Working with Static Sites: Bringing the Power of Simple to Modern Websites

For years now, web developers have used powerful application servers like PHP and Node that could create our web apps. But recently there’s been a shift between how much we can do on an application server versus how much we can do on the browser itself—as well as what we can do on a mobile app. This practical book shows readers how static site generators provide a powerful middle ground between a full app server deployment and a simple collection of static files.

Written by two leading developers in the JavaScript community, this book teaches front-end designers, front-end developers, web developers, and web designers how static site generators work, the benefits you can expect, and what options are available. You’ll learn how to deliver static site files to the end user exactly as they are on the server, without using a server-side language or a database, using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Static websites today are just like vinyl LPs: they’re coming back. With this book, you’ll discover just how these websites still fulfill a vital need for bloggers as well as people who just want to disseminate information.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Why Static Sites?
Chapter 2. Building a Basic Static Site
Chapter 3. Building a Blog
Chapter 4. Building a Documentation Site
Chapter 5. Adding Dynamic Elements
Chapter 6. Adding a CMS
Chapter 7. Deployment
Chapter 8. Migrating to a Static Site
Appendix A. Appendix Title