Bridgetown Features Post-Jekyll
Here’s a rundown of some 40 features Bridgetown has implemented since the fork from Jekyll in early 2020:
- All-new “resource” content engine built from the ground up to facilitate demanding content needs.
- Pages, posts, and custom collection items all share a common interface and behave in a predicable manner.
- Fully custom taxonomies and defined relations (belongs to, has many, etc.) between resources.
- Content model objects with load/save abilities which underlie resources.
- The resource extension API.
- Ruby front matter in addition to YAML.
- Inspectors for Nokogiri-based modification of HTML & XML resources.
- Configurable auto-sorted collections.
- Robust I18n support for multilingual deployments.
- An object-oriented componentized view layer.
- Support for ERB & other Ruby template engines.
- Ruby-based automation scripts & Rake tasks.
- A console command for interacting and testing with your site via IRB.
- Customizable console methods.
- Fast, integrated frontend building via esbuild.
- PostCSS support by default (Dart Sass support also available).
- A Rack & Puma-based web server to supersede WEBrick.
- A next-gen plugin API via Builders.
- Plugin source manifests & frontend integration with NPM auto-install.
- A clearer, modern file & folder structure.
- A powerful external API DSL for generating new content.
- Support for pagination and prototype (aka archive) pages available out of the box.
- YAML file-based front matter defaults with folder cascades.
- Rapid installation of Hotwire (Turbo, Stimulus).
- Bundled configurations for popular libraries & tools such as Lit, Shoelace, and Open Props.
- Easy website testing setup w/Minitest or Cypress.
- Auto-reloadable local plugins via Zeitwerk.
- Thor-based CLI tools with straightfoward extensibility.
<mark>highlighter support in Markdown content via::or==.- SSR via an integration with Roda, a blazing-fast Ruby web toolkit.
- File-based dynamic routes.
- Environment-specific metadata.
- Streamlined installation processes on modern Unix-style OSes with modern Ruby versions.
- YARD API documentation (still a work in progress but getting there!).
- ViewComponent compatibility shim.
- Modern Liquid (v5+) support.
- SSG/SSR & client-side hydration of Lit-based web components.
- Many Ruby enhancements included via ActiveSupport.
- A large number of “breaking” fixes Jekyll had left unaddressed.
- Active first-party support via community Discord & GitHub Discussions + commercial support.
Ready to migrate to Bridgetown? Here’s an overview guide of the steps you’ll want to take.