Static Web Design using Laravel Jigsaw

The last few years have seen a huge rise in the use of Static Site generators and headless CMS platforms - we've been keeping an eye on a few of these and testing them out on various projects

Most website we build are either bespoke WordPress websites, or Ecommerce shops built with Shopify or WooCommerce.

Wordpress & WooCommerce provide incredible flexibility in terms of what a website can be used for, be this displaying relatively static information along with a blog, or dynamic custom information that can be filtered, subscribed to and interacted with by the user. All this with a relatively easy to use admin interface to change it all yourself.

Shopify is a great ecommerce platform which is quick and easy to get started with, depending on the project it can be the perfect online shop solution.

So why go static?

When we get the chance, we test out the latest technologies to make sure we're always offering our customers the best advice, and most suitable solutions.

Although they can become more complex than this - for a relatively simple site, using a modern static site (or flat file CMS) could be the best option giving you super speed and security.

Static Sites offer great security (there's no admin area to log into) and incredible speed (unlike a something like WordPress, the website itself isn't looking to a database for information about what's appearing on the page, building it on the fly, in a constant back and forth using up web resources. On a Static Site, the page has been generated before the user asks for it). 

Our latest site was built using the Laravel Jigsaw static site generator - it's a pleasure to code with and for this Property Management company was a perfect fit.  All that was required from their new website was a landing/home page and a privacy policy.  

Using a static site generator, it's easy for us to make quick changes, and add new pages with consistent parts (e.g. footer) if ever required.  If the client ever needed it, we could hook the site up to NetlifyCMS, giving them a user interface to add or edit content, which would then trigger a site rebuild. This admin area would be reasonably basic, but would be tailored to only give them the input fields needed, meaning content entry would be simple, quick and uncomplicated (this can't be said for many CMS platforms!).    

The site easily loads in under a second for the home page (which has a few large images on it) the privacy policy page (which is just text and a logo) loads in just over 250ms!  - if you're looking to improve your google rankings, speed is a major factor, and a static site can't be beaten for speed.