BSSG dev Blog

Development notes, release, and insights on BSSG - Bash Static Site Generator

Announcing BSSG 0.20.0: Powerful Visual Post Editor, Enhanced Dev Server, and More

Published on: by Stefano Marinelli

Updated on: • 4 min read

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

I'm thrilled to announce the release of BSSG version 0.20.0! Tagged and available now, this is a landmark update for BSSG, bringing a highly anticipated visual post editor, graduating the local development server to an official feature with significant enhancements, important fixes, and more.

This release is focused on dramatically improving the content creation experience and streamlining your development workflow.

Key Highlights in 0.20.0

1. Introducing the BSSG Post Editor (bssg-editor.html)

The star of this release is the brand-new BSSG Post Editor! This is a complete, standalone post editor that runs entirely in your browser as a single HTML file (bssg-editor.html), requiring no backend or complex setup.

Key features of the BSSG Post Editor include:

  • Ghost-like Interface: Enjoy a modern, clean, split-pane interface with a Markdown editor on one side and a live preview on the other.
  • Complete Frontmatter Support: Easily manage all BSSG frontmatter fields: title, date, lastmod, tags, slug, description, image, and image_caption.
  • Unsplash Integration: Browse and select stunning featured images directly from Unsplash, with automatic, proper attribution for the image_caption.
  • Smart Auto-Save: Never lose your work with multiple auto-save triggers: every 10 words typed, after 5 seconds of inactivity, plus manual save.
  • Article Management: A local storage-based system lets you save, load, search, and delete your articles directly within the editor.
  • Rich Markdown Toolbar: A comprehensive formatting toolbar provides quick access to headers, lists, bold, italics, links, images, code blocks, quotes, and more.
  • Keyboard Shortcuts: Boost your productivity with full keyboard shortcut support (e.g., Ctrl+B for bold, Ctrl+I for italic, Ctrl+S to save).
  • Theme Support: Toggle between dark and light themes, with automatic detection of your system preference.
  • Focus Mode: Minimize distractions and concentrate on your writing.
  • Versatile Export Options: Export your posts as BSSG-compatible .md files (with correct naming conventions), copy Markdown to your clipboard, or import existing Markdown files.
  • Responsive Design: The editor works beautifully on desktop. WIP for tablet and mobile devices.
  • Offline Capable: Being a single HTML file, it runs entirely in the browser and works offline.
  • Seamless BSSG Integration: Generates Markdown files with proper frontmatter and file naming conventions ready for BSSG.

The BSSG Post Editor is designed to make content creation for your BSSG site intuitive, efficient, and enjoyable.

You can try it here

2. Enhanced Local Development Server (./bssg.sh server)

The experimental local development server introduced previously is now an official and enhanced feature!

  • The ./bssg.sh server command builds your static site and then starts an HTTP server to serve your output/ directory.
  • Dynamic SITE_URL Override: When initiating a build, the server command temporarily sets the SITE_URL to match the local server's address (e.g., http://localhost:8000). This ensures all links and asset paths are correct for local previewing without needing to change your production SITE_URL.
  • Improved Performance with socat: The server now prefers socat if available, enabling concurrent request handling. This means faster loading of pages with multiple images and a more reliable preview experience. netcat serves as a fallback, with a warning about its single-threaded limitations.
  • Configurable Defaults: You can now set default port and host for the server in your config.sh (or override in config.sh.local) using BSSG_SERVER_PORT_DEFAULT and BSSG_SERVER_HOST_DEFAULT. These defaults are also shown in the help message.
  • Command-line Options:
    • --port <PORT>: Specify a custom port.
    • --host <HOST>: Specify a custom host/IP.
    • --no-build: Skip the build step and serve existing output/ content.

3. Under-the-Hood Improvements

  • The main bssg.sh script has been updated to incorporate the server command logic, robust argument parsing, and informative help text.
  • scripts/build/config_loader.sh now loads and exports the new server default configuration variables.
  • config.sh includes the new default server configuration variables.

4. Community Contributions & Fixes

This release also incorporates several important fixes and refinements, making BSSG more robust and reliable. A special thank you goes out to the great people from our community who contributed their time and expertise to help identify and resolve issues. Your contributions are invaluable!

Important Update Notes

This is a major feature release.

  • For the best local development server experience, it is recommended to have socat installed on your system. BSSG will automatically use it if found.
  • The new BSSG Post Editor (bssg-editor.html) will be available in the root of your BSSG installation directory upon updating. You can open this file directly in your browser to start using it.

Get the Update!

Ready to revolutionize your content workflow and enjoy a smoother development experience? Update to BSSG 0.20.0 now!

I'm incredibly excited about this release and believe the new editor and server enhancements will make a big difference for BSSG users. As always, your feedback, bug reports, and contributions are highly valued and welcome. Check out the BSSG project page to contribute or report issues.

Happy building and happy writing!

Stefano

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