95 lines
5 KiB
Markdown
95 lines
5 KiB
Markdown
+++
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title = "zola - a switch to rust"
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date = 2025-05-16
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authors = ["Aron Petau"]
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description = "revamping my website, futureproofing"
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draft = true
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[taxonomies]
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tags = [
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"rust",
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"programming",
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"static site generator",
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"blogging",
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"hosting",
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"experiment",
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"private",
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]
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[extra]
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show_copyright = true
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show_shares = true
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featured = false
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toc = true
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toc_sidebar = true
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+++
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## 2020: discovering jekyll
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For applying to my master's program in 2020, a portfolio was required, and since it was more or less for a design program, I wanted to have a nice website.
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After trying for a month to get what I wanted out of WordPress, and angrily quitting multiple times, I discovered [Jekyll](https://jekyllrb.com).
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Back then, [Hugo](https://gohugo.io) and [11ty](https://www.11ty.dev) were the newer kids on the block, but I was heavily relying on the free hosting from [GitHub Pages](https://pages.github.com), where Jekyll was the easiest to integrate.
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Back then, looking for inspiration, I had an ethics professor I really liked, and he had a Jekyll site with the [Minimal Mistakes](https://mmistakes.github.io/minimal-mistakes/) theme.
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[Prof. Mühlhoff](https://rainermuehlhoff.de)
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I went about using Minimal Mistakes, and it was a great experience.
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The resulting portfolio at least got me into the master's, and I fell in love with the general idea of being able to write sites in markdown, while a program would take care of the rest.
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For years, Jekyll was my go-to for building static websites.
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It was familiar, widely supported, and part of the broader Ruby ecosystem.
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But over time, my frustrations grew—slow builds, complicated plugin setups, and a dependency stack that never felt quite right.
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To be honest, many of the drawbacks were totally not Jekyll’s fault. It was just slow, otherwise fine. But especially using GitHub Pages imposed quite a few limitations on plugins and themes.
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Also, maybe I didn’t put in enough effort, but I could never really get theme modifications working. Just extending the theme to show multiple authors was a pain—although it was eventually working.
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On now finishing the master's, I wanted a visual overhaul, and while browsing for inspiration again, using Jekyll at all got questioned again.
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I knew I wanted a static site generator, because markdown is the shit.
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So after looking around further, **[Zola](https://www.getzola.org/)** emerged—actually through a chatbot suggestion 😄
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Recently, I made the leap to Zola, a Rust-powered static site generator, and I don't see myself going back.
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---
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## rust feels right
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I’ve always admired [Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/) for its speed, safety, and modern tooling.
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Using a static site generator built with Rust just made sense. **Zola is fast**—blazing fast.
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Even during local development, rebuilds are near-instant, and that alone makes the writing process smoother and more enjoyable.
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Plus, using something written in Rust means fewer external dependencies, no bundler hell, and zero Ruby setup headaches.
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I can just download the binary, run it, and get going. It respects my time.
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---
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## zola is thoughtfully designed
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Beyond performance, Zola is just really well designed.
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Its template syntax (thanks to [Tera](https://tera.netlify.app)) is more powerful and readable than Liquid.
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The built-in shortcodes, pagination, and asset pipelines all feel cohesive and purposeful.
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There’s very little “configuration over convention” fatigue that Jekyll often gave me.
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And even though both systems are markdown-based, migrating wasn’t just a matter of copy-pasting files.
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I had to rethink frontmatter, adjust templates, and wrangle image paths and shortcodes.
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The structure and behavior are different enough that it felt like a real rebuild—not just a port.
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---
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## duckquill made me switch
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The real catalyst, though? [**Duckquill**](https://github.com/daudix/duckquill), a stunning Zola theme built by [Daudix](https://github.com/daudix).
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It struck the perfect balance between minimalism and elegance—exactly the aesthetic I wanted but could never quite achieve with Jekyll.
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Duckquill didn’t just make Zola usable for me; it made it _irresistible_.
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What really sets **Duckquill** apart—beyond its clean typography and smart layout—is how well it supports a vision of digital autonomy.
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The theme comes with **Mastodon-powered comments**, allowing for lightweight, federated interaction without relying on big centralized platforms.
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This fits perfectly with my goal of reclaiming control through **self-hosting**.
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Whether it's running my own site, owning my content, or interacting through the fediverse, Duckquill reinforces those values rather than working against them.
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It’s a rare example of design and infrastructure aligning with personal principles.
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---
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## final thoughts
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Switching from Jekyll to Zola wasn’t effortless, but it was absolutely worth it.
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I now have a faster, more reliable, and better-looking site that’s easier to maintain and feels like it fits my tooling philosophy.
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If you're feeling the weight of your current setup, maybe it's time to try Zola—and give Duckquill a spin while you're at it.
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