Static Sites

At our organization, we’ve embraced Hugo (gohugo.io) as our static site generator, and the decision has transformed how we approach web development and content management. This choice wasn’t made lightly - it represents a strategic shift toward security, efficiency, and developer-friendly workflows.

Why Static Sites Matter for Security

When evaluating content management solutions, we seriously considered traditional CMS platforms like WordPress. However, the security implications were a decisive factor in our choice. WordPress has over thousands of CVEs published, many from plugins or themes, but the operational need to maintain updates while hoping a 0-day doesn’t hit us just detracts from our ability to do business.

Static sites offer inherent security advantages that are particularly important in our line of work. Without server-side processing, databases, or dynamic content generation, the attack surface is dramatically reduced. There’s less that can go wrong, and fewer vectors for potential compromise. While WordPress requires constant vigilance for security updates, plugin vulnerabilities, and database security, our Hugo-generated static site eliminates these concerns entirely.

The Hugo Advantage

Hugo stands out in the static site generator ecosystem for several key reasons:

Lightning Fast Performance: Hugo builds sites incredibly quickly, making development iterations smooth and deployment pipelines efficient.

Developer-Friendly Workflow: Using technologies that our development team works with daily - Git, Markdown, YAML - means contributing to our site feels natural rather than requiring context switching to unfamiliar tools.

Flexible Content Management: Hugo’s content structure allows us to organize information logically while maintaining the flexibility to evolve our site architecture as needs change.

CI/CD Integration and Quality Control

One of the most compelling aspects of our Hugo implementation is how seamlessly it integrates with our CI/CD pipelines. Every piece of content goes through the same rigorous quality control process as our code:

• Automated Testing: Content is validated for structure, links, and formatting before deployment
• Review Process: Pull requests ensure that multiple eyes review changes before they go live
• Staging Environments: Content can be previewed in staging before production deployment
• Rollback Capabilities: If issues arise, we can quickly revert to previous versions

This approach transforms content management from a potential operational burden into a streamlined, quality-assured process that reduces our daily operations effort significantly.

Encouraging Developer Participation

By using familiar tools and workflows, we’ve lowered the barrier for our development team to contribute to our site. Developers can use their preferred editors, leverage their Git expertise, and apply the same collaborative practices they use for software development. This has resulted in more frequent updates, better technical accuracy, and a site that truly reflects our team’s expertise.

The combination of security benefits, operational efficiency, and developer familiarity makes Hugo an ideal choice for organizations that prioritize secure, sustainable, development practices.

The Hugo logo is copyright Steve Francia.