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What IS Eleventy (11ty)

Short introduction to Eleventy (11ty)

Eleventy, often written as "11ty," is a static site generator (SSG) that simplifies the process of building static websites and web applications. It is an open-source tool designed to be simple, flexible, and highly customizable. Eleventy is known for its speed, ease of use, and support for various templating engines and data sources.

What IS Eleventy (11ty) - Tutorial provided by AppSeed.

Key features and characteristics of Eleventy (11ty) include:

✅ Static Site Generation​

Eleventy generates static HTML files from templates, data files, and content, allowing you to create websites that are fast, secure, and easy to deploy.

✅ Multiple Template Engines​

Eleventy supports a wide range of templating engines, including Markdown, Nunjucks, Liquid, Handlebars, Mustache, and more. This flexibility allows developers to work with their preferred template language.

✅ Data Sources​

You can use various data sources, such as JSON, YAML, JavaScript, and even remote APIs, to provide data to your templates. This makes it easy to incorporate dynamic content into your static site.

✅ Custom Collections​

Eleventy allows you to define custom collections of content based on specific criteria, making it easy to organize and present your data.

✅ Markdown and Front Matter​

You can use Markdown for content creation, and Eleventy supports front matter (metadata) in Markdown files, allowing you to associate data with your content.

✅ Layouts and Includes​

Eleventy supports layouts and includes, enabling you to create reusable components and maintain consistent page layouts.

✅ Filtering and Sorting​

You can filter and sort collections of content, making it easier to display content in the desired order.

✅ Extensibility​

Eleventy is highly extensible and allows you to use plugins and add custom filters, transformations, and shortcodes to tailor the build process to your needs.

✅ Development Server​

It provides a built-in development server with live reload support, making it convenient to preview your site during development.

✅ Performance​

Eleventy aims to generate highly optimized and minimal HTML, resulting in fast-loading websites.

✅ Community and Ecosystem​

Eleventy has a growing community of users and developers, and there are numerous plugins and starter projects available to help you get started.

✅ In Summary​

Eleventy is often chosen for projects where the simplicity of static site generation is preferred over more complex content management systems (CMS) or dynamic web applications. It is particularly well-suited for blogs, portfolios, documentation sites, and other content-focused websites. Developers appreciate Eleventy for its flexibility, speed, and the ability to leverage their existing skills with different templating engines.

✅ Resources​