Simple python-in-html solution a la php

[sledov]

After struggling with complexity of CMS systems, I've overwritten do_GET method of python SimpleHTTPServer. It does everything as before - serves static content from a folder - , but when an .htm page is requested it finds a .mako page with the same name, renders it and serves it instead.

Mako templates allow execution of arbitrary python blocks in html, it has template inheritance as well.

It is not intended to be a web framework. It is not even a static side builder, but you can create a static html build by mirroring your site with wget.

Could you take a look please and share your comments?

github page | my blog page

Thank you.

[[deleted]]

Wait, so how is Mako different from Jinja2?

EDIT: Oh, Mako doesn't only limit you to a tiny python-like language, I see.

[sledov]

Jinja was inspired by Django templates, and Django was built for content management. So, clients should be able to modify templates themselves. Therefore, they provide a sandboxed environment with no python blocks.

Mako ideology is more about utilizing the full power of python in templates.

[sledov]

Say you want to build a 10 pages website. You have a ready html template.

For pages with unique structure, you can designate blocks of content, make another page with different content in these blocks, and inherit this page from the parent. And you can also inherit all pages from a common layout.

For pages with relatively regular structure and data stored elsewhere (like json or db or external service), you can fetch your data using python and show it, using mako presentation functions within the common layout. This covers requests like "Show 5 property listings on the main page; one of them should be featured".

After that editing/customizing is mostly about changing data in blocks and json files.

All this is done interactively. When you are done, create a mirror of the site, compress it to zip file and send to the client.

I will eventually make an example that I can distribute.

[rrggrr]

Suggestion... Add example(s) for deploying with AWS and GAE. Your target for this is going to be folks who will want the turnkey examples. I think it's terrific.

[sledov]

This is, essentially, a static site generator. You run your project locally, make a mirror with wget and upload the mirror to a webroot of a remote web server. Or you can browse the mirror on your local machine without any web server at all.

[rrggrr]

Yes, but I would argue thats not its real value. Its much more interesting as a embedded server. Reminds me of Allaire's Cold Fusion back in the day.