Static HTML Output plugin not crawling Local Flywheel site

tjc4 · August 14, 2020, 9:29pm

I just created a fresh wordpress site using Local by Flywheel with default settings (WP 5.5, PHP 7.3.5, mysql 8.0.16, Nginx) on my Win 10 machine.

I have not done anything other than install the Static HTML Output 6.6.21 plugin and attempt to make a .zip with the plugin’s default settings.

It was stuck on “Crawled 0 of 11 detected URLs” for 20 minutes or so when I canceled the export. This doesn’t seem right. I used export .zip files using wp2static in seconds.

I had issues exporting static sites from Local on Windows back in March but was told an update would be released in the coming days (i.e. back in March or April) that would fix this.

IDK if this is related but if anyone could help with this in general or exporting static sites from Local on Windows I’d appreciate it.

Here are my logs…

Here is my crawl log:
Pending / Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /2020/ Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /2020/08/ Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /2020/08/14/ Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /ads.txt Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /category/uncategorized/ Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /favicon.ico Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /hello-world/ Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /robots.txt Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /sample-page/ Note: initial_crawl_list
Pending /sitemap.xml Note: initial_crawl_list

Here’s my export log (not URLs had to be removed because I’m a new user and new users are not allowed to post URLs):
2020-08-14 16:06:02 2020-08-14 09:06:02
PHP VERSION 7.3.5
OS VERSION Windows NT DESKTOP-DI1UEC9 10.0 build 18362 (Windows 10) AMD64
WP VERSION 5.5
WP URL
WP SITEURL
WP HOME
WP ADDRESS
PLUGIN VERSION 6.6.21
VIA WP-CLI?
STATIC EXPORT URL
PERMALINK STRUCTURE /%postname%/
SERVER SOFTWARE nginx/1.16.0
2020-08-14 16:06:02 Active plugins:
2020-08-14 16:06:02 static-html-output-plugin/static-html-output-plugin.php
2020-08-14 16:06:03 Plugin options:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 additionalUrls:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-bitbucket:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-bunnycdn:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-github:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-gitlab:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-netlify:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-s3:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-zip:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 baseUrl-zip:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 basicAuthPassword: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 basicAuthUser:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bbBranch:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bbRepo:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bbToken: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bunnycdnStorageZoneAccessKey: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bunnycdnPullZoneAccessKey: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bunnycdnPullZoneID:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bunnycdnStorageZoneName:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 bunnycdn_api_host: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 cfDistributionId:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 completionEmail:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 crawl_delay:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 crawl_increment:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 crawlPort:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 delayBetweenAPICalls:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 deployBatchSize:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 excludeURLs:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 ghBranch:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 ghCommitMessage:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 ghRepo:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 ghToken: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 glBranch:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 glProject:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 glToken: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 netlifyHeaders:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 netlifyPersonalAccessToken: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 netlifyRedirects:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 netlifySiteID:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 removeConditionalHeadComments: 1
2020-08-14 16:06:03 removeHTMLComments: 1
2020-08-14 16:06:03 removeWPLinks: 1
2020-08-14 16:06:03 removeWPMeta: 1
2020-08-14 16:06:03 rewrite_rules:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 rename_rules:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 s3Bucket:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 s3Key:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 s3Region:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 s3Secret: *******************
2020-08-14 16:06:03 selected_deployment_option:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 targetFolder:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 useBasicAuth:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 Installed extensions:
2020-08-14 16:06:03 Core,bcmath,calendar,ctype,date,filter,hash,iconv,json,SPL,pcre,readline,Reflection,session,standard,mysqlnd,tokenizer,zip,zlib,libxml,dom,PDO,bz2,SimpleXML,xml,wddx,xmlreader,xmlwriter,cgi-fcgi,curl,gettext,openssl,mbstring,gd,ftp,imap,Phar,exif,sodium,tidy,xsl,xmlrpc,soap,mysqli,pdo_mysql,Zend OPcache,xdebug
2020-08-14 16:16:03 cURL error:Operation timed out after 600001 milliseconds with 0 bytes received
2020-08-14 16:16:03 BAD RESPONSE STATUS (0): /

leonstafford · August 15, 2020, 8:57am

Hi @tjc4,

This one is good now on XAMPP, with fixes for Windows filepaths, so should be fine on Local (since they now use Windows filepaths, I think earlier Local on Windows was using UNIX filepaths):

https://github.com/WP2Static/static-html-output-plugin/files/4943854/gulshanwinziptest.zip

But the issues your facing sound like some other kind of error, perhaps a missing dependency for PHP or such.

If you can check the PHP error logs from Local, that may surface something.

Otherwise, can try XAMPP as temp workaround/alternative.

Cheers,

Leon

leonstafford · August 15, 2020, 8:59am

@tjc4 did you remove these for privacy or were missing from log?

WP URL
WP SITEURL
WP HOME
WP ADDRESS
STATIC EXPORT URL

If you can provide those by subtituting for like localdomain and exportdomain.com, there may be something I can see there

tjc4 · August 16, 2020, 9:37pm

Leon, thanks for the reply.

I created another new site via Local (again with default settings), installed the plugin from the gulshanwinziptest.zip file you linked, and tried to export as .zip with default Static settings (the only thing I did was add my Destination URL and click “start static site export”).

Didn’t do anything else (with the site or Static). Same result. Gets stuck on “Crawled 0 of 11 detected URLs”.

After 20 minutes stuck on 0/11 I click “cancel export” button.

I reviewed my logs and don’t notice any difference from the logs posted above (aside from timestamps).

In my post above, I had to remove the URLs for WP URL, WP SITEURL, etc because the message board software said I’m posting too many URLs as a new user. All of the WP URLs were http://prmm.local. The STATIC EXPORT URL was http://prmm.io.

Looking over the Static logs, I notice they state “OS VERSION Windows NT DESKTOP-DI1UEC9 10.0 build 18362 (Windows 10) AMD64”. I have an Intel processor, not AMD. IDK if AMD64 is used by Intel or not but figured I’d throw it out there as I’m looking for anything that might offer some hope.

On the PHP logs. I found the logs shown below at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\logs\php\error.log
I think these are the PHP logs you’re looking for. Let me know if they offer any clues.

[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 1200 seconds exceeded in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\src\SiteCrawler.php on line 250
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin-ajax.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 2. do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin-ajax.php:176
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 3. WP_Hook->do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\plugin.php:478
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 4. WP_Hook->apply_filters() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:311
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 5. static_html_output_ajax() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:287
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 6. StaticHTMLOutput\SiteCrawler->crawl_site() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:319
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 7. StaticHTMLOutput\SiteCrawler->crawlABitMore() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\src\SiteCrawler.php:93
[16-Aug-2020 21:29:06 UTC] PHP 8. StaticHTMLOutput\SiteCrawler->loadFileForProcessing() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\src\SiteCrawler.php:203
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:45) in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\functions.php on line 6270
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 2. do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:175
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 3. WP_Hook->do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\plugin.php:478
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 4. WP_Hook->apply_filters() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:311
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 5. send_frame_options_header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:285
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 6. header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\functions.php:6270
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:45) in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\includes\misc.php on line 1310
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 2. do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:175
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 3. WP_Hook->do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\plugin.php:478
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 4. WP_Hook->apply_filters() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:311
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 5. wp_admin_headers() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:287
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 6. header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\includes\misc.php:1310
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:45) in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin-header.php on line 9
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 2. require_once() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:239
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:13 UTC] PHP 3. header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin-header.php:9
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:45) in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\functions.php on line 6270
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 2. do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:175
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 3. WP_Hook->do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\plugin.php:478
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 4. WP_Hook->apply_filters() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:311
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 5. send_frame_options_header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:285
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 6. header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\functions.php:6270
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:45) in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\includes\misc.php on line 1310
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 2. do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:175
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 3. WP_Hook->do_action() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\plugin.php:478
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 4. WP_Hook->apply_filters() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:311
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 5. wp_admin_headers() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-includes\class-wp-hook.php:287
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 6. header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\includes\misc.php:1310
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-content\plugins\static-html-output-plugin\static-html-output-plugin.php:45) in C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin-header.php on line 9
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP Stack trace:
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 1. {main}() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:0
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 2. require_once() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin.php:239
[16-Aug-2020 21:30:14 UTC] PHP 3. header() C:\Users\Tom\Local Sites\prmm\app\public\wp-admin\admin-header.php:9

Let me know if you have any other ideas. Thanks again!

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 5:37am

Perfect, thanks!

This should be it: Maximum execution time of 1200 seconds exceeded

There is a PHP configuration option “max_execution_time”, which you can increase. Yours is saying it hit a 20 minute limit, not sure if that was a typo and was set to 120 sec/2min limit, which is more common.

If the site is not so large, ie < 1,000’s of pages, it shouldn’t take near 20 minutes. So there may still be something else that’s stalling it for so long.

I’d try that same build with XAMPP, just so we can isolate whether we need to dive further into Local by FlyWheel environment or it’s related to your site or OS (ie, Windows firewall blocking the crawling?)

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 5:41am

Also, myself and a few other users have not been very impressed with Local by FlyWheel under Windows. I would definitely not be recommending it to people if they aren’t already invested in/stuck with it. I don’t think it’s as bad under macOS, but still not in love with it there, either.

In Windows, you can try XAMPP, MAMP or others.

I have a side project that is usable but looking forward to some big improvements next time, which is https://lokl.dev, but requires Docker to be installed, which can be a bit fiddly on Windows.

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) offers a lot more options for WordPress on Windows, too.

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 4:54pm

I’m pretty sure it’s 20 min. I just copied and pasted so no typo.

The site is a brand new wordpress install so just two pages (Sample, Privacy Policy). I create a new Local site, add the Static plugin you supplied, and attempt to export .zip from Static. Nothing more.

I’m trying to work out the Local to Static to Netlify deployment process on a throwaway Wordpress install before I attempt on any production sites.

Thanks. I’ll give XAMPP a look.

I already have docker installed so I’ll give this a look too.

Do you know of any non-local / cloud-based host services designed only for exporting static sites? Kinda like a traditional wordpress host but the host would only serves the site to the logged in admin. As a windows users I’d love that so I don’t have to worry about my local environment. And it seems there’d be benefits for non-windows users too (e.g. cloud backups, accessible when away from local machine, etc).

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 6:50pm

Update: Lokl seems pretty cool. I created a site via Lokl, generated a static site .zip, deployed that static site with Netlify via GitHub. Creation and deployment was super easy.

Issue: when I choose “m” for manage in Lokl, my local site URL is displayed but before I have a chance to “Type your site’s number, then the Enter key:” it skips to a new line in the Git Bash terminal. If I enter the site’s number on the next line I’m told “command not found”.

Here’s a screenshot:

Here’s a video showing the issue live. Any ideas?

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 7:07pm

Awesome! I’m always suprised to hear when it works, as it’s really about a weekend/week’s work so far, not touched for months.

The Manage thing isn’t wired up/does nothing. So, you can just grab the URL from it now. Next revisions will expand the management utility a LOT

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 7:15pm

Ok, if I’m not supposed to use Manage to manage existing sites, how do I manage them?

After I created and deployed my site, I wanted to make sure I could maintain it. So I restarted my computer and attempted to access my local site but couldn’t.

I’ve tried with / without Docker Desktop running. Also tried with / without the Git Bash terminal open and the sh <(curl -sSl https://lokl.dev/go) command.

This is the error I get when I try the local site:

Any ideas?

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 7:54pm

Yep, that wizard/UI is work in progress, but you can just start your Docker containers via Docker itself to get them back up after restart

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 7:55pm

Depending on your OS, if Windows, you get some kind of Docker GUI thing

On Mac, something like this

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 8:03pm

Awesome! That did the trick.

For Windows users, just click on the Docker icon in the system tray, select Docker Dashboard, locate your Wordpress site’s container, hover the container to reveal options, and click the run / play icon.

Looks like this:

Any other Windows users finding this thread should also check out this YouTube video for install instructions: Install WordPress Locally on Windows 10 with Docker in 5 Minutes - YouTube

I’m impressed. Already works better than Local for me. Hope you continue to develop this. Not that it needs much work as far as I can tell - maybe just some more documentation.

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 8:15pm

Sweet!!!

Thanks so much for sticking with this and trying it out.

I’m quite excited to bring in the ideas to improve it from head to code.

You’ll see things like the convenient management functions, such as quick backup snapshots (using Docker’s snapshots behind the scenes). There’s an open issue I’ve got in GitHub to add a nice web based code editor, which may be enough for most people to work on sites and streamlining the static conversion and deployment, but for time being will still do via WP2Static web UI as on any server

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 8:55pm

Thank you for the free software and amazing support.

Look forward to seeing Lokl mature.

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 9:59pm

Follow up question regarding backups with Lokl…

Lokl installs WPBackItUp plugin. WPBackItUp restore instructions say you have to log into your WP host’s phpMyAdmin or mySQL admin tool to restore the database.

Is this possible with Lokl? If so, where do I find phpMyAdmin, mySQL admin, or the equivalent Lokl tool?

Thanks again!

leonstafford · August 17, 2020, 10:19pm

Ah, right. Only CLI based mysql admin in that current Lokl you’re using.

To get into that via CLI, if you have the container’s ID, something like:

docker exec -it CONTAINERID /bin/sh

will get you in, then can use general msyql command line commands, but that may not be very fun.

If WPBackitUp doesn’t have a free import, then that was probably a bad choice by me - not very happy with any of the freely available backup plugins, most try to upsell for convenient functions.

Are you trying to import an existing site into Lokl? I’m a bit out of touch on which ones would be best there, but I think @gulshan may have an idea?

For just backup/restores, I was planning to add easy to use interface on top of these docker commands:

But haven’t tested yet. So, we may need to try a few things in this thread

tjc4 · August 17, 2020, 11:03pm

Doesn’t sound fun and a little outside my comfort zone.

I haven’t found a free one I like either

No, not trying to import now. Just trying to plan and test how I’ll use Lokl. Whenever I edit the site my plan is to (1) back it up and then (2) create the static .zip to push to GitHub/Netlify.

Hopefully I don’t ever need to use the backups but it’s nice to know I can restore a backup if needed.

That would be an awesome feature!

john-shaffer · August 18, 2020, 12:22am

Do you know of any non-local / cloud-based host services designed only for exporting static sites? Kinda like a traditional wordpress host the host would only serves the site to the logged in admin. As a windows users I’d love that so I don’t have to worry about my local environment. And it seems there’d be benefits for non-windows users too (e.g. cloud backups, accessible when away from local machine, etc).

I’m working on exactly this, using WP2Static v7 and deploying to S3/CloudFront. If you have (or create) a GitHub account, you can log in at https://app.staticweb.io and give it a try. It’s not officially launched yet, and I could use the testing and feedback. The “management” section is extremely basic, but the actual WP server setup is rock solid. E.g., everything on the server is backed up every 24 hours, but there’s no UI to restore the backups yet. But you can just hit me up if you need support, and improvements that I make for StaticWeb get committed to WP2Static.

There are some existing static WP hosts like Strattic and HardyPress. They use proprietary plugins. I haven’t used them myself.

tjc4 · August 18, 2020, 4:42pm

Thanks for letting me know about Strattic and HardyPress. Checked them out. Seem a little bloated - I don’t need them to host my static site (I’d prefer AWS or Netlify) - and I believe static hosting should be cheaper but they seem more expensive than many traditional WP hosts.

I checked out https://app.staticweb.io too. I was surprised at how fast the site was ready. Seemed like it was instant. Whether it’s Local, Lokl, traditional WP host, etc. it always seemed like it’d take a minute to build a new site. That was cool.

After clicking “view live site” and verifying install, I clicked “manage” and was taken the the Dashboard. From there I edited the Sample Page title and then tried to do static stuff and got lost.

I clicked on WP2Static, clicked “generate static site” and after a few minutes the green “WP2Static: Deployed” notification appeared.

It took me a while to figure out what that did. I was able to figure it out but it wasn’t intuitive. Expected as you’ve been focused on technical stuff not UI.

I noticed the logs said “S3 Addon deploying” so I went looking for that. Found the Addons choice from the WP2Static dropdown. Found the bucked name and with a little trial and error was able to insert it into this formula - http://[bucketname].s3.amazonaws.com/index.html - to get to my site.

But it also looks like CF distribution was created and I’m missing the benefits of CF if I go straight to S3. IDK my site’s CF URL.

That was my experience. I’ve got multiple sites and I got them all set up on Lokl yesterday so I’m going with that for the time being but will be interested to see how this progresses.

Here are my three main observations:

Make the site’s AWS URL easy to find. The green “WP2Static: Deployed” button should be clickable and take users to the AWS site.
How do I set up a custom domain?
IDK how I feel about you hosting my site on your AWS account. For cost and control reasons, I think I might prefer to have that on my own AWS account.

Update: Some of the URLs on the S3 site link back to the staticweb.io site. In the screenshot below, I’m on the S3 site but the circled link takes me back to the staticweb.io site.