Another friend asks for advice I’m building a website. Ghost has been suggested, which led me to have a little look. This note looks at what I consider to be the critical selection criteria and make some notes about ghost and flat file CMS.
On Ghost
- It’s not very popular. This means skills will be hard to find.
- It mandates the use of MySQL; at times I have sought to disintermediate my wordpress databases, which led me to look at flat-file CMSs.
- It’s hosting offering is in USD and presumably located in FISA land. GDPR & Online Safety Act compliance might be hard.
- WP has a Ghost exporter, otherwise see this on google.
Flat-file CMSs
“Content Management Systems (CMS) that use only the filesystem are called flat-file CMS. Instead of relying on a database like MySQL, they store your blog posts as plain text (e.g., Markdown or text files) in folders, making them incredibly fast, secure, and easy to back up. [1, 2, 3]
The most popular options include:
- Grav: A highly flexible and modern flat-file CMS built for developers and content creators. It features an excellent dashboard and handles Markdown natively. [1, 2, 3]
- Kirby: A top choice for highly customized websites and blogs. It is incredibly lightweight, file-based, and gives developers complete control over the frontend. [1, 2]
- HTMLy: Designed specifically for lightweight blogging. It requires minimal server specifications and natively supports tags, categories, and scheduled posts. [1, 2]
- WonderCMS: The ultimate minimalist CMS, consisting of just five files and requiring no database or complex configuration. [1]”
From google ai perspectives
See also Best Flat File CMS for Simple and Efficient Websites and of course, there’s HUGO
Key factors
- Cost of exit – how easy is it to get away from using the product. (Look at my adventures in recovering my Sun blog, and Snipsnap blogs).
- Keyperson Risk – how reliant on individuals is the project, can the market easily provide the necessary skills.
- Supplier Continuity Risk – is the product important to the supplier, what can one do if they withdraw the product.
- Obviously operational cost is important too.
It seems I have considered this before, The importance of non-functional requirements in selecting web hosting solutions. on LInkedin.