xlgen

README

xlgen

xlgen is a static website generator using Excel files to manage content. Every page is specified in an Excel sheet and looks as simple as this:

The rules are simple:

• The top row sets the locales you have content for.
• The second row provides the file path for the generated localized HTML files.
• The leftmost columns represent an HTML element structure.
• After the structure columns there is always a column called "attribute". Entries here define attributes for the HTML elements.
• Values in the locale-specific columns to the right are the localized content. You can set one value for all locales by just setting the leftmost value.
• Values have to be valid HTML themselves.

xlgen expects you to store your site in a specific folder structure that might look like this:

`-- site1
    |-- spec
    |   |-- site1.xlsx
    |   `-- static
    |       `-- style.css
    `-- www
        |-- de
        |   |-- impressum
        |   |   `-- index.html
        |   `-- index.html
        |-- imprint
        |   `-- index.html
        |-- index.html
        `-- style.css

xlgen always expects a folder called spec to be present, containing multiple .xlsx files with sheets containing page specifications. Optionally, there can be a folder spec/static that will be used to pre-fill the generated site with static files such as images, CSS, and JavaScript.

From within the site's folder, you can call xlgen directly:

$ cd site1
$ xlgen

It will then create the www folder and put the generated site there. If the folder already exists, it will be deleted and recreated with freshly generated files.

To-Dos

xlgen is work in progress, so do not expect too much ;)

Features I am intending to add include:

• Templating
• Link prefixing