Middleman

Or in simpler terms: a static site compiler (generator) for Ruby.

Middleman functions in the same way as other static site generators, working based on a set of configuration files, template handlers and content storage files.

Middleman reads the configs first, parses the templates, parses the content files, puts the content in the proper template placeholders and compiles everything into HTML, CSS and JS resources that can then be easily hosted online.

By editing the config, template and content files, the developer can customize his entire website in any way he wishes, all without the aid of a database or backend administration panel.

Middleman was built on the Sinatra framework.

Features:

• Automatic JavaScript file compression
• Automatic CSS file compression
• Image compression
• Cache system
• Clean and efficient output markup
• Control website layouts
• Lots of Ruby helpers
• Integrates the Compass CSS library
• Localization (i18n) support
• Blogging module
• Support for pretty URLs
• Recompiles the site on file changes
• Sitemap generator
• Lots of configurable settings
• Extensions