What is A ‘Static’ Website?

You have decided you need a new website. You now have some important decisions to make. There are two main types of website: Static and Dynamic. To understand which would be a better fit, you need to know a little bit about each.

This post will be a high level explanation of static sites and hopefully it allows you to learn a little more and inform your choice.

So What is A ‘Static’ Site?

Static websites are usually a collection of HTML, CSS and JS files, pre-rendered and delivered to the user’s browser just as they are stored on the server. This results in the experience for all users being exactly the same. Don’t be fooled by the name ‘static’, they can still have functionality provided by JavaScript (e.g. showing and hiding content based on the click of a button).

Advantages

• Speed – They can be extremely fast giving users a great experience.
• Affordability – They are cheaper to run than dynamic websites.
• Simplicity – They are simpler for developers to work on and work can be completed quicker.

Disadvantages

• Functionality – If you need users to be able to log in, or store any type of information in a database, then you will require server-side code (such as PHP, Ruby etc) and a static site will not meet your needs.

JAMstack

A recent development in the world of static sites is the JAMstack. JAMstack stands for JavaScript, APIs and Markup.

This methodology allows static sites to become more like dynamic sites, whilst retaining the advantages of being a static site.

For example, using a JAMstack, your site can have a CMS, meaning you can manage content and yourself, without the need for a developer to make the changes for you.

What Can Soft Sell Digital Offer You?

Here at Soft Sell Digital, we use a JAMstack. Generally we use the static site generator ‘Gatsby’ and headless WordPress as the CMS. This gives you the ability to manage your own content, whilst getting all the good stuff mentioned above in regards to static sites.

Our sites are fast, user friendly and built with mobile in mind, making them perform well in Google searches.

Get in touch today and see how Soft Sell Digital can power up your website.