Building a static website has become increasingly popular due to its speed, security, and simplicity. Combining Jekyll, a static site generator, with a headless CMS like Netlify CMS offers a powerful workflow for managing content easily while maintaining a fast, secure site.

What is Jekyll?

Jekyll is an open-source static site generator that transforms plain text into static websites and blogs. It uses simple templates and Markdown files to create content, making it easy for developers and content creators to collaborate.

What is Netlify CMS?

Netlify CMS is an open-source content management system designed for static sites. It provides a user-friendly interface for editing content, which is stored as Markdown or JSON files in your repository. It integrates seamlessly with static site generators like Jekyll.

Setting Up Your Static Site

Start by creating a new Jekyll project. You can do this by running:

jekyll new my-site

Next, initialize a Git repository and push your code to a platform like GitHub. This setup allows Netlify CMS to interact with your content files directly.

Integrating Netlify CMS

To connect Netlify CMS, add a configuration file named admin/config.yml to your project with the following content:

backend:
  name: git-gateway
  branch: main

media_folder: "assets/uploads"
public_folder: "/assets/uploads"

collections:

  • - name: 'posts'
  • label: 'Blog Posts'
  • folder: '_posts'
  • create: true
  • slug: '{{year}}-{{month}}-{{day}}-{{slug}}'
  • fields:
  • - {label: 'Title', name: 'title', widget: 'string'}
  • - {label: 'Publish Date', name: 'date', widget: 'datetime'}
  • - {label: 'Body', name: 'body', widget: 'markdown'}

After setting up this configuration, deploy your site on Netlify and enable Identity and Git Gateway for authentication. You will then see a CMS interface where you can create and edit posts directly.

Benefits of Using Jekyll with Netlify CMS

  • Speed: Static sites load faster as they serve pre-rendered pages.
  • Security: Fewer vulnerabilities compared to dynamic sites.
  • Ease of Content Management: Non-technical users can update content via the CMS.
  • Cost-Effective: Hosting static sites is inexpensive or free on platforms like Netlify.

Conclusion

Combining Jekyll with a headless CMS like Netlify CMS provides a streamlined workflow for building and maintaining static websites. It offers the benefits of modern development practices while keeping content management accessible to non-developers.