export-static

Export a single page application as a static website. AKA Server Side Rendering without a server

Install

using yarn

yarn add -D export-static

using npm

npm install export-static --save-dev

Cli usage

In your package.json file add in the scripts section this line:

"scripts" : {
  "export": "export-static"
 }

then run

yarn export

or

npm run export

Script usage

create a Js file and write this into:

const  exportStatic = require('export-static')
const  customConfig = { exportDir :  'exportDir'}
exportStatic(customConfig)

The parameter customConfig is optional and can be used to override the default confguration.

Configuration

You can configure this tool in many ways. Any type of configuration you choose, will be merged with the default config and the other configurations you use.

export.static.config.js file

You can either create the export.static.config.js file in the root of your project or configure the path of the configuration file file using the --config argument from the command line. When using the --config the path must be relative to the project root folder.

export-static --config "./config/custom-export-static.js"

"scripts" : {
    "export" : "export-static --config './config/custom-export-static.js'"
}

Using command line arguments

export-static --routes="/ /about/ /contacts/" --port 7890 --exportDir customExportDir --sourceDir customSourceDir

When using command line arguments you can configure:

• exportDir : the output folder.
• sourceDir : the input folder (that is the build directory of your project).
• port : this tool tears up a server to render your project, and the server needs a port.
• routes to export: routes must be wrapped with quotes " and space separated.

If a configuration argument is missing, the tool will use the defaults.

Using a custom config in JavaScript files

const  exportStatic = require('export-static');
const  customConfig = {
   routes: [
    '/',
    '/about/',
    '/contact/',
    '/blog-post.html',
    '/blog/blog-post.html',
    '/a/very/nested/page.html'
   ]
};
exportStatic(customConfig);

When using a custom config in JavaScript the command line arguments and the export.static.config.js will be ignored.

Configuration merging order

Any configuration passed to the program will be merged with the default config.

1. The default config (hardcoded in source files) is the first to be read.
2. The default config is overridden by the user config in export.static.config.js.
3. The user config is overridden by the command line config

When using this tool programmaticly in JavaScript file, if you pass a custom config Using a custom config in JavaScript files, that one will be the only used.

Deafult Configuration

source file

const defaultConfig = {
 routes: ['/'],
 port: 7890,
 exportDir: 'export',
 sourceDir: 'build',
 clean: true,
 browser: {
  headless: true
 }
};

|Option|Type|Meaning|Default value| |--|--|--|--| |routes|array of string|the routues of your project to be exported| / |port|number|the port used for running the server|7890| |exportDir|string|the output folder|export| |sourceDir|string|the input folder (the build folder of your project|build| |clean| boolean| if true the output dir will be erased and re-created each run|true| |browser.headless|boolean|if false yoou'll see the browser, otherwise it will be headless|true|

Caveat

Indexing and SEO

This tool is able to export /about, /about/, /about.html, /any/nested/path and even /any/nested/path/about.html.

Routes that does not serve a .html file, such as /about or /any/nested/path, will be exported to : /about/index.html or /any/nested/path/index.html

This means that Google bot, and any other bot, will index the page with the url /about/ (with the trailing slash). This means that when users find the About page on Google, they land on /about/ (with the trailing slash). This means that your (React|Vue|Angular|*) Router should math /about/ (with the trailing slash) and not /about (without the trailing slash). If the Router matches /about (without the trailing slash) the users could get:

• Not found (404) if your router does not match the route.
• Redirect (301 or 302) if your router is smart enough to understand the situation. Which is better of a 404 but,as far as I know, not really SEO friendly.

CSS files

Avoid inline , because each page you export will have the same inline CSSs. Try to put your styles in external CSS files.

usage

Since the page is already rendered try to use async or defer on your tags.

Developing

Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/Spyna/export-static.git && cd export-static
yarn install 
#npm install

To run the project locally you have to

Build and watch edited files

yarn build:watch

Run the project on the example

The example folder contains a React project that can be used to test the project.

The file package.json under example contains two scripts:

• export:cli : runs the project by the command line
• export:script : runs the project by the JavaScript file "scripts/export.js".

Before running any of these scripts be sure to build the example project using yarn build. This step is needed because the project uses the build directory.

When using the script export:cli you have to pass the routes to export so the command will be:

yarn export:cli --routes="/ /about/ /contact/ /blog-post.html /blog/blog-post.html /a/very/nested/page.html"

Testing

yarn test:watch

yarn test:coverage

Happy hacking.