But no, static site generator plus headless CMS is not the answer, regardless of how many comments here enthusiastically say so.
I’ve been down the static site generator rabbit hole for the past 7 years...and realized they aren’t really well suited for anything other than tiny developer blogs that don’t ever get updated (dev writes his occasional post in VScode)—-or, giant company marketing sites that get hooked up to enterprise-y headless CMS products like contentful.
If you’re somewhere in between, I’m starting to think Webflow is the answer. In fact, I’ve started moving all my side project marketing sites/blogs over to them and couldn’t be happier.
The problem with [insert static site generator] + [insert headless CMS] is that getting off the ground is a massive pain in the ass.
If you’re trying to set up a static site for your side project, let me give you a preview of what your next couple of weeks will look like:
First you have to pick a SSG. There goes a day of research. Then pick the next hot CSS framework (of course, you shouldn’t waste your time on this, but you will). Tailwind! Sick! Then setup a build process. Then troubleshoot the inevitable issues. Fixed. Then setup a git repo. Then hook the repo up to Netlify. Then hook up continuous deployment. Then get the domain. Then configure the domain to talk to Netlify. Then realize your hot new SSG doesn’t do any SEO stuff for you. Setup xml sitemaps. Generate proper tags & structured data. Then you have to create the actual site. Realize your CSS framework is overkill. You’re already a week in. Optimize for breakpoints. Cool. Almost ready. Now let’s write some content. Shit, I’m never going to write if I have to fire up my code editor each time. Look into headless CMS options. There goes a day of research. Pick one. Now Setup models in the CMS. Try to figure out how to hook it into your git repo and trigger deployments to Netlify. Realize the UI of the headless CMS you picked is clunky. Never actually write any content. Forget how you even set everything up. Get frustrated. You haven’t even hooked up any analytics or email signup capability yet. Give up.
On Webflow I’ve managed to cut the previous paragraph down by about 80%.
> Shit, I’m never going to write if I have to fire up my code editor each time.
This is the most important part. I edit my site by typing in a WYSIWYG editor and hitting the save button. It works on any Internet-connected computer I can get my hands on, without installing any software.
WordPress is a nightmare because of the issues surrounding speed, security and scalability. But if you use a static WordPress hosting solution (like Strattic for example - I'm the CEO) that solves all that, so you can benefit from WP's robust CMS while enjoying a perfect, static output. https://www.strattic.com
95% of your list is applicable to any other project you might venture on. This is absolutely nothing specific to static site generators. In fact, if you started a WordPress site from scratch, you'll probably be adding a ton more things to that list.
I run a couple of Jekyll sites, with Directus as my headless CMS, and my experience is pretty much the same as writing posts for a Wordpress site. I wrote the post in a simple editor, save it, and manually trigger a deployment on Netlify. Even the deployment can be automated if I were to set up some simple build hooks.
There are a view downsides and limitations, but nothing I can't live without. And it actually helps me keep everything as simple as possible.
> But no, static site generator plus headless CMS is not the answer, regardless of how many comments here enthusiastically say so.
> I’ve been down the static site generator rabbit hole for the past 7 years...and realized they aren’t really well suited for anything other than tiny developer blogs that don’t ever get updated (dev writes his occasional post in VScode)—-or, giant company marketing sites that get hooked up to enterprise-y headless CMS products like contentful.
> If you’re somewhere in between, I’m starting to think Webflow is the answer. In fact, I’ve started moving all my side project marketing sites/blogs over to them and couldn’t be happier.
> The problem with [insert static site generator] + [insert headless CMS] is that getting off the ground is a massive pain in the ass.
> If you’re trying to set up a static site for your side project, let me give you a preview of what your next couple of weeks will look like:
> First you have to pick a SSG. There goes a day of research. Then pick the next hot CSS framework (of course, you shouldn’t waste your time on this, but you will). Tailwind! Sick! Then setup a build process. Then troubleshoot the inevitable issues. Fixed. Then setup a git repo. Then hook the repo up to Netlify. Then hook up continuous deployment. Then get the domain. Then configure the domain to talk to Netlify. Then realize your hot new SSG doesn’t do any SEO stuff for you. Setup xml sitemaps. Generate proper tags & structured data. Then you have to create the actual site. Realize your CSS framework is overkill. You’re already a week in. Optimize for breakpoints. Cool. Almost ready. Now let’s write some content. Shit, I’m never going to write if I have to fire up my code editor each time. Look into headless CMS options. There goes a day of research. Pick one. Now Setup models in the CMS. Try to figure out how to hook it into your git repo and trigger deployments to Netlify. Realize the UI of the headless CMS you picked is clunky. Never actually write any content. Forget how you even set everything up. Get frustrated. You haven’t even hooked up any analytics or email signup capability yet. Give up.
> On Webflow I’ve managed to cut the previous paragraph down by about 80%.
I'm sure Webflow is a delight to use, but some 20 dollars a month is an insane amount to pay if you run several projects that might or might not be profitable.
I'm already paying some something like 12 dollars a month for domains on average and 10 dollars for a small web server which adds quickly up. If I had to run all the projects on something not-self-managed, we'd be talking about hundreds every month.
> 20 dollars a month is an insane amount to pay if you run several projects that might or might not be profitable
I used to have this mentality as well. Do everything for free, use open source, self-host everything--the classic frugal hacker mindset.
Then I realized that I was spending 80+ hours tinkering around with static sites and different headless CMS option and had done absolutely none of the actual work required to bring people to my sites (which is the more important work).
When I take small freelance gigs I charge roughly $100/hr. That means I spent $8,000 of my own time on tinkering around with what was essentially bullshit.
Forcing myself to pay for SaaS tools has been amazing at focusing my attention. It's a perfect signal for what I should be working on.
If I don't feel confident investing $20/month in a site for my project, why the hell is anybody going to feel confident paying that or more for what I'm creating?
It's forced me to kill what's not worth my time, and focus on what actually has the real potential.
But no, static site generator plus headless CMS is not the answer, regardless of how many comments here enthusiastically say so.
I’ve been down the static site generator rabbit hole for the past 7 years...and realized they aren’t really well suited for anything other than tiny developer blogs that don’t ever get updated (dev writes his occasional post in VScode)—-or, giant company marketing sites that get hooked up to enterprise-y headless CMS products like contentful.
If you’re somewhere in between, I’m starting to think Webflow is the answer. In fact, I’ve started moving all my side project marketing sites/blogs over to them and couldn’t be happier.
The problem with [insert static site generator] + [insert headless CMS] is that getting off the ground is a massive pain in the ass.
If you’re trying to set up a static site for your side project, let me give you a preview of what your next couple of weeks will look like:
First you have to pick a SSG. There goes a day of research. Then pick the next hot CSS framework (of course, you shouldn’t waste your time on this, but you will). Tailwind! Sick! Then setup a build process. Then troubleshoot the inevitable issues. Fixed. Then setup a git repo. Then hook the repo up to Netlify. Then hook up continuous deployment. Then get the domain. Then configure the domain to talk to Netlify. Then realize your hot new SSG doesn’t do any SEO stuff for you. Setup xml sitemaps. Generate proper tags & structured data. Then you have to create the actual site. Realize your CSS framework is overkill. You’re already a week in. Optimize for breakpoints. Cool. Almost ready. Now let’s write some content. Shit, I’m never going to write if I have to fire up my code editor each time. Look into headless CMS options. There goes a day of research. Pick one. Now Setup models in the CMS. Try to figure out how to hook it into your git repo and trigger deployments to Netlify. Realize the UI of the headless CMS you picked is clunky. Never actually write any content. Forget how you even set everything up. Get frustrated. You haven’t even hooked up any analytics or email signup capability yet. Give up.
On Webflow I’ve managed to cut the previous paragraph down by about 80%.