Almost-Static Websites
If you are not interested in web development, then skip this article.
Unless, that is, you have a web developer in your startup who is complaining that the framework he or she has to use is overkill for the simple landing page that you need.
Introduction
A few months ago I decided that I was fed up with web frameworks like React, NextJS, RedwoodJS, and so on.
Most of my little websites are one-pagers, and so using a full-on web development framework is like bringing an excavator along on a day out to the beach with the kids.
A responsive HTML5 static web page is fine.
The pros
The advantages of a static website are:
The cons
However, there is one thing - static web pages cannot receive feedback from the site visitors. Specifically, they don't handle forms, and you need forms if you want people to sign up to a mailing list on your startup's landing page.
As it turns out, there is no way to have a static website handle forms. You do need a web server for forms.
But what you don't need is a web framework where the developers love to introduce breaking changes for every major release, and move everything around into different folders or re-architect the framework model so you spend most of your time playing a game of "where is it now?"
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The solution
After several days of research I had to conclude that a true static website was never going to be able to deal with forms. The best I could come up with was to find the simplest free JavaScript webserver out there, which appears to be Express.
With it you lose the benefit of not having a process running on the server, but you gain the capability for form parsing.
And so I present a repository with the simplest web server setup I could come up with to allow you to process forms:
One file for the web server, one for the web page, and one as a response when someone subscribes. No database is used, so there's no risk of an SQL injection attack, which makes this about as simple and easy as it can be.
Examples
I use this template for the following websites that I host on my home server:
SVP, Strategic Partnerships I Former CFO & COO I Ranked #1 for LinkedIn Community Growth (USA) I Author, The Future of Community I Speaker and LinkedIn Community Building Strategist
11 个月Love this Keir Finlow-Bates !
Co-Founder @ Pakana and Firm Solutions
11 个月I have had this same experience and I am a “seasoned” DotNet developer. I have solved it a couple of different ways. I have settled on two solutions depending upon the situation. 1) Embed Google Forms 2) I setup an Azure function to accept a POST request from my forms then I save the data to Azure Table Storage. I pass along some hashed data that I use as a simple verification of the request source to prevent spam. Azure has recently added a database capability to the Static Web App service that I am going to try next time. https://www.online-tech-tips.com/google/how-to-embed-google-forms-on-your-website/
Technical Solutions Architect @ localhost % | Solutions Engineering
11 个月Hacked together similar a few years back (needs a serious rewrite and some thought): https://github.com/localhost-international/website. I use it for both https://localhost.international/ and https://leslieoa.com/. I use markdown for my content, and one JS file for pages transitions. Works without JS, and tested on text/line mode browsers. I really should improve it. Ah! Also: “free” hosting on GH pages.
Founder @ LVS.ai
11 个月I've mentioned HTMX before in other comments, but since nobody really cares about my suggestions here it is again .. https://htmx.org/
Cyber-Security Analyst | Freelance Developer
11 个月Definitely a need for it. HTMX?