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Static site generation

In the context of a static website, hosting refers to storing and serving the files that make up the static site. But before the static site can be hosted, its files must be generated.

Generating the static site with the CLI​

The m2c2kit CLI will create the static site from the configuration file, which by default was named site-config.mjs. To generate the site:

m2 static-site --config=site-config.mjs

The CLI will display information about assessment packages that were downloaded and files that were created

tip

The many lines of information output by the static site generation can be ignored; they are there for debugging if things go wrong!

Testing the static site​

To test that the static site is working, you must serve these files locally on your computer. You cannot directly open them with your browser.

A convenient way to serve these files is the http-server package. To install this:

npm install -g http-server

To use this package to test the static site:

  • Change to the directory where the static site was generated, e.g., cd dist
  • Run the server: http-server
  • Open your browser at the address where http-server is serving. By default it will be http://127.0.0.1:8080

Once you open your browser to the appropriate location, you will see... nothing!

info

This blank web page is not an error! Please read on to the next section!