2023 Static Site Generator (SSG) Guidelines

Nuxt.js is a Vue-based framework, not a pure static site generator. However, it can be used as an SSR framework for building SPAs or as an SSG. It has a fully static mode that can be used to develop static sites.

In recent years, the way of building websites has changed a lot, and many new ways of building websites have emerged. Static Site Generators (SSGs) are just one modern web development technique for building websites that's becoming more and more popular!

In this article, we'll explore what a static site generator is, what to consider when choosing one for your project, and finally take a look at the static site generators worth considering in 2023!

What is a static site generator?

Static Site Generators (SSG) are software tools that take templates, components, and content sources and then generate the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files needed for a website.

A static site generator makes websites load faster because it pre-builds the necessary files needed for a website before a user requests it. A static site generator is a set of tools for building high-performance websites.

What are the benefits of SSG?

You can use a static site generator to create secure, scalable, and easy-to-maintain websites. They are becoming more and more popular due to their flexibility and performance. Static site generators are a great choice for developers who want to create websites that deliver both dynamic content and performance at scale.

When should SSG be used?

Static site generators are great for creating websites like marketing, documentation, and blogs. But not for when you want to display real-time, dynamic data that changes frequently. For example, stock trading or content requires a constantly updated SaaS dashboard. In such a scenario, frameworks that support server-side rendering like Next.js, Nuxt.js, and Remix can better meet our needs.

Factors to Consider When Choosing a Static Site Generator

Currently, there are over 350 static site generators[1] to choose from:

Let’s take a look at what factors to consider when choosing a static site generator.

project nature

The type of project we are going to build will affect the tool chosen as it is important to use the technology that best suits the requirements of the project. For example, while it is technically possible to use the same static site generator to build blogs, documentation, and marketing sites, other SSGs may be better suited for specific use cases. Hugo is a great choice for blogging and documentation, while Gatsby, Nuxt.js, and Next.js are great choices for marketing websites.

easy to use

Not every developer or team has the time and resources to learn a new tool from scratch. In many cases, having to jump into development right away leaves little time for deep learning. Here are some things to consider when choosing a static site generator:

Is the SSG built with familiar technologies, or do I need to learn a new programming language to use it properly?
Is the documentation detailed?
Are beginner tutorials and other study materials available to aid in the learning process?
Can templates and themes be used to speed up the build process?

technology stack

Compatibility of the SSG with the team's technology stack is critical. Using the SSG corresponding to our technology stack will not only increase developer productivity and efficiency, but also reduce development time.

Here are some SSGs and their corresponding languages:

Eleventy is a great alternative to vanilla JavaScript
Next.js and Gatsby are great for React developers
Nuxt.js is perfect for Vue.js developers
SvelteKit is perfect for Svelte developers
Hugo is great for Go developers

developer community

A good way to determine if an SSG is a good choice is to research its developer community. Developers tend to flock around good tools and software, so if it's well vetted, it might be worth considering. The developer community is also important for getting support and help, and when you encounter problems, you can get them resolved faster.

Maturity and Adoption

A good way to decide which SSG to use is to look at what others in the industry are using and how mature those tools are. One of the reasons for the widespread adoption of Next.js is that it is a mature framework with many powerful features and Vercel support. These factors have contributed to its widespread adoption in development.

Static Site Generators Worth Considering in 2023

In order to properly review the static site generators worth considering, we'll break them down into the following two categories:

Frameworks that offer multiple rendering methods, including static site generation: Gatsby, Next.js, Astro, Nuxt.js, and SvelteKit.
SSGs that only provide static rendering: Eleventy and Hugo.

Framework with multiple rendering methods

Next.js

Next.js is not only a static site generator, but one of the most widely used open-source, React-based frameworks for building websites and web applications. It supports server-side rendering (SSR), static site generation (SSG), incremental static rendering, and client-side rendering (CSR).

One of the great things about Next.js is that it allows us to decide how to use SSR or SSG for each page. This makes it a good choice for more complex projects that require multiple rendering methods.

Next.js was created by Vercel and currently has 101k GitHub Stars. Next.js also has well-structured and easy-to-navigate documentation for a seamless learning experience.

characteristic:

file-based routing system
Defaults to SSG, unlike other tools that default to SSR
Optimize images through its custom image component

Gatsby

Gatsby is also one of the most popular and widely used frameworks. It is an open-source framework based on React.js and is a great choice for creating websites and apps. It provides static site generation in addition to Deferred Static Generation (DSG) and Server Side Rendering (SSR). One of the great things about using Gatsby is that it offers a huge collection of themes, starter templates, and plugins.

In addition to its framework capabilities, Gatsby also offers a product called Gatsby Cloud, a cloud infrastructure for building and hosting Gatsby websites. Gatsby Cloud is to Gatsby what Vercel is to Next.js.

The Gatsby framework has an active developer community and provides extensive documentation.

characteristic:

Support GraphQL-based data acquisition
Has a huge plugin ecosystem with plugins for different use cases, including styling, images, analytics, and search
Supports integration with multiple CMSs, including Prismic
Multiple themes and starter templates available
Gatsby's cloud platform can access global CDN, cloud functions, etc.
Provides out-of-the-box image processing, compression and optimization via the gatsby-image plugin

Astro

Astro is technically an open source framework, not a static site generator. This means that even though Astro supports static site generation, it also provides SSR and has other features. For example, it supports integration with technologies like Tailwind CSS, React, Vue, and Svelte, and allows us to mix and mix them all in the same app.

Astro's Island architecture allows us to have interactive content on static pages. Astro islands opens the door to new ways for us to combine SSG with dynamic content. An example would be injecting a countdown timer component needed for a sales campaign into a blog page.

Astro abstracts the UI into smaller components on the page and replaces unused JavaScript with lightweight HTML. This makes the site load faster and reduces Time to Interactive (TTI), because very little JavaScript is sent to the client.

Although Astro is a relatively new solution, its exciting features have already attracted a lot of attention from developers. Astro provides a variety of integrations and themes that developers can use to enrich their applications.

characteristic:

Provide multiple themes
Offers multiple integrations
file-based routing
Native support for Markdown and MDX
Support for mixing multiple frameworks
Island architecture allows injecting interactive content into static pages

Nuxt.js

Nuxt.js is a Vue-based framework, not a pure static site generator. However, it can be used as an SSR framework for building SPAs or as an SSG. It has a fully static mode that can be used to develop static sites.

The latest version of Nuxt.js uses Vite by default, making it faster and more performant. Nuxt.js is very popular among Vue.js developers.

characteristic:

file-based routing
full static mode
Support Typescript
Zero configuration boot
Automatically import components
More than 160 modules available

SvelteKit

SvelteKit is a Svelte-based framework built by Rich Harris. It is the successor to Sapper, which was Svelte's first framework. Powered by Svelte, SvelteKit also has no virtual DOM, so it is very fast and performant. Similar to the other options above, you can choose from a variety of rendering methods, including SSG.

SvelteKit has gained more attention lately thanks to Rich Harris' move to Vercel. This move means that Svelte and SvelteKit are now supported by Vercel.

characteristic:

no virtual DOM
zero configuration
static site generation
file-based routing
code splitting
Hot Module Reload

Dedicated Static Site Generator

Eleventy

Eleventy, or 11ty for short, is an open source static site generator written in JavaScript. However, it does not rely on a specific framework to generate or deliver content. This is a great option for developers who are familiar with and used to working with JavaScript and Node.js.

Eleventy has grown in popularity over the years, especially as sites like web.dev, ESlint, MDN, and Netlify are built with it.

Eleventy is zero-config by default, has flexible configuration options, and adapts to any project structure. It supports several templating languages, including Liquid, Handlebars, Markdown, and JavaScript.

characteristic:

Flexible template system
Supports 11 templating languages
No client-side JavaScript required
fast build time
JavaScript friendly
Flexible configuration

Hugo

Hugo is a static site generator written in Go, optimized for fast build times.

Hugo offers content management features, making it a great choice for websites or blogs with many posts. First, it handles all content stored in markdown files in the /content directory, making it easy to publish and manage large amounts of content from a single folder. Second, Hugo has built-in support for pagination, generates a table of contents, and supports grouping content into categories and tags, known as taxonomies. Finally, Hugo offers word count and reading minutes features. Hugo also uses markdown for metadata, layout templates, and i18n configuration.

characteristic:

Cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, Linux, etc.
Integrated Google Analytics support
Use markdown to create content
Built-in pagination support
Support for generating directories
Provides pagination
Support internationalization (i18n), developers can quickly build multilingual websites
A great theme system, which provides more than 300 themes
In addition to HTML output, Hugo also supports other formats such as AMP and JSON

summary

Static Site Generator generates static sites quickly and easily. It has changed or is changing the way we build websites. In addition to the static site generators mentioned in this article, there are many good static site generators worth exploring.

Reference: https://prismic.io/blog/static-site-generators-2023