Better default Rules for nanoc static site compiler (http://nanoc.ws version 3.x) that for the simple cases require little to no configuration. Files that are considered to be pages (based on a list of extensions), are appropriately filtered and routed for some common file types such as Haml, Markdown and Textile. All other text files and binary…

config.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
#
# This is the Compass configuration file for scss and sass file processing.
# Compass Configuration Reference: 
#   http://compass-style.org/docs/tutorials/configuration-reference/
#
# The compass utility looks for the configuration file in the following
# locations:
#   - config/compass.rb 
#   - .compass/config.rb 
#   - config/compass.config 
#   - config.rb 
#   - src/config.rb
# If this file is renamed or moved it must match one of the supported 
# paths above or the compass command won't find it unless the --config 
# option is specified.

#require 'bundler/setup'

# Load Compass plugins
#require 'bootstrap-sass'
#require 'bourbon'
#require 'susy'
#require 'zurb-foundation'

#
# Compass configuration properties
#
# To view the resolved value of any property below, use:
#   compass config -p PROPERTY
#

# http_path - The path to the project when running within the web
http_path    = "/"

# The target directory where the css stylesheets are kept. 
# Relative to the project_path.
css_dir      = "output/assets/stylesheets"

# The source directory where the sass stylesheets are kept.
# Relative to the project_path.
sass_dir     = "content/assets/stylesheets"

# The source directory where the images are kept.
# Relative to the project_path.
images_dir   = "output/assets/images"

# The source directory where the javascripts are kept.
javascripts_dir = "content/assets/javascripts"

# The output style for the compiled css.
#   :nested     - Each CSS rule and property on a separate line, 
#                 Rules are indented based on nesting.
#   :expanded   - Each CSS rule and property on a separate line.
#   :compact    - Each CSS rule on a single line
#   :compressed - Minimum amount of space with almost no whitespace
# For more details, on sass output styles, see
#   http://sass-lang.com/docs/yardoc/file.SASS_REFERENCE.html#output_style
##output_style = :compact
output_style = if environment == :production then :compact else :expanded end

# Indicates whether the compass helper functions should generate 
# relative urls from the generated css to assets, or absolute urls 
# using the http path for that asset type.
relative_assets = false

# Options passed directly to the Sass compiler. 
# Must be defined in this file to work with compass command.
# For more details on the sass options, see 
#   http://sass-lang.com/docs/yardoc/SASS_REFERENCE.md.html#options
sass_options = {
  :syntax => :scss  # use SCSS syntax
  #:full_exception => true,
  #:line_comments => false,
  #:trace_selectors => false
  # The debug_info option generates copious output to support the Firebug 
  # FireSass plugin for Firefox which shows the associated Sass line number.
  #:debug_info => true
}

nanoc.yaml

# A list of file extensions that nanoc will consider to be textual rather than
# binary. If an item with an extension not in this list is found,  the file
# will be considered as binary.
text_extensions: [ 'coffee', 'css', 'erb', 'haml', 'handlebars', 'hb', 'htm', 'html', 'js', 'less', 'markdown', 'md', 'ms', 'mustache', 'php', 'rb', 'sass', 'scss', 'textile', 'txt', 'xhtml', 'xml' ]

# A subset of text_extensions that will be mapped to pages with clean, no 
# extension URI's.  Any extension not listed here will retain its extension
# on output.
page_extensions: [ 'haml', 'htm', 'html', 'markdown', 'md', 'textile', 'xhtml' ]

# The path to the directory where all generated files will be written to. This
# can be an absolute path starting with a slash, but it can also be path
# relative to the site directory.
output_dir: output

# A list of index filenames, i.e. names of files that will be served by a web
# server when a directory is requested. Usually, index files are named
# “index.html”, but depending on the web server, this may be something else,
# such as “default.htm”. This list is used by nanoc to generate pretty URLs.
index_filenames: [ 'index.html' ]

# Whether or not to generate a diff of the compiled content when compiling a
# site. The diff will contain the differences between the compiled content
# before and after the last site compilation.
enable_output_diff: false

prune:
  # Whether to automatically remove files not managed by nanoc from the output
  # directory. For safety reasons, this is turned off by default.
  auto_prune: false

  # Which files and directories you want to exclude from pruning. If you version
  # your output directory, you should probably exclude VCS directories such as
  # .git, .svn etc.
  exclude: [ '.git', '.hg', '.svn', 'CVS' ]

# The data sources where nanoc loads its data from. This is an array of
# hashes; each array element represents a single data source. By default,
# there is only a single data source that reads data from the “content/” and
# “layout/” directories in the site directory.
data_sources:
  -
    # The type is the identifier of the data source. By default, this will be
    # `filesystem_unified`.
    type: filesystem_unified

    # The path where items should be mounted (comparable to mount points in
    # Unix-like systems). This is “/” by default, meaning that items will have
    # “/” prefixed to their identifiers. If the items root were “/en/”
    # instead, an item at content/about.html would have an identifier of
    # “/en/about/” instead of just “/about/”.
    items_root: /

    # The path where layouts should be mounted. The layouts root behaves the
    # same as the items root, but applies to layouts rather than items.
    layouts_root: /

    # Whether to allow periods in identifiers. When turned off, everything
    # past the first period is considered to be the extension, and when
    # turned on, only the characters past the last period are considered to
    # be the extension. For example,  a file named “content/about.html.erb”
    # will have the identifier “/about/” when turned off, but when turned on
    # it will become “/about.html/” instead.
    allow_periods_in_identifiers: false

Rules

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

# This Rules file is an attempt at a near zero configuration for the common
# use cases when creating a simple site with nanoc.  It's meant to have 
# better defaults so new users don't have to configure it much if at all. 
# For the most part, it copies all files from the content folder to the 
# output folder with the same name. It has the following features:
#
# * Certain predefined page extensions such as html, haml, md, markdown and
#   textile are routed to "clean" URI's (see below regarding Item identifiers).  
#   The list of these extensions should be specified in nanoc.yaml:
#
#   page_extensions: [ 'haml', 'htm', 'html', 'markdown', 'md', 'textile', 'xhtml' ]
#
#   All the files matching one of these page extensions are filtered through erb 
#   (except haml) then filtered through one of Haml, Markdown and Textile if 
#   appropriate. Finally, the default layout is applied.
#
# * All other text files with an extension not found in the page extensions list
#   and all binary files are routed with the same path and extension on
#   output as on input.  
#
# * Compass/SASS are much more easily supported just by uncommenting lines 
#   below and adding a config.rb.  This Rules file does not need to know 
#   where the .scss or .sass files are located which eliminates the need for 
#   special rules for scss and sass files and keeping paths in sync between 
#   this file and config.rb.  The compass config.rb must still be configured 
#   with the correct paths.
#
# A few helpful tips about the Rules file:
#
# * The string given to #compile and #route are matching patterns for
#   identifiers--not for paths. Therefore, you can’t match on extension.
#
# * The order of rules is important: for each item, only the first matching
#   rule is applied.
#
# * Item identifiers start and end with a slash (e.g. “/about/” for the file
#   “content/about.html”). To select all children, grandchildren, … of an
#   item, use the pattern “/about/*/”; “/about/*” will also select the parent,
#   because “*” matches zero or more characters.

# Use the compass sass framework for processing scss and sass files.
# To use, uncomment these two lines and ensure you have a config.rb for compass.
#require 'compass'
#Compass.add_project_configuration('config.rb')

# From nanoc.yaml, page_extensions
page_extensions = @config[:page_extensions] || %w[ haml html markdown md textile ]

# Preprocess items before they are compiled and frozen
preprocess do
end

# don't filter SASS partials
compile %r{/_.+/$} do
  nil
end

compile '*' do
  if item.binary?
    # don't filter binary items
  else
    if page_extensions.include?(item[:extension])
      # for page files, filter and apply a layout
      filter :erb unless item[:extension].eql?('haml')
      # filter by extension
      case item[:extension]
      when 'md','markdown' then
        filter :kramdown, :auto_ids => false
      when 'textile' then
        filter :redcloth
      when 'haml' then
        filter :haml
      end
      layout 'default'
    else
      # Filter if a scss or sass file
      filter :sass, Compass.sass_engine_options
        .merge(:syntax => item[:extension].to_sym) if
          %w[scss sass].include?item[:extension]
    end
  end
end

# don't route SASS partials
route %r{/_.+/$} do
  nil
end

route '*' do
  if item.binary?
    # Write item with identifier /foo/ to /foo.ext
    item.identifier.chop + '.' + item[:extension]
  else
    if page_extensions.include?(item[:extension])
      # Write item with identifier /foo/ to /foo/index.html
      item.identifier + 'index.html'
    else
      # Map extensions if necessary
      extension = case item[:extension]
        # Map scss/sass extensions to css
        when 'scss','sass'; 'css'
        else item[:extension]
      end
      # Write item keeping extension
      item.identifier.chop + '.' + extension
    end
  end
end

layout '*', :erb