Building sites as files.
WHAT IT DOES
Produces a static site at build time, from content in various sources.
WHAT THAT PROVIDES
Very fast delivery No server required Excellent security posture, since there is nothing to exploit at runtime Cheap hosting
WHAT IT SUITS
Content sites Documentation Marketing sites Blogs
WHAT IT DOES NOT SUIT
Content changing constantly Personalised content Anything requiring a server at request time
WHAT THE DATA LAYER PROVIDES
Content from many sources, queried uniformly.
WHAT THAT COSTS
A learning curve, and coupling to the framework.
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Build times, which grow with content volume Rebuilding for every content change
WHAT ADDRESSES THAT
Incremental builds, where supported.
WHAT ELSE TO CONSIDER
Simpler static generators, where the data layer is unnecessary.
WHY
Many sites need nothing more than templates and content files.
WHAT TO EVALUATE
Whether the complexity earns its place.
