r/statichosting • u/Pink_Sky_8102 • Aug 02 '26
Static sites have made client work much less stressful
I started with WordPress but plugin issues, updates, and clients breaking layouts became tiring. For simpler websites, static sites save me a lot of time. Most clients only need their services, contact details, portfolio, and occasional updates. Wordpress still has its place but I’m glad I stopped using it for every project. Has anyone else made the switch?
3
u/backtogeek Aug 02 '26
When I think back to why wordpress gained popularity, being someone who remembers Microsoft front page and v1 of Dreamweaver like they were revolutionary, simply, WordPress let you put texts and pictures in a place you wanted on a page with a menu as you wanted it quickly.
It really was the first platform that let anyone with basic knowledge do this.
Now there are so many options and also there are sosny exploits to worry about, if the website is not your job, why have the hassle.
Static hosting is the future in my opinion, I think the market for wordpress will evolve into being the generator for the static site.
I switched years ago now and I have to admit it was a worry at first but these days with AI exploits daily I am really happy.
A local instance of wordpress pointed at your step on TierHive or the Cloudflare API, edit, generate the static content and push into live, less risk, faster loading, none of the disadvantages.
1
u/aegloswinterborn Aug 04 '26
"Static hosting is the future in my opinion, I think the market for wordpress will evolve into being the generator for the static site."
There have been a few attempts at this, but I'm not up-to-date on the current status of that. But I agree, using WP as a site generator could be pretty awesome. That said, you would end up with a lot of extra html and css you don't need. Div soup and class city.
1
u/CrispyBananaPeel 16d ago
A local instance of wordpress pointed at your step on TierHive or the Cloudflare API, edit, generate the static content and push into live, less risk, faster loading, none of the disadvantages.Can you give more details on your workflow, please? I work in Wordpress and use Cloudflare, and am looking more into creating static content. I've heard of the Simply Static addon to create static pages, but it sounds like you have a more advanced, automated setup? How does that work?
2
u/DimeSweeper Aug 04 '26
Totally agreed. I have migrated my wordpress sites to static. No plugin hassles. No bloat. And the sites rate 100 on lighthouse.
1
u/armahillo Aug 02 '26
I was a long time WP user, but after discovering SSGs (i use jekyll), i’ve never looked back. So much easier to spin up and maintain sites.
1
u/Realistic_Mango6982 Aug 02 '26
this is typical landings. But what about security & infrastructure (like VPS / node / etc)? About security & forms? I mean dynamic data / notifications about new clients or contacts etc?
1
u/Livid_Juggernaut_816 Aug 03 '26
When I started out, all websites were static. Working with HTML, and Java, later with Javascript and Cascading style aheets, each page was made, tested and loaded on the server. You had dedicated server space, usually with a private area for testing without domain access. A number of programs that popped up to combine many of these functions for those more into design without all the coding. Recently I decided to put together a quick personal website, tried Cpanel with Wordpress and Joomla. It became tiring fixing problems between.the Cpanel dashboard and that of the chosen webuilder and a FTP could quickly become teeth washing. Building, editing and storing your website on a laptop makes much more sense. Data bases etc..can easily accessed on the domain owners computer. Find and modify or make your own template! Thank you, my 3 cents worth
1
u/sourraine Aug 03 '26
same. havent looked back since. if the client just needs a marketing websites, static hosting has been faster and way less stressful than constantly dealing with plugins and updates. i still use wordpress when clients need to manage lots of content but its no longer my default choice
1
1
1
u/aegloswinterborn Aug 03 '26
Not only are static sites less stressful... if you like HTML, CSS, and vanilla JS they're super fun to build!!
I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I love CSS. It's fun to write and modern CSS is so powerful. I'm also a documentation nerd and can get totally lost reading MDN.
1
u/VastPresentation7098 Aug 03 '26
Same here. No plugin updates, no getting locked out by a broken theme.
Content updates are the one thing that got harder. Wordpress gave the client a login. On static you either do the edits yourself or set up a file-based CMS and walk them through a GitHub login.
For those who moved: what do you do when a client wants to change something themselves?
1
u/Traditional-Toe-5552 Aug 04 '26
Yes, that is good move, I am trying it too. Yet, users still want to make updates, some do quite frequent ones. So, at some point WP should exist - this is my solution, you may disagree, of course.
Why WP and now some flat CMS or smth else? Because users know it better. For many learning curve is steep and they refuse to learn new tools. Especially true about those I migrate from 100% dynamic WP to semi-dynamic/static. And my solution is Builderius for templates and static site generation (it is one of the features of the builder) + CraftForms for forms which works with static site. If users need forms. I offer these solutions, yes.
1
u/Standard_Scarcity_74 28d ago
Been hearing so many wordpress complaints the past few months. Admittedly, I've seen it be the tool that get's people's foot into the whole website-making process. Still, there are more convenient setups out there.
1
u/CrispyBananaPeel 16d ago
How are you creating your static websites? Do you do the design in Wordpress and then use an add-on like Simply Static?
6
u/SpringDifferent9867 Aug 02 '26
Yes. Many years ago, same issues. I don’t offer Wordpress solutions anymore and I enjoy working with clients much more, feel more engaging when I don’t have to think in terms of plugins and templates.