A follow-up to the Hacker News discussion on Aether CMS, addressing comments, questions, and suggestions from the community.
Intro
I was surprised this morning to discover that the launching post of Aether got some comments on Hacker News. Focused on the enhancements that I had to quickly apply - Editor, Update, and new themes - I didn't pay attention at the time to check for comments. I present my sincere apologies to each and every person that commented on the post and didn't get a response directly from me, which they respectively deserve. I couldn't find a way to respond directly (maybe I don't have enough points to reply, or post comments get closed after a period of time). This post serves as a detailed response.
Addressing Developer vs. Content Creator Accessibility
The first comment from ivanmontillam generated a thread of 18 comments regarding Aether's target audience:
"A thing that most other developers miss is that non-technical people, like (and especially) content creators, shy away from a terminal as if it were such a plague... Therefore, if you have to
cdto a directory and thennpm run buildit, yeah: the CMS is developer-oriented no matter what you claim."
I appreciate this feedback, but I believe there may be some misunderstanding about Aether's capabilities. As todotask2 perfectly outlined in their response:
"For a 5-minute WordPress installation, you still need shared hosting and a domain name. Not every non-technical person knows how to handle the basic setup... There are many questions posted daily on r/Wordpress... So WordPress has never been easier than using a modern static site generator (SSG)."
Key clarifications about Aether:
- Installation simplicity: If WordPress is a 5-minute installation, Aether is 30 seconds installed and running
- Web interface included: Aether has a protected admin interface like any other CMS. As DoctorOW noted: "The admin interface feels familiar if you've used any modern CMS, but it's built with one goal: get out of your way"
- Terminal usage: While copying and pasting one command might seem daunting to some, it's a one-time setup step
- Target audience: Aether is indeed a developer-first CMS and SSG, but that doesn't exclude content creators from using its web interface
Regarding the YAML frontmatter concern: users don't need to know or manually write YAML—it's auto-generated by the system.
Performance and Feature Comparisons
In response to LunaSea's comment comparing Aether to Hugo and Zola:
Hugo and Zola are static site generators (SSGs), while Aether is a complete CMS that includes an integrated, optional, and ready-to-use SSG. Here's a real-world performance example from my own blog:
$ npm run build
> aether-cms@1.0.0 build
> node assets/js/generate-static.js --
🚀 Starting static site generation to _site
Base URL: https://lebcit.github.io
Clean URLs: enabled
🔨 Starting static site generation to _site
Generating homepage...
Generating 46 posts...
Generating 8 pages...
Generating 15 category pages...
Generating 105 tag pages...
Generating 4 custom pages...
Built sibling navigation for 0 pages
Generating custom page: blog at path: blog
Generating paginated custom page: blog
Generating custom page: categories at path: categories
Generating taxonomy counts custom page: categories
Generating custom page: search at path: search
Generating paginated custom page: search
Generating custom page: tags at path: tags
Generating taxonomy counts custom page: tags
Generating SEO files (RSS and sitemaps)...
Generating RSS feed for 46 posts...
SEO files generated successfully (including RSS feed)
Generating 404.html...
404.html generated successfully
Copying theme assets...
Copying uploads...
Copying _site...
Static site generation completed in: 4.695s
✅ Static site generated successfully at _site
✅ Static site generation completed successfully!
That's 178 pages (46 posts + 8 pages + 15 category pages + 105 tag pages + 4 custom pages) plus RSS feeds, sitemaps, and assets—all generated in under 5 seconds.
Additional Feature Responses
To CSSer: Thank you for the encouraging words. The Aether Editor already addresses several aspects you mentioned.
To nobleach: Scheduled content release is on the roadmap. Draft storage and content preview are already available features.
To dnrvs: Aether is file-based but you still can save your files to a database if you need to (your own implementation depending on the used database).
To exiguus: The name "Aether CMS" clearly indicates its purpose and functionality.
Final Thoughts
Aether represents years of experience and real-world usage, a solution built from the ground up with simplicity in mind. It demonstrates that we can accomplish more with less, striking a balance between developer empowerment and user-friendliness.
I understand that every tool isn't right for every use case, and that's perfectly fine. For those interested in exploring what Aether offers, the documentation provides comprehensive guidance.
Thank you all for taking the time to comment and engage with the project.
