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Pelican

Pelican is a popular open source static site generator written in Python. It is designed for flexibility and extensibility, allowing developers to customize it for different projects. Pelican takes Markdown or reST content and generates complete static HTML websites that can be easily deployed.

What is Pelican?

Pelican is a fast and flexible static site generator written in Python. It was created to power the Python community website, but has since expanded to support blogs, articles, documentation, and more. Some key features of Pelican include:

  • Support for Markdown and reStructuredText content
  • Theming & templating - Many themes available to customize look and feel
  • Plugins - Extend functionality with plugins or write your own
  • Flexible content organization and pages/articles workflow
  • Categories and tags for organizing content
  • Code syntax highlighting
  • Atom/RSS feeds
  • Easy deployment to any static web host

Pelican emphasizes modular design and extensibility. Developers can customize Pelican by creating themes to change its visual style completely. They can also create plugins to add features like support for new markup languages or content management systems. This flexibility makes Pelican a solid option for web developers looking for a static site generator framework to build upon.

Some popular sites using Pelican include the Programming Historian, MIT's MindHandHeart, and dozens of individual blogs. Pelican makes it easy to convert content to static files ready for any basic web server. It enables developers to focus on creating content rather than building infrastructure.

The Best Pelican Alternatives

Top Apps like Pelican

Hugo, Blogger, Jekyll, Plerb, Blades, Vivaldi Community, Gatsby, DEV Community, Editor X, Lektor, StatusNet, Gridsome, CMS.js, Minerva, Zola, Lego Static Site Generator, Static Site Boilerplate, Zox, Wemebox, Nikola, Wintersmith, MarketMeSuite, After Dark are some alternatives to Pelican.

Hugo

Hugo is an open-source static site generator created by Steve Francia in 2013. It is written in Go programming language and optimized for speed, ease of use, and configurability.Some key features of Hugo include:Extremely fast build times as it generates static HTML contentSupports Markdown as well as JSON, YAML...

Blogger

Blogger is a popular free blog publishing service run by Google. It allows anyone to easily create and manage a blog for free without needing to know any coding. Blogger has an easy-to-use WYSIWYG editor interface that allows users to create blog posts containing text, images, videos, links, and more...

Jekyll

Jekyll is an open-source static site generator that allows you to build fast, secure websites and blogs using plain text Markdown files instead of traditional databases. It takes your content, renders Markdown and Liquid templates, and produces a complete, static website that can easily be hosted on GitHub Pages, Amazon...

Plerb

Plerb is an open-source blogging software that makes it easy for anyone to start and run a blog. It was created in 2008 by a group of bloggers who wanted to build a platform that was powerful yet simple to use.Some key features of Plerb include:Intuitive dashboard for writing...

Blades

Blades is a privacy-focused web browser that emphasizes user security and control. As an open-source browser, its code is transparent and auditable by independent developers.Blades blocks online trackers by default to prevent companies from profiling users' browsing habits and targeting ads. It also comes with built-in ad blocking. Unlike...

Vivaldi Community

Vivaldi Community is a relatively new community-driven web browser focused on customization and privacy. It is based on open web technologies like Chromium, similar to browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Vivaldi Technologies develops it with input from its user community.Some key features of Vivaldi Community include:Tab...

Gatsby

Gatsby is an open source framework based on React that helps developers build blazing fast websites and apps. Some key things to know about Gatsby:It builds extremely fast static websites and apps by pre-rendering into static HTML and JavaScriptUses the latest web technologies like React, GraphQL, and Webpack under...

DEV Community

DEV Community is a free and open source software development community platform launched in 2019. It allows software developers and programmers to publish technical articles, take part in discussions, ask questions, and generally connect with other developers.Some key features of DEV Community include:Article publishing - Developers can publish articles...

Editor X

Editor X is a free and open source text editor designed for programmers, developers, and other advanced computer users. It features versatile text editing capabilities along with a minimalist user interface.Some key features of Editor X include:Syntax highlighting for over 50 programming languages and markup languagesFast and responsive for...

Lektor

Lektor is an open source, static site generator and content management system that allows you to build and manage websites and blogs. It is written in Python and emphasizes ease of use, flexibility, and high performance.Some key features of Lektor include:Easy to install and deploy - Lektor sites...

StatusNet

StatusNet is an open-source, decentralized social networking platform. It provides microblogging features similar to Twitter, allowing users to post short status updates, follow other users, reply, favorite and boost posts.Some key features of StatusNet include:Open source - StatusNet is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License, allowing...

Gridsome

Gridsome is an open-source static site generator focused on building extremely fast, secure websites and applications. Based on Vue.js and powered by GraphQL data layer, Gridsome makes it easy to fetch data from APIs or headless CMSs and render it into static pages using Vue components.Some key features...

CMS.js

CMS.js is an open source content management system that is built using Node.js and MongoDB. It is designed to be lightweight, developer-friendly, and easy to integrate into JavaScript web applications built with frameworks like React, Vue, Angular etc.Some key features of CMS.js include:Headless and API-first...

Minerva

Minerva is an open-source Learning Management System (LMS) and virtual learning environment built using the Ruby on Rails framework. It was originally developed at the VU University Amsterdam and allows educators to create, manage, and deliver online courses.Some key features of Minerva include:Course authoring tools to build materials...

Zola

Zola is a static site generator focused on speed and flexibility, built in the Rust programming language. Some key features of Zola include:Extremely fast build times thanks to its Rust codebaseBuilt-in support for SASS, pagination, taxonomies like tags and categories, Atom/RSS feeds, and moreEasy theming with custom templates...

Lego Static Site Generator

Lego is an open-source static site generator written in Go that focuses on speed and simplicity. Some key features of Lego include:Built-in support for Markdown content without needing external librariesExtremely fast build times due to its compiled Go codebaseSimple and easy to use API for creating pages, taxonomies, menus...

Static Site Boilerplate

Static Site Boilerplate is an open-source starter template created by Chris Coyier and Scott Jehl to help web developers get a head start when building static websites. It uses modern web development tools like Webpack, PostCSS, and Babel to allow writing more organized, flexible, and optimized code.Some key features...

Zox

Zox is a software program designed to help users read faster, comprehend more, and improve memory recall through various training techniques. The core of the program utilizes rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), which flashes words and phrases on the screen one at a time at an adjustable pace to train...

Wemebox

Wemebox is an online store founded in 2012 that specializes in Korean beauty and skincare products. Some key things to know about Wemebox:Large catalog of popular K-beauty brands - Over 200 top Korean skincare and cosmetics brands stocked, from leaders like Innisfree, Etude House and Aromatica to niche brands difficult to...

Nikola

Nikola is an open-source static site generator originally created in 2012 by Roberto Alsina. It is written in Python and designed to be simple yet flexible and extensible. Nikola supports a variety of input formats including Markdown, reStructuredText, Jupyter Notebooks, HTML and more, which it converts into static HTML sites.Some...

Wintersmith

Wintersmith is an open-source static site generator built on Node.js. It allows developers to easily create flexible and customizable static websites and blogs using Markdown and templates.Some key features of Wintersmith include:Uses Markdown for content writingSupports Handlebars and Jade templates for layouts and themesEasy to extend and...

MarketMeSuite

MarketMeSuite is a comprehensive digital marketing platform designed specifically for small and medium businesses. It brings together a suite of marketing tools to help companies improve their online visibility, attract more customers, and increase sales.At the core of MarketMeSuite is an easy-to-use website builder that allows users to quickly...

After Dark

After Dark is a classic screen saver software application that was very popular on Macintosh computers in the 1990s. It features various animated graphics that fly across the screen while the computer is idle or sleeping.The most iconic graphic in After Dark is the flying toasters. These toasters sprout...