Os geradores de sites estáticos HTML são uma boa opção para sua empresa?

Are static HTML site generators a good option for your business?

June 1, 2024 Roberto Magalhães

Static website generators are all the rage, but are they the right platform for your business?

Your business depends on your website. After all, this online domain is where customers buy your products, to learn about your company, interact with your employees, and get an overall positive impression of what your company has to offer and how you do what you do.

In other words, it is essential.

You've probably invested a lot of time getting the website up and running and perfected to your exact specifications. It's probably a dynamic website that includes all kinds of features and user experience perks to keep people coming back for more. Your content probably changes regularly (to keep the site from becoming stale) and you have a full backend CMS to make everything easier.

But what if there was a way to quickly generate static websites without having to deal with a lot of coding? Would that interest you? Before you get too excited, these types of systems are quite limited. You cannot generate dynamic pages/sites, complete with interactive JavaScript elements and database-driven content. These are simple, flat text pages that can provide information quickly and easily.

And now? Still interested?

They are called static website generators and they have a very specific purpose – one that can be useful for your business. Let's dive in and see if these tools are right for your business.

What is a static website?

First, let's answer this question. In the early days of web development, every website was a static website. HTML files were served that could contain images and links, and although these elements worked, their only function was to deliver resources to the page. That's why they were static – unless the developer made changes manually, the content never changed. It was static.

These types of sites were suitable for personal and small use cases. But as more and more companies jumped on the web bandwagon, the static website proved too limiting.

That's when the dynamic website came into being. These types of websites could dynamically change content and provide more and more information and products to consumers and the masses. To manage dynamic websites, Content Management Systems (such as WordPress) were created.

But for static websites, it was all about HTML and CSS coding. These were the only two languages you needed to build the 90s website of your dreams.

Why Use Static Websites Now?

We are past the 90s and static websites. So why are they coming back? The main answer to this is automation and DevOps. Thanks to these 2 technological advances, it is possible to use static websites in a way that can really benefit a business.

But it's not exactly what you think.

Your entire website will not be based on static content. Static website generators are used to enhance dynamic websites. These generators are a combination of hand-coded static websites and full CMS. This amalgamation of the 2 goes something like this:

You generate a static HTML page website that borrows concepts like templates (from the CMS world).
The content of these sites can be extracted from databases, markdown files, APIs, or any storage location.
The website generation is then done on a temporary server.
The resulting HTML files are then deployed to the live web server.

Unlike the original static websites of the 90s, these types of websites are not set in stone – quite the opposite. Since static site generators work based on the concept of templates, it is very easy to build and deploy similar sites from the same template but with different content. This can be automated so quickly that your users would never know the difference between static and dynamic content.

But is this type of system suitable for your business?

Firstly, the complexity of deploying a static site generator into your workflow can be a hindrance. It takes a bit of skill just to get the site generator up and running. You need developers and DevOps with the ability to work with a lot of moving parts to make it perfect. Automating the process is even more challenging. The rewards, however, are many:

Flexibility
High-Performing Websites
Fewer server-side dependencies
Greater reliability and security
Better support for versioning and testing
Faster deployment of new content
Automation, automation, automation
Using pre-cached pages for speed

The most important question you should ask yourself is: “Would the time and effort invested in a static website generator platform benefit my business?” It's a serious investment in resources. Not only that, but it's a completely different metaphor for content delivery, which can mean a significant learning curve for your teams. After all, they've probably been working with a specific platform for years.

Another problem is that you will find that many static site generators are still niche tools, so there is not a large community ready to help. This issue also helps increase initial setup time. This is an entirely new build process that your teams will have to integrate. And without a standard administrative interface, things get even more complicated.

Finally, if your site requires user logins, forms, surveys, or discussions, you will face even more complications.

Conclusion

So, once again, ask yourself: is it worth it? Yes, the benefits of employing static site generators can be incredible, but getting to that point will be a daunting challenge.

If you are still interested in checking out static website generator platforms, here is a list of options: