Planet GBT

I am still search for a Content Management System (CMS) that produces static (HTML) files. The reasons I want static files are:

1. Security. I was bitten many times by CMS / CGI-based / other tools that produce dynamic HTML files. Sometimes the problem is due to the scripting language being used (PHP, perl), and other times it is due to the backend database (eg. MySQL).
2. Performance. My server’s resources are usually limitted. For example, one of our servers is still using (GNU/Debian) Linux on a Pentium III. It was upgraded from Pentium II, though. Yes, I know that this is 2005. Although my current web server is Pentium 4. Generating dynamic pages on the fly may tax my server.
3. I don’t really need dynamic pages. The contents of my pages are mostly articles, presentation files, PDF files, and the like. (Examples of my sites are: my main web site, web at campus, BHTV, ID-CERT, my Indonesia, and many more. Don’t laugh at the designs - or lack of.) I just have to build a nice themed index to these files. I don’t even need a search engine. Let Google or Yahoo works for me.

My original plan is to create my pages on my desktop (or mobile) computer and then publish the updated pages to my web server. I also want to change the look-and-feel of the pages with a simple scheme. (Perhaps with CSS?) Currently, I have to hand change all the pages. The result is an inconsistent web pages.

My requirements:

1. Produce static files
2. Work on any platform (Linux, Mac OS X, MS Windows)
3. Free (as in “gratis”)!
4. Open Source / GPL (if possible)
5. No databased backend required (if possible) [I like flat files]
6. Has a variety of templates/themes (if possible)
7. Has a simple learning curve (if possible)

I thought I found the solution when I found blosxom. After trying it out, I is still not what I wanted. Blosxom is great for blog-type web pages, but not so great with the type of web sites that I am maintaining right now. I am still using blosxom for one of my blogs though; budi.paume.itb.ac.id/blog. One thing I like about blosxom is that it does not require a database backend and it is written in perl (my favourite language). Without the database requirement, I can work on any platform I am at (UNIX/Linux, Mac OS X, MS Windows). If I can find a blosxom-like tool that is not specific to blog, I would party!

Right now I am looking at Bricolage, TYPO3, and HTML::Template. (I have tried many many many CMS, and will continue trying. I am kind of partial to Drupal, but the learning curve is steep and it does not produce static files.)

So, I am still looking… If you have a suggestion, let me know.