is "borken" just Bash commands running from Node via zh wraper.
Be sure to have Netlify CLI installed: npm install netlify-cli -g.
zou deploy:netlify
It will build the project, move into /public and call netlify deploy --prod for a Manual Deploy.
One approach is to drop here the public/ folder after running npm run build the first time, and change the name on Netlify to match with your project. > Go inside the public/ folder, call netlify link and link them.
Next times from the root of your local project npx zou deploy:netlify will be enough, build & deploy simple command. To save your code ...zou git:save
Related Docs, just in case: Nunjucks, Openprops, Hyperscript, SCSS, zouMixins, Tailwind, Typescript.
Via zouMacros: AlpineJS, htmX, Pocketbase, ChotaCSS, BonsaiCSS, Bulma, Bootstrap Comming soon: Supabase, Planetscale.
Added the deploy:vercel, deploy:netlify, git:save commands and fixed the postbuild script.
Fixed some misspelled filenames causing troubles with Tailwind & Typescript. It's fine now.
- Added FrontMatter support to the pages in the templates
- Automatic 'database' object with the data from the frontmatter
- Collections, Tags, limitFromTo(), withTag('something'), ... Nunjucks filters
- Navigation objects generating navMain, navFooter,...
- and maybe other things I can't remenber
- Fixed the commit message from the
zou git:savecommand. It displayed the default message instead of the custom one, it's now back to normal.
- SCSS files are now organized in 7-1 SASS inspired folders, imported into main.scss using the @forward/@use pattern. Use it as a starting point, of have fun "freestyling into the getWild zone" ;)
:: Aditions
- Oneliner options to instantly scaffold projects with flags:
- zou create myProject -y -vsc : SCSS + JS project and open it in VSCode
- zou create myProject -tw -vsc : Tailwind + JS project and open it in VSCode
- zou create myProject -full -vsc : SCSS/JS/Jest/JSDoc/sassDoc project and open it in VSCode
- Without the -vsc flag, everything is still instantly created, you can just
cd myProject. - Generally speaking, JS Testing & TypeChecking plus Docs generation are added as options.
:: Deprecation
- The 'Play with CDN' prompt is removed, as we can simply use {{cdn.pkg('whatever')}} from within a layout folder, and having a select form would be a nightmare to maintain. Just check zouMacros for the available packages list.
:: Aditions
- We can now chose between VSCode, Vim or NeoVim as prefered editors and let Zou! open the created project in it so we could code right away.
- Flags for "oneliners" are also added, as
-vsc/-vim/-nvimat the end of the command, as inzou create myProj -y -vim
:: Deprecation
- The 'Install' prompt is removed. Just use whatever package manager to install then run scripts.
:: Fixed
- The script for the SCSS docs generation was causing a duplicate generation in the HTML.