Static Site Generators (SSGs) are tools that enable the creation of static websites by generating HTML files from source files. Markdown, a lightweight markup language, is commonly used as the source format for content in SSGs. This Markdown-to-HTML conversion is a crucial step in the static site generation process. In this markdown, we'll explore how SSGs handle Markdown to produce static websites.
Markdown is a plain text formatting syntax that is easy to read and write. It allows you to use a simple and intuitive syntax to format text, add headers, lists, links, images, and more. Markdown files typically have a .md
extension.
SSGs convert Markdown files into HTML using a parser. The parsed content is then injected into the appropriate places in the templates, replacing placeholders with the actual content.
The final step is the generation of static HTML files. SSGs iterate through all Markdown files, process them, and output HTML files. These HTML files, along with other static assets like stylesheets and images, make up the static website.