Nowadays, everyone has their own website on the internet. I decided to start a blog based on Hugo technology.

Beginnings of blogging

I started my adventure with a blog created using Wordpress. The configuration possibilities, the number of templates, and add-ons were overwhelming. Wordpress was a very simple tool, but it also had some drawbacks, it required PHP and a Database, and as the site grew, its loading time increased. Additionally, free hosting could not handle high traffic on the sites.

Static site generators

Then I got acquainted with tools for generating static sites. I started by using the most popular one, Jekyll. And here the first problems appeared. As a Windows user, I started having problems with the configuration and installation of Ruby. Problems with certificates, problems with bundler, with updating add-ons, and Jekyll itself. Although Jekyll is a powerful tool that allows you to install add-ons and freely modify the appearance of the site, Ruby + Windows = Torture.

Hugo, a static site generator based on GoLang

I decided to look for an alternative to Jekyll and thus I came across Hugo, or rather goHugo (typing just the phrase Hugo may result in finding a well-known troll named Hugo from an interactive children’s TV show)Hugo Hugo is, like Jekyll, a static site generator, but written in the compiled language GoLang. We don’t need to know Go at all to use Hugo. The only knowledge we need is related to HTML and CSS if we want to edit or create our own templates, and Markdown to write our posts.

AdvantagesDisadvantages
Easy post creation using MarkdownRequires knowledge of GIT if we intend to use GitHub Pages
Easy management of appearance thanks to HTML and CSSAdding special functions may require knowledge of Go
Simple and extensive documentationOn most hostings, it is required to upload the entire Public folder

Starting the adventure with Hugo

To start the adventure with Hugo, you need to download the latest version from the GitHub repository. From there, download the latest version depending on your operating system: In my case, at the time of writing this news, it is version hugo_0.40.1_Windows-64bit.zip On Windows, just extract the hugo.exe file anywhere: I recommend C:/Hugo/ Then we need to add the directory containing the aforementioned file to the PATH environment variable. If we did everything correctly, the command hugo help should work. In case of problems, I refer you to the official Hugo documentation related to its installation on Windows in English.