The End of Eleventy

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Site UX & Reader Mode

  • Several readers bounced due to the article’s custom mouse cursor and typography, switching to browser Reader Mode instead.
  • Some wonder why Reader Mode isn’t always available; others note browsers must heuristically detect “main content” due to lack of standard markup.

Kickstarter & Build Awesome Confusion

  • Commenters are puzzled why the Build Awesome / Eleventy Kickstarter was “paused” or “canceled” despite hitting its public goal.
  • Multiple people speculate that the stated goal was intentionally low for marketing; the “real” target wasn’t met, especially after email issues hurt momentum.
  • Overall sentiment: messaging around the campaign and its cancellation is unclear.

SSGs vs WordPress and CMS Needs

  • Ongoing debate: static site generators (SSGs) vs WordPress.
    • Pro-SSG: speed, security, and simplicity suit small/medium sites; static export plugins can front WordPress with static hosting.
    • Pro-WordPress: scheduling, rich plugin ecosystem, WYSIWYG editing, live preview, nontechnical familiarity.
  • Marketing and content teams strongly prefer GUIs, drag-and-drop, and plugin integrations; pure Markdown + git is seen as unrealistic for them.
  • Some argue there is a real market for SSG + CMS workflows; others claim attempts have largely failed because SSG enthusiasts prefer terminals and IDEs.

Eleventy, Alternatives, and DIY SSGs

  • Many praise Eleventy’s simplicity, flexibility, and “just build HTML” philosophy; others found its docs confusing and moved to tools like Astro or Hugo.
  • Eleventy’s “end” is seen as overblown: static tools can remain usable for years even if development slows, as with long-frozen Jekyll setups.
  • Some feel any team capable of customizing an SSG could as easily build a bespoke generator, especially with modern tooling.

Monetization, OSS Sustainability, and Pricing

  • Repeated theme: SSGs and similar dev tools are hard to monetize; users expect them to be free, while maintainers still need income.
  • Strong disagreement over how OSS authors “should” get paid: commercial add-ons, hosting, sponsorships, or not at all.
  • Tension between users who resist subscriptions and maintainers who see recurring revenue as necessary; piracy and underfunded core libraries are raised as structural issues.

Workflows, LLMs, and Longevity

  • Several people now use LLMs or tiny scripts to replace full SSGs, generating static HTML directly from loose notes or Markdown.
  • Others push back that deterministic tools like pandoc or traditional SSGs are better suited for structured transformations.
  • A common comfort: static HTML output is durable; even very old stacks (ancient Ruby/Jekyll, pinned Hugo versions) continue to serve personal sites reliably.