Getting Started with Hugo: A Beginner's Guide

Introduction

Hugo is one of the most popular open-source static site generators. With its amazing speed and flexibility, Hugo makes building websites fun again.

Why Choose Hugo?

Here are some compelling reasons to choose Hugo for your next project:

Lightning Fast
Easy to Learn
Highly Flexible
Great Community

Setting Up Your First Hugo Site

Let’s walk through creating your first Hugo site:

terminal

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# Create a new Hugo site
hugo new site my-awesome-site
cd my-awesome-site

# Initialize git and add a theme
git init
git submodule add https://github.com/theNewDynamic/gohugo-theme-ananke themes/ananke

# Add the theme to your configuration
echo "theme = 'ananke'" >> config.toml

# Create your first post
hugo new posts/my-first-post.md

Working with Content

Hugo makes content creation straightforward. Here’s how to organize your content effectively.

Advanced Features

Hugo comes with many advanced features out of the box:

Taxonomies: Categories and tags
Shortcodes: Easy way to add complex content
Custom Outputs: JSON, AMP, etc.
Asset Processing: SASS/SCSS, PostCSS

Code Examples

Here’s an example of a simple Hugo template:

layouts/_default/single.html

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{{ define "main" }}
<article>
    <h1>{{ .Title }}</h1>
    <time>{{ .Date.Format "2006-01-02" }}</time>
    {{ .Content }}
</article>
{{ end }}

Conclusion

Hugo provides an excellent foundation for building modern websites. Its combination of speed, flexibility, and ease of use makes it a great choice for projects of any size.