Getting Started with Hugo: A Modern Static Site Generator

Introduction

Hugo is one of the most popular open-source static site generators. With its amazing speed and flexibility, Hugo makes building websites fun again. Built in Go, it compiles sites in milliseconds, making it ideal for blogs, documentation, and corporate websites.

Why Choose Hugo?

• Blazing Fast Build Times Hugo is the fastest tool of its kind. Sites with thousands of pages build in under a second.

• No Dependencies Hugo ships as a single binary with no runtime dependencies, making installation and deployment straightforward.

• Flexible Content Model Organize your content however you want with sections, taxonomies, and custom types.

• Built-in Asset Pipeline Hugo Pipes provides built-in support for Sass/SCSS, PostCSS, JavaScript bundling, and image processing.

Getting Started

1. Install Hugo

# macOS
brew install hugo

# Windows
choco install hugo-extended

# Linux
snap install hugo

2. Create a New Site

hugo new site my-website
cd my-website

3. Add Content

hugo new articles/my-first-post.md

4. Run the Dev Server

hugo server --buildDrafts

Project Structure

Hugo follows a well-defined project structure:

• content/ - Your Markdown content files
• layouts/ - HTML templates
• static/ - Static assets (images, CSS, JS)
• assets/ - Files processed by Hugo Pipes
• archetypes/ - Content templates for hugo new

Conclusion

Hugo is an excellent choice for developers who want speed, simplicity, and flexibility. Its rich ecosystem, active community, and zero-dependency architecture make it a go-to solution for modern static websites.

Resources

• Hugo Documentation: gohugo.io/documentation
• Hugo Themes: themes.gohugo.io
• Hugo Forum: discourse.gohugo.io