website.js

Library to run a Multi-Page-Content-Website as a Single-Page-Application.

It's like a static site generator that runs in your browser.

Installation

npm install websitejs
bower install websitejs

Or use a file from the /dist folder directly.

The website.bundle.js build is a basic, working website with:

• HTTP (fetch sitemap and content using XHR)
• Markdown (convert Markdown to HTML)
• Render (Render content into document element IDs)
• Log (Log all events for debugging)

The Idea

website.js is a framework for running multi-page content websites as a Single-Page-Application.

It handles the lifecycle and essential tasks of a multi-page website:

1. Fetch website metadata (config, sitemap and page metadata)
2. Respond to URL changes (Router)
3. Fetch content (i.e. Markdown or HTML)
4. Render the page

Using plugins and events, website.js is easy to extend and customize the above tasks.

Included plugins:

• For fetching website metadata and content:
  • HTTP
  • Firebase
  • Firebase REST
• For rendering
  • Template: Parse content using DOT template engine
  • Markdown: Parse (some) content as Markdown
  • Render: Insert HTML content into DOM-elements (using the element id)
• For debugging
  • Log: Log all events that are triggered

There is one special plugin: The Core Plugin.

The Core Plugin handles the flow of the website:

1. On created(options), fetch the website data with getData(callback)
2. On gotData(data), check data.sitemap for urls.
3. Trigger gotDataForUrl(url,pageData) for every url to populate the router.
4. When the router fires navigated,
5. getContent(id,callback) to fetch content
6. gotContent(id) to transform content
7. render(pageData) the page
8. rendered(pageData) do stuff after rendering
9. rendered /your/url(pageData) do stuff after rendering a specific URL.

Getting Started

var site = new Website({
    router: {
        html5: false,			// defaults to true, if browser supports it
        base: '/example',		// base url, all navigation is relative to this url
    },
	core: { ... }     			// Override the core plugin (optional)
    plugins: [					// Add plugins
        Website.plugins.http,
        Website.plugins.firebase,
        Website.plugins.markdown,
        Website.plugins.render,
        Website.plugins.log
    ],
    // plugins often add more options!
})

// navigate programatically to a url
site.navigate('/page1');

// re-render current url/route
site.refresh();
site.refresh(0);   // re-render current URL after all events have fired.
site.refresh(100); // re-render current URL after 100 ms.

// Content that has been fetched (useful to transform content after a `gotContent` event)
site.content[id];

Events

	// listen to website' events (see below)
	site.on(eventName,function(...){
		// `this` is the website instance
	})
	site.once(eventName,function);
	site.off(eventName,function);

Events are fired roughly in the following sequence:

1. When creating new Website:

   1. created(options)
   2. gotDataForUrl(url,pageData)
   3. gotData(data)

2. When navigating:

   1. navigated(url)
   2. gotContent(id) - this is called for every id
   3. render(pageData)
   4. rendered(pageData)
   5. renderer [url](pageData)

Note that gotContent(id) only has the id. Use this.content[id] to access the content.

Plugins

A plugin is an object that listens to events. Simply use eventNames as attributes. For example, the MarkdownPlugin transforms content into markdown:

var MarkdownPlugin = {
	gotContent: function(id){
		if(this.markdownFilter(id)){
			this.content[id] = marked(this.content[id]);
		}
	},
	// created: function(options) { /* initializes the markdownFilter */ }
	// etc
};

In addition to the events, plugins allow two extra methods:

{
	getData: function(callback){
		// fetch your data
		callback(err,data);
	},
	getContent: function(id,callback){
		// fetch your content
		callback(err,content)
	}
}

Core Plugin

The Core Plugin handles the lifecycle of the website: On navigation, fetch and render content.

So you must specify the urls of your website, and what content to fetch for every url.

To do this, getData follows a convention:

1. data.sitemap contains a map from url to pageData.
2. pageData.content is an string (contentId) or an object ({name:contentId,name:contentId}).
3. render(pageData) is called with page metadata, only contentId has been replaced with actual content.

You still need to provide plugins for

• getData(callback)
• getContent(id,callback)
• render(pageData)

Site metadata (Example):

var data = {
	sitemap: {
		'/page1': {
			title: 'Page 1',
			content: 'page1.md'
		},
		'/page2': {
			title: 'Page 2',
			content: {
				sidebar: 'sidebar.md',
				content: 'page2.md'
			}
		}
	}
	// + other site data
}

HTTP Plugin

Configure http with a content and data url:

	new Website({
       http: {
            content: location.origin + '/example/content/',
            data: location.origin + '/example/site.json',   
        }
    })

Firebase Plugin

Configure Firebase with a content and data url:

	new Website({
	    firebase: {
	        content: 'https://YOURFIREBASE.firebaseio.com/content/',
	        data: 'https://YOURFIREBASE.firebaseio.com/data/',   
	    }
    })

Firebase is comes in two flavours: Live and REST.

The plugin automatically creates a correct URL for the REST API (i.e. append .json).

Note: Firebase does not allow . or / in keys. Therefore, when saving data to firebase, you must use -dot- and \. When retrieving the sitemap and content, these are automatically converted back to . and /.

Render Plugin

Renders pageData.content as follows:

• For an object {#elementId: content}: Inserts content into element with #elementId
• For a string: Replace document.body with content

Note: The #layout element is always rendered first, allowing you to specify a layout first, then render blocks of content in that layout.

Example:

content = {
	"layout":"sidebar-layout.html",
	"sidebar":"navigation.html",
	"content":"blog-about-javascript.md"
}

You can write a custom Render plugin as follows:

var MyCustomRenderer = {
	render: function(pageMetadata){
		// `this` is the Website instance
		pageMetadata.url // route (normalized url)

		// url parameters
		pageMetadata.params

		// content (the contentId has been replaced with actual content)
		pageMetadata.content
	}
}

// later:
var website = new Website(plugins: [ MyCustomRenderer ] })
// or
website.addPlugin(MyCustomRenderer)

Markdown Plugin

The Markdown Plugin parses all content as Markdown.

If you want, you can specify a filter (i.e. which content id need to use Markdown?)

	new Website({
		// Filter using a string (content-id must contain this string)
	    markdown: '.md',
	    
	    // Filter with a Regex
	    markdown: /.md$/,

	    // Filter with a function
	    //
	    // imagine you have the following Site metedata:
	    // data.markdown = ['pagea','pageb']
	    markdown: function(id){
	    	return this.data.markdown.indexOf(id) >= 0; 
		}
    })

Template (DOT) Plugin

Uses the fast and efficient doT template engine.

On gotContent, compiles the template. On render, renders the template with your page metadata.

If you want, you can specify a filter (see above)

	new Website({
		template: {
			filter: '.tmpl' // string, regex or function
		}
    })

Cache Plugin

Caches sitemap and content in IndexedDB, WebSQL or localStorage using localForage

Advanced features

// live-update your site:
site.setData(data)
site.setDataForUrl(url,data)
site.setContent(id,content);

// Manually get data or content:
site.getData(callback), callback(err,data);
site.getContent(id,callback), callback(err,content);
site.getContent({name:id,name:id}), callback(err,{name:content,name:content})

Changelog

0.2.0: 12/1/2015

• Added cache and template plugins
• Added bundle build with everything included.
• Few minor bugfixes

0.1.0: 9/1/2015

First release. Implementation and API are probably relatively stable now.

Contribute

Feel free to contribute to this project in any way. The easiest way to support this project is by giving it a star.

Contact

• @markmarijnissen
• http://www.madebymark.nl
• [email protected]

© 2014 - Mark Marijnissen