DEV Community

Discussion on: How do you convince a client to a static website?

Collapse
 
cearls profile image
Chris Earls

I spent the last two years championing static sites using SSGs and a variety of headless CMSs in a marketing agency. We ultimately came back to WordPress because our clients requested it and there's a lot of value out of the box. However, I still wanted the benefits of static sites (speed, security, scalability).

That's when we found a service called HardyPress. They host WordPress in an anonymous environment that goes to sleep when you're not using it. A static version of the site is deployed to a CDN when you're ready to publish changes. It's been the best of both worlds for us.

You do still have to think about what it would mean for your WordPress site to be static. Not all plugins will work. HardyPress does provide support for Contact Form 7 and search.

I have no affiliation with HardyPress. I just think it's an ingenious idea.

hardypress.com/

Collapse
 
starbist profile image
Silvestar Bistrović • Edited

I haven't heard of HardyPress, but I will take a look at it.

I know about projects with Wordpress REST API as a backend with static page generators. This is similar approach, I think.

Thank you for sharing.

Collapse
 
cearls profile image
Chris Earls • Edited

Yes, the WordPress REST API is another option, but it isn't used with HardyPress. You build your site like you normally would (besides not being able to use every plugin) and it deploys a static version of your WP frontend. Yes, this means your templating is still done in WP. We settled on using Timber to make that part less painful. :)

upstatement.com/timber/