10 dirhtml Tips and Tricks to Speed Up Your Workflowdirhtml is a lightweight static site generator and documentation tool that focuses on simplicity and fast output. If you already use dirhtml — or are evaluating it — these 10 practical tips and tricks will help you streamline authoring, speed up build times, and maintain cleaner projects.
1. Structure your project for clarity
A consistent project layout reduces cognitive load and prevents long file searches.
- Keep content under a single directory (e.g., content/ or docs/).
- Separate assets (images, CSS, JS) into an assets/ or static/ folder.
- Use a clear naming convention for pages and sections (kebab-case or snake_case).
- Keep configuration files (e.g., dirhtml.conf) in the repository root.
Example structure:
content/ getting-started.md guides/ build-process.md assets/ css/ images/ dirhtml.conf 2. Use templates and partials to avoid repetition
If dirhtml supports templating (or you integrate a template engine), create reusable partials for headers, footers, navigation, and common callouts. This keeps content files focused on pure content.
- Create a header partial that loads critical CSS and a minimal navigation.
- Use a footer partial for scripts and metadata.
- Implement a note or warning partial for consistent callout styling.
3. Leverage front-matter efficiently
Front-matter helps you manage metadata (title, date, tags, layout). Standardize keys across files to enable consistent navigation, sorting, and filtering.
Tips:
- Use boolean flags like draft: true to exclude in-progress pages from builds.
- Add weight or order fields for manual navigation ordering.
- Include tags and categories for automated index pages.
4. Cache builds and use incremental generation
To dramatically reduce build times, avoid rebuilding the entire site on every change.
- Enable dirhtml’s incremental build mode if available.
- Use file-system watchers or tools like entr, fswatch, or nodemon to rebuild only changed files.
- For CI, cache the output directory or intermediate build artifacts between runs.
5. Optimize assets for faster load and build
Large images or unminified assets slow both builds and page loads.
- Compress images (WebP/AVIF for photos; optimized PNG/SVG for graphics).
- Use SVG icons and sprite sheets where possible.
- Minify CSS and JS; consider critical CSS inlining for above-the-fold content.
- Use a bundler or simple concatenation step to reduce number of asset requests.
6. Automate common tasks with scripts
Put common workflows into npm scripts, Makefile targets, or shell scripts to avoid manual repetition.
Example Makefile targets:
build: # Full build watch: # Watch for changes and rebuild incrementally clean: # Remove generated files deploy: # Build and push to hosting This reduces friction and provides a consistent developer experience.
7. Use a local dev server with live reload
A fast feedback loop makes writing and layout adjustments quicker.
- Use dirhtml’s built-in dev server if it has one.
- Otherwise use simple servers (like Python’s http.server) combined with a live-reload tool (Browsersync, livereload).
- Configure source maps for CSS/JS to speed up debugging.
8. Create reusable content components
For documentation, you often repeat patterns (API examples, parameter tables). Turn them into reusable components or shortcodes.
- Shortcodes for code blocks with language labels and copy buttons.
- Components for versioned notes, deprecation warnings, or cross-reference boxes.
- Use data files (JSON/YAML) for repeating tables (e.g., CLI options) and render them into pages.
9. Keep builds reproducible with locked tool versions
Different versions of toolchains can introduce subtle differences and break CI.
- Pin dirhtml and related tools in lockfiles (package-lock.json, Pipfile.lock, etc.).
- Use containerized builds (Docker) or reproducible environments (nix, virtualenv).
- Document required versions in README.
10. Integrate CI/CD for automatic builds and previews
Automate testing, builds, and deployments so you spend less time on manual ops.
- Configure CI to build on pull requests and push site previews (Netlify Deploy Previews, Vercel, GitHub Pages with artifacts).
- Run link-checking and spell-checking in CI to catch errors early.
- Cache dependencies and build outputs between runs to speed CI.
Conclusion
Applying these ten tips—project structure, templating, front-matter conventions, incremental builds, asset optimization, automation, live reload, reusable components, reproducible environments, and CI/CD—will make working with dirhtml faster and less error-prone. Start with small changes (scripts and live reload) and progressively adopt deeper optimizations (incremental builds, CI) as your project grows.
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