Sculpin - the PHP static site generator
If you use PHP and need to make a static website, Sculpin is a great choice!
What is it?
Built with PHP and using Symfony components, it converts Markdown files and Twig templates into static HTML that can be easily deployed and hosted.
Once generated, you can upload the files to a web host of your choice as the generated files are simple HTML, such as an S3 bucket with static hosting or GitHub Pages.
Why do I use it?
As a PHP Developer, it's already familiar and I can immediately start instead of learning a new language or templating engine, which I'd need to do if I were to use a static site generator written in Ruby, JavaScript or Go.
If I need to extend it, I already can.
I already know how to write custom Twig extensions, for example, so I can do it in Sculpin in the same way. (I made one and open-sourced it)
I already know how to use PHPUnit to write tests.
What do I use it for?
I use Sculpin for this website and client projects that don't need the features of a CMS or framework with the ability to have reusable components and functionality provided by Twig (this works great with Tailwind CSS, too).
I used it to learn Twig before Drupal 8 was released, back in 2015.
I've also given a talk on building websites with Sculpin which I may submit to some upcoming conferences.
- Oliver
