On the one hand, I think everyone should try to put together a simple website with a few pages in raw HTML, just to get an idea of how it works. And actual, semantic HTML is not terrible in this day and age, much better than it used to be. You don't have to learn a static generator to put up a website, because you're the static generator.
On the other hand, I've written a lot of HTML since the 90s. And there's a dirty secret behind why so many static generators exist--the effort of slapping together something that builds a site how you want it is similar to learning an existing system. Often, that's a short build script rather than some expansive framework.
On the other hand, I've written a lot of HTML since the 90s. And there's a dirty secret behind why so many static generators exist--the effort of slapping together something that builds a site how you want it is similar to learning an existing system. Often, that's a short build script rather than some expansive framework.