simply static

Convert your WordPress site into a static one with the free WordPress static site generator plugin, Simply Static.

Simply-Static
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PHP

=== Simply Static - The WordPress Static Site Generator ===
Contributors: patrickposner
Tags: static site generator, performance, security, jamstack
Requires at least: 6.3
Tested up to: 6.7
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 3.2.4.2
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Create a static website directly from your WordPress website with Simply Static.

== Description ==

Simply Static is a static site generator that converts your existing WordPress website to a static website that you can host on your server, a static hosting provider, or a CDN.

It drastically improves the performance of your website and minimizes security risks as it removes the connection between your traditional server and your static website.

Simply Static can also be used by local development tools like LocalWP or Lando to develop your website offline and push the static site online.

This reduces your hosting costs to zero (depending on your requirements and the used service/provider).

= Performance =

Converting your website to a static website can drastically improve your performance. Simply Static eliminates all requests to your database and by that reducing the first time to byte.

This is especially impactful for websites that use long pages with a lot of animations, graphs, and other load-heavy tools like sliders.

= Security =

Removing the connection to your database and traditional server reduces the risk of getting hacked.

This reduces the stress to keep your WordPress website up to date and keeps your data secure (locally or in a protected environment).

= Reduce hosting costs =

Using Simply Static to deploy your website to one of the static hosting providers, a CDN or an S3 bucket reduces the amount of money required for reliable web hosting.

With the right setup, you can even host your website completely for free (Cloudflare Pages and GitHub Pages for example).

= Local development =

Develop your site locally and only push the static exported website on a server. To ensure everything works as expected I created a list of development tools that are completely supported:

I highly recommend not to use another tool for local development if you are not a programmer as in most cases manual package installation is required.

== Simply Static Pro ==

The pro version of Simply Static enhances the plugin with various features.

[youtube https://youtu.be/Vml537IIwVc]

= GitHub Integration =

With the GitHub integration, you can completely automate your entire development process.

The only thing you need is a GitHub account, no knowledge of Git or GitHub itself is required, as Simply Static Pro handles the entire process for you and keeps your repository up to date.

This allows deploying your static website to:

  • GitHub Pages
  • Cloudflare Pages
  • Netlify
  • Vercel

= AWS S3 Integration =

Export directly to Amazon AWS S3 from Simply Static Pro. Connect your bucket and run your export.

= SFTP =

Export directly to a remote SFTP server. Connect your server and run your export.

= BunnyCDN Integration =

Export directly to BunnyCDN and get all the benefits of their CDN - including caching, file optimization and DNS management.

= Incremental-, Builds and Single Exports =

Use Incremental Exports to update only changes to your static website. No configuration needed, just choose Update and run the export.

Use Build Exports to quickly roll out global changes to your static website. Want to update your style.css file? Or a new plugin? Use a build export.

Use Single Exports to quickly publish new pages and posts to your static site. This also supports scheduled posts.

= Forms =

Create and use forms created with your favorite form plugin on your static website with Simply Static Pro. Supported plugins are:

  • Contact Form 7
  • Gravity Forms
  • WP Forms
  • FluentForms
  • WS Forms

You can decide if you want to use an external service like Zapier and IFTTT to offload the submission (webhook) or embed the form from your WordPress website via iFrame.

= Search =

Use a fully static search solution that does not rely on any Third-Party-Providers. It uses Fuse.js and creates an index of your whole website as a JSON file.

The search supports autosuggestion and fuzzy logic and is by default way more convenient than your default WordPress search.

= Comments =

Enable comments on your static website without the requirement of Third-Party-Providers. Use your original WordPress website to process the comment.

After a comment was submitted, Simply Static automatically exports a new static version of the post. You don’t have to do anything.

= Multilingual =

Use WPML, Polylang or TranslatePress and run static exports per language or all at once.

Simply Static Pro also supports configuring settings per language, using the available language switchers and more to export a your multilingual website as easy as possible.

= WP-CLI =

Simply Static Pro has a detailed and comprehensive integration with WP-CLI.

Control every option, run different kinds of exports and more with the WP-CLI integration.

= Minification =

Automatically minfiy HTML, CSS and JavaScript files on your static site.

We can even minify inline CSS & JavaScript.

= Image Optimization =

Automatically optimize images on your static website with our ShortPixel API integration.

= Optimization =

Replace default WordPress paths and completely hide that you are using WordPress behind the scenes.

Replace:

  • wp-content
  • wp-includes
  • wp-content/plugins/
  • wp-content/themes/
  • wp-content/uploads/

Hide & Disable:

Disabled unwanted features in WordPress before running an static export like:

  • XML-RPC
  • REST API URLs
  • Emoji support
  • Shortlink support
  • WordPress version in HTML

and much more.

= Get the Pro version =

You can get the pro version here.

= Simply Static Course =

We created an entire video course about Static WordPress with Simply Static - check out the first video:

[youtube https://youtu.be/Ei_w-Jcq4uQ]

You can watch the entire course entirely for free on YouTube here: Simply Static Course

= Tutorials =

We also publish new tutorials on our blog every other week on how to work with Simply Static and other static site tools.

You can check the latest tutorials here

= Documentation =

We have a super extensive documentation that covers every aspect of Simply Static and Simply Static Pro.

You can check the documentation here

== Installation ==

  1. Log into your WordPress website.
  2. On the left menu, hover over Plugins and then click on Add New.
  3. In the Search Plugins box, type in “Simply Static” and press the Enter key.
  4. You will see a list of search results that should include the Simply Static plugin. Click on the Install Now button to install the plugin.
  5. After installing the plugin you will be prompted to activate it. Click on the Activate Plugin link.
  6. The Simply Static plugin is now installed and can be found on the left menu.

or

  1. Upload the entire simply-static folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory.
  2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= What does Simply Static do? =

Simply Static generates static (HTML) copies of your WordPress pages. It works a bit like a web crawler, starting at the main page of your website and looking for links to other pages to create static copies of. It also includes any images, CSS & JS files, and any other files that it can find a link to.

As Simply Static is creating the static pages, it will automatically replace the URLs for the WordPress installation with either (a) absolute URLs, at a domain of your choice or (b) relative URLs, so you can host the static files on any domain or © URLs constructed for offline use, so you can browse the site locally on your computer.

= Who should use Simply Static? =

Pretty much everyone, besides e-commerce or membership sites. They require a serious amount of interaction and user accounts, which are not available on a static website.

= Are there any limitations? =

You can not use plugins that require a login as there is no account system on a static website. This applies to e-commerce (like WooCommerce) or membership sites.

Also, a website that relies heavily on ajax to update content in real-time is not the best project for Simply Static as a serious amount of custom development would be required.

= How do I set up Simply Static? =

Let’s assume you presently have WordPress hosting a site at www.example.com, and that’s where you’d like to have your static site instead. Your first task is going to be to move your WordPress installation to a subdomain, such as wordpress.example.com. Once that is complete, you’ll set up www.example.com to receive your static files.

If www.example.com is on the same server as your WordPress installation, you can have Simply Static copy the static files to the directory that www.example.com is serving files from. If www.example.com is on a different server, you can download a zip of your static files and then upload them to www.example.com.

= Will this plugin interfere with other plugins? =

No, Simply Static will not interfere with other plugins. Simply Static works well alongside other plugins, such as plugins to improve your site’s SEO.

Simply Static creates a static copy of your website, which is just a collection of files: HTML, CSS, JS, images, etc. Any functionality that requires PHP code will not work with that static copy. That includes, but is not limited to: blog post comments, contact forms, forums, membership areas, and eCommerce.

Note that you can achieve much of this functionality by using plugins that interact with third-party services or Simply Static Pro.

= How is Simply Static different from cache plugins? =

Cache plugins – such as W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache – make your existing WordPress site faster by caching pages as they’re visited. This makes your site much faster but still leaves your WordPress installation accessible to the outside world. Unless you keep on top of updates, your WordPress installation can become vulnerable to hackers due to security vulnerabilities that are found over time.

Simply Static creates a static copy of your WordPress site that is intended to be used completely separately from your WordPress installation. Your WordPress installation lives on one server and your static site is served on a different server. Or, they’re both on the same server, but your WordPress installation is restricted to only allow access from certain IP addresses or with an additional username/password requirement. Your static site is just a collection of static files with no server-side code or database – nothing for hackers to hack – while your WordPress installation remains safe and secure.

== Screenshots ==

  1. Generate
  2. Settings
  3. Diagnostics

== Changelog ==

= 3.2.4.2 =

  • small UI changes related to GitHub
  • improved filter handling to increase batch size
  • allow tasks to define their own batch size

= 3.2.4.1 =

  • fixed dbDelta migration for new JSON column

= 3.2.4 =

  • automatically create the local directory if it doesn’t exist
  • Limit Basic Auth to URLs that pass is_local_url() check
  • WordPress 6.7 compatibility

= 3.2.3 =

  • removed processing_pages_message method
  • added the ability to include files without a file extension (_headers, _redirects…)
  • added UI to reset database table
  • included diagnostics check for no-index setting
  • included diagnostics check for Basic Auth without proper configuration in settings
  • tweak to avoid duplicate notes in export log
  • renamed Simply Static (Admin Bar) to Admin Bar (Core)
  • renamed Environments to Environment (Core)
  • simplified http_request_args filter implementation
  • added notice to upgrade both (pro and free) because of removing deprecated methods

= 3.2.2 =

  • officially deprecated delete_transients method

= 3.2.1 =

  • improved file handling on local transfer task
  • refactored transient handling for task handling
  • renamed delete_transients to delete_total_pages for consistency

= 3.2.0 =

  • improved URL replacement in Offline Mode
  • automated temporary file path handling
  • SQLite support for potential Playground support
  • removed dynamic htaccess for debug log handling
  • added version number in default settings in upgrade handler
  • enhanced integrations implementation to allow deactivated integrations by default
  • improved wording around SFTP integration
  • improved default values for excludes

= 3.1.9 =

  • simplified process_pages class abstraction
  • fixed stripping quotes on HTML extraction
  • added security.md file to repo for updates via CLI
  • use TEXT instead of JSON in our DB table for SQLite (Playground) support
  • added default value for per_page parameter
  • removed deprecated SimplyCDN integration
  • fixed path resolving for /feed/ URLs
  • restricted redirects includes to full or update exports
  • set a recognizable User Agent for wp_remote_get requests
  • avoid checking against NULL for content_type (PHP 8.3 support)

= 3.1.8.1 =

  • turn off notifications on MU network settings
  • improved MU subsite checkups

= 3.1.8 =

  • several admin UI improvements
  • added tutorial videos for all major features
  • added a new DB column to store JSON data (for future features)
  • improved and fixed transient handling and expiration
  • added support for redirects with Redirection, Yoast and RankMath
  • auto-replace URLs in schema.org JSON-LD data from Yoast and RankMath
  • fixed typos in admin UI
  • removed SSL check from diagnostics (no longer needed)
  • added test deploy function
  • remove deprecated basic_auth_digest function
  • extended match_tags list for SVGs and other tags
  • more failsafe parsing with innerhtmlKeep instead of innerText (crawler)

= 3.1.7.4 =

  • fixed PHP notice related to server_cron setting
  • fixed basic auth validation in admin area

= 3.1.7.3 =

  • added new integration settings page
  • added admin bar as integration + toggle to enable/disable it
  • improved performance for diagnostics check (caching)
  • removed unused http_request_args filter
  • MU network page UI fixes
  • added quick links to plugins page
  • added option to whitelist plugins in diagnostics
  • restructed “Misc” settings and renamed to “Debug”
  • added option to use server-side cron job
  • adapted Jetpack integration to new integration class

= 3.1.7.2 =

  • added Jetpack integration
  • removed DO integration admin UI code
  • added progress bar to admin bar
  • Diagnostics sub menu page + notification center
  • removed can_wp_make_requests_to_itself() check
  • fixed PHP notices for PHP 8.3 compatibility
  • simplified log file output for certain deployment options
  • composer dependencies updated

= 3.1.7.1 =

  • improved hash validation for record storage in DB
  • smaller UI improvements
  • auto-generate index.html for feed URLs

= 3.1.7 =

  • Official PHP 8.2 and 8.3 support + fixes for various PHP notices
  • fixed saving multiline settings savings process
  • improved default settings on first installation + reset
  • extended the match_tags list for better XML support
  • improved URL handling when creating 404 pages
  • automated 404 page handling for various deployment options
  • added cache detection solution as part of diagnostics
  • added incompatible plugin detection as part of diagnostics
  • added notification logic if tests in diagnostics fail
  • improved XML sitemap handling in all SEO integrations
  • auto-include robots.txt file if exists

= 3.1.6.3 =

  • no more filesize limits on wp_remote_get()
  • removed empty settings page on network admin
  • improved various descriptions + added links to the documentation
  • added filter to set conditions before clearing local directory
  • avoid clearing special characters from Basic Auth credentials
  • auto-cancel export if Basic Auth is set and credentials don’t match
  • improved default settings handling
  • extended plugin compatibility list up to 100 (from 30)
  • unified 404 page option for CDN exports

= 3.1.6.2 =

  • new filter for extended DOM manipulation
  • fixed typos for optimization settings
  • exclude builds and single exports from clear directory

= 3.1.6.1 =

  • modified default parameters for ss_remote_args filter (file size based on uploads limit)

= 3.1.6 =

  • new multisite integration (network, import/export subsites)
  • improved 404 page handling
  • improved secure debug log handling
  • plugin compatibility database integration
  • admin UI improvements (labels, helper texts…)
  • updated translation files
  • improved version output in admin UI

= 3.1.5 =

  • refactored additional settings
  • introduced setting for origin URL
  • removed unused helper methods
  • improved requests to itself check in diagnostics
  • improved sanitization for multiline fields
  • load textdomain in init hook instead of plugins_loaded
  • NPM packages updated to latest releases

= 3.1.4 =

  • added log for replacing 404 pages
  • fix for 404 page in local directory exports
  • clear log before running new export to avoid big file sizes
  • extended ss_remote_args filter with async requests + max file size per request
  • improved sanitization for import/export settings
  • added filter for local URL check
  • improved secure log handling (dynamic filename + .htaccess rule)

= 3.1.3 =

  • JS dependencies updated
  • refactored filter implementation for tasks
  • added check for empty strings in excludes
  • removed unused blog_id check
  • changed location of debug log to uploads dir
  • check for Rest API in diagnostics
  • increased PHP version for diagnostics >= 8.0
  • whitelist Freemius API calls if Basic Auth enabled

= 3.1.2 =

  • WordPress 6.4 compatibility
  • Improved clearing logs
  • improved capability filter

= 3.1.1 =

  • improved admin UI descriptions in general settings
  • added support for 404 pages
  • added error message to WP_Error when archive dir cannot be created
  • added add_status_message method to Simply_Static\Options for WP CLI handling

= 3.1.0 =

  • fix for scheme/host when resetting settings
  • enhanced integration setups (GitHub objects)
  • fixed example for relative path setups in settings

= 3.0.9 =

  • PHP 8.2 support improved
  • wp_parse_url instead of just parse_url for fetching URLs
  • enhanced default options
  • increased min WP version

= 3.0.8 =

  • SimplyCDN auto include files
  • min WP version increased to 6.2
  • improved wording for progress in export log
  • improved Basic Auth handling
  • improved absolute URL replacement
  • Elementor integration: prevent replacing non strings in HTML

= 3.0.7 =

  • SimplyCDN setting now in React Admin UI
  • filter for capabilities in Rest routes
  • SimplyCDN improvements for webhook handling

= 3.0.6 =

  • removed type hints in Rest API abstraction for PHP 7.4 support
  • make sure we only trigger maybe_wp_die() if there is an error on export

= 3.0.5 =

  • fixed incompatibility with EWWW image optimizer

= 3.0.4 =

  • simplified url_exclude upgrade on update
  • disable browser autocomplete on basic auth settings
  • added additional notice with button in settings panel if all auto-migration fails

= 3.0.3 =

  • specific version check for migration handler
  • fixed schema option updates

= 3.0.2 =

  • fixed iterator for “clear_local_directory” option
  • reworked “force_replace_urls” to the new options patterns (boolean)

= 3.0.1 =

  • prevent error on merge excludes if not an array
  • bust object cache after migration

= 3.0 =

  • new admin UI for settings
  • new admin UI for diagnostics
  • new admin UI for generate
  • ported ajax requests to Rest API for better performance and maintainability
  • improved diagnostics with better (and more meaningful) error messages
  • conditional settings for certain setups
  • improved support for Windows Azure (path conversion)
  • auto-migration from old settings + manuall trigger
  • import and export settings via JSON

= 2.3.2 =

  • bugfix: Elementor asset loading via webpack
  • repositioned filter for HTTPS args to be able to modify all arguments
  • latest version of WP Background processing added

= 2.3.1 =

  • improved Elementor asset handling (free and pro version)
  • new filter to modify excludes

= 2.3.0 =

  • fix for Yoast sitemap inclusion
  • better approach to extract URLs from HTML
  • added support for WP-CLI integration
  • better task handling with ajax and WP-Cron with progress without reload
  • better quote handling in JSON
  • improved SimplyCDN integration and security token handling
  • fix for redirect pages by removing query args before saving
  • fix for Elementor Pro for data attributes

= 2.2.9 =

  • constants for Simply CDN implemented
  • remaining pages as argument in fetch URLs task
  • fixed log updates if running with WP-Cron
  • match_tags improvements for lazyload
  • fixed inline CSS extraction to avoid trailingslash for hexcodes

= 2.2.8 =

  • SimplyCDN form improvement for Elementor forms
  • reset settings now in Advanced tab
  • removed unused settings for MU integration
  • added tags to match_tags list
  • improved XML Sitemap handling with Yoast SEO
  • lowered min cURL version in diagnostics

= 2.2.7 =

  • SimplyCDN integration
  • added hooks for multisite integration
  • Elementor Pro support (Lottie files and videos)
  • fixed log time with correct timezone
  • removed WP-Cron option, now handled automatically

= 2.2.6 =

  • fixed typo in CookieYes integration class

= 2.2.5 =

  • integration for CookieYes GPDR plugin
  • integration for Brizy Builder (image extraction)
  • fixed 301 redirections with Redirection plugin
  • fallback solution for existing pages not being crawled due to URL parameter

= 2.2.4 =

  • reverted blackslash extraction producing invalid markup in CSS + JS
  • remember configuration for destination (while switching options)
  • unique nonce for Simply Static Ajax request to fix conflict with MiniOrange SSL On plugin
  • removed simply_static_page query parameters from URL on static site
  • automatically remove quotation marks on save additional URL/File

= 2.2.3 =

  • min PHP version increased to 7.4
  • ability to include files without filetype (_header)
  • Elementor support for bundled JS files
  • improved URL extraction in JS and HTML files

= 2.2.2 =

  • XML Sitemap auto-include for Yoast
  • XML Sitemap auto-include for RankMath
  • XML Sitemap auto-include for AllInOneSEO
  • XML Sitemap auto-include for SEOPress

= 2.2.1.1 =

  • improved path conversion for Windows
  • more fail-safe check for deleting local directory before export
  • WPCS code style updates

= 2.2.1 =

  • fixed path resolution on local path exports

= 2.2 =

  • improved URL replacement in script tags
  • fixed clear directory before export when using local path exports
  • added action fired after ZIP file created
  • fixed path replacement for Windows filesystems in Additional Files and Directories
  • untrailingslash path on transfer files locally

= 2.1.9 =

  • flag for cron execution with UNIX cron
  • additional save button in advanced settings
  • added filter to change the zip file name
  • increased refresh time for Ajax ping

= 2.1.8 =

  • new option to replace URLs with regex
  • new option to clear local directory before running a new export
  • decreased default batch size to prevent timeouts
  • decreased ping timer for faster log views
  • added filter to modify remote_get arguments
  • add actions to send messages/notifications based on task progress (ss_completed)

= 2.1.7.1 =

  • added exception handling for