Monkeyman is a Scala static web site generator, similar to Middleman. At this stage, it doesn't even come close to the features Middleman has to offer, but it has one major advantage for Scala programmers: it's written in Scala.
Monkeyman was created out of unease with the existing blogging solutions. I know, that sounds weird, because there's an abundance of Blogging solutions out there, and this certainly isn't the first static web site generator. However, this tool would not have been created if there would have been a solution that supports:
- Layouts in HAML (or in this case, SCAML)
- Content pages in Markdown
- Nice permalinks
- Offline editing and preview
- Scala extensions
If ever such a solution arrives, then there is a chance Monkeyman will no longer be maintained.
- Jade, HAML (SCAML), Mustache, SSP for layouts
- LESS and ZUSS to CSS transformation
- Live preview (web server running on port 4567)
- Live updates (monitoring file system changes)
- Static web site generation
- Content management through tags
For information on how to use Monkeyman, check the [sample blog] (http://monkeyman.flotsam.nl/), or watch the video.
But basically, it boils down to this:
- Create a
sourcedirectory; store HAML, Jade, SSP, Markdown, Mustache files with YAML frontmatter and other static resources in that directory. - Create a
layoutdirectory; store HAML, Jade or SSP layouts in that directory. - Have a web server pick up all of the changes you are making,
providing you live preview, by typing
monkeyman server. - Build your final version in the
targetdirectory, by typingmonkeyman generate.
Download the monkeyman jar from the Downloads section. Start it with
java -jar monkeyman.jar, or create a script for it, as I did:
#!/bin/sh
java -jar ~/workspace/monkeyman/target/monkeyman.jar "$@"
0.2
- 2012-02-20: Default site template (no need to start creating a layout)
- 2012-02-18: File system monitoring (detect changes and update content when required)
0.1
- 2012-02-14: Add LESS support.
- 2012-02-13: Add live preview support.