Simply Static 1.1 is here!

After a couple of more minor releases for Simply Static, it’s finally time to push a more extensive update to the pro version. Version 1.1 includes many features, bug fixes, and improvements based on the feedback of the incredible community.

Webhook-Support for GitHub integration

This is a big deal for all users using popular static hosting platforms like NetlifyA platform for automating web projects that provides hosting and serverless backend services for web applications and st… and CloudflareA company that provides services like security and website speed improvement. It acts as a protective layer between the … Pages. Due to the limitation of the GitHubA web-based platform for version control and collaboration, allowing multiple people to work on projects at once. API, Simply Static has to commit each file as a single commit which resulted in a lot of buildsIn the context of Simply Static, builds are the process of creating a static version of your WordPress website. when using automatic deployments on these hosting platforms.

Thankfully both are now supporting the deploymentThe act of pushing the static files generated by Simply Static to a live environment where users can access them. via webhookA method of altering the behavior of a web page with custom callbacks. These are triggered by specific events, like push… instead of deploying with each commit. Simply Static now has a setting in Simply Static -> Settings -> Deployment -> GitHub called “Webhook URL” – add the URL, and Simply Static will notify the hosting platform once all files are committed to GitHub.

BunnyCDN Integration

The GitHub integrationThe act of combining different systems, software, or functionalities to work together as a unified whole. is quite popular, but sometimes it must be a bit simpler. Setting up a Personal Access Token, committing files, and handling branches aren’t for everyone. Simply Static is trying to please both segments: developers AND end users. The new BunnyCDNBunnyCDN is a service that helps your website load faster by storing copies of your site’s files in multiple locations. integration couldn’t be more straightforward – add your API keyA unique code that allows different software applications to communicate with each other. It’s used for identification a…, set your pull-and storage zone, and you are ready to publish your static website.

I’m also using BunnyCDN now to deploy a static copy of my website. A detailed step-by-step guide on how I’ve done that and how that compares to my initial Cloudflare Pages setup will be available soon.

Search Improvements

I rebuilt the existing search crawler integration to make it more reliable, extendable, and flexible than ever before. I also introduced a couple of settings to fine-tune the search.

You can now decide which elements should get used to building the search results. Don’t want to use the <title> element for the search result headline? No problem, choose an <h1> instead. Want to exclude specific pages? Or maybe specific patterns? We got you covered.

Algolia Integration

While improving the search crawler, I also took the time to build an integration for Algolia. You can now add your API keys, let Simply Static create the indexA list or database used to make searching faster. on each static exportThe process of saving the files and data from your WordPress site to create a static site., and use the AlgoliaA record of all the actions and changes made within the Simply Static plugin. It helps you track what has been done. autocomplete search instead of your usual WordPress search.

Single Exports

I’ve spent a lot of time with my users on improving the single exports, and we finally have a solution that should be good enough to cover most use-cases. The Single Export now automatically exports new images, the assigned taxonomy pages (like categories and tags), and the archive pages from the post type it belongs to. Pretty neat, right?

Config files

I also improved the overall handling of the config files. They now support subdirectory configurations, and they will be added automatically to each full static export. This ensures that you never have to worry about missing config files on your static website.

Documentation

I will update the documentation to match the new settings and functionality in Simply Static 1.1 soon. As a solo developer, you only have so much time in a day, but you can expect the updated documentation within the next couple of days.

I also prepared a couple of new tutorials on Algolia, Zapier, and BunnyCDN, which will be published throughout December.