Jekyll vs Middleman ... Which one should you choose?
Trying to decide between Jekyll and Middleman for your Ruby static site? Learn which one is better for you in this post.
- 3 min read · October 2024
Why Choose Middleman Over Jekyll for Your Ruby Static Site?
When building a static site with ruby, two popular options often come up: Middleman and Jekyll. Both are powerful, but they have different strengths that make them suitable for various use cases. In this post, we’ll break down the pros and cons of each and help you decide which one might be the better fit for your project.
Middleman
Middleman is a static site generator built on Ruby. It provides a highly customizable framework for building anything from simple blogs to complex sales and marketing sites and more.
Pros of Middleman
- Flexibility: Middleman is known for its flexibility. It allows you to build nearly anything you want, provides data structures, extensions, integrations with third-party APIs, and the ability to tailor every aspect of your build process to what you want the output to be.
- Ruby Ecosystem: If you’re familiar with Ruby or work on Rails applications, Middleman will feel more comfortable. It allows you to use Ruby gems and libraries directly.
- Customizable Build Process: Middleman’s build process is highly customizable, making it easier to integrate with tools like esbuild, third party integrations for headless CMS integration, custom scripts and css processors like Tailwind CSS.
- Powerful Extensions: Middleman has a range of plugins and extensions, such as blogging, image optimizers and internationalization (i18n) support, gzip compression, and much more. All of which make it ideal for more complex sites.
Cons of Middleman
- Steeper Learning Curve: Due to its flexibility, Middleman can have a steeper learning curve, especially for those unfamiliar with Ruby. This is why we created Ruby Static Pro.
- Less Out-of-the-Box: Unlike Jekyll, Middleman requires a bit more setup to get started, especially if you’re looking for a simple blog or small site. Again, this is why Ruby Static Pro exists - to alleviate you of these issues.
Jekyll
Jekyll is also built on Ruby and is known for its simplicity, especially when creating blogs or personal websites. It’s the backbone of GitHub Pages, making it easy to deploy directly from a GitHub repository.
Pros of Jekyll
- Simple Setup: Jekyll is easy to get up and running. With a few commands, you can have a basic blog or static site.
- Integrated with GitHub Pages: Jekyll’s tight integration with GitHub Pages makes it a great option for developers who want a hassle-free deployment workflow for a very simplistic site.
- Large Community: Jekyll has a large community and many themes, plugins, and tutorials. Finding solutions or pre-built themes is relatively easy.
- Markdown Support: Jekyll’s Markdown support is strong and intuitive, making it easy to create content without worrying too much about the underlying code.
Cons of Jekyll
- Limited Flexibility: Jekyll is more opinionated than Middleman, which can make it less suitable for projects that require significant customization or advanced configurations. Your options are rather limited.
- Plugin Constraints: While Jekyll has many plugins, you are limited in terms of customization, especially when deploying to GitHub Pages, where certain plugins aren’t allowed.
Why Choose Middleman Over Jekyll?
You might want to choose Middleman if:
- You need a highly customizable build process and more control over how your content is rendered.
- You’re building a complex sales or marketing site or web app that needs to integrate with external data sources.
- You are comfortable with Ruby or already work within the Ruby ecosystem.
On the other hand, Jekyll is a great choice if:
- You want a simple, fast setup for a blog or personal site.
- You plan to host your site on GitHub Pages and want an easy deployment process.
- You prefer a minimalistic approach with a focus on writing content rather than tweaking configurations.
Ultimately, both Middleman and Jekyll are excellent tools, and the choice comes down to your specific needs. If you’re looking for flexibility and customization, Middleman might be the better fit. If simplicity and ease of use are your top priorities, Jekyll is likely the way to go.
While Middleman might be more complex initially, there is a great power to be had. With Ruby Static Pro, all of the configuration and setup is done for you. Simply clone the repo and start making your site.