What is JAMStack?

JAMStack is a way of building websites that strips out unnecessary complexity. Instead of running a large, traditional platform hosted on a server, you serve HTML pre-built by a static site generator, paired with a content delivery network (CDN) and APIs that do the heavy lifting.

This approach offers advantages like greater speed and better scalability, because the server doesn’t have to process each user’s request to generate the page content - as happens with dynamically generated sites, where a server composes the page the moment a user hits the app.

The dynamic components built on this architecture are powered by APIs, which means a faster experience for the user (UX) and a simpler one for the developer.

What does JAMStack mean, and where does the term come from?

JAMStack is an acronym. It stands for:

• J - JavaScript => the glue between static pages and APIs.
• A - APIs => a set of predefined interfaces through which different applications can talk to each other. An API lets applications integrate and exchange data and information without any human intervention.
• M - Markup => the HTML or XML code used to mark up the content of a web document and specify how it should be displayed in the browser.

What is a static website?

A static website is made up entirely of HTML and other static content (images / JavaScript / other files), which lets it load extremely fast. The content of static pages is ready to be rendered by your browser.

By contrast, dynamic websites generate their content as you visit each page, using code running on your machine or on a server.

One such dynamic platform is WordPress, known for its ease of use - but also for heavy load times, frequent security vulnerabilities, and errors that can take the whole platform down. The weaknesses of dynamic sites come bundled with more expensive hosting plans (they need resources to handle traffic), technical support, and maintenance to react quickly when the dreaded 502 errors show up, plus security software protections (WAFs).

Just how STATIC is a static website?

Despite the name, a static website can implement any feature found on a dynamic site through integrations with specialized APIs. For example, the comments section that comes pre-installed on WordPress is, for a static website, an API or web service.

If you’d like a quick chat so we can answer your questions about JAMStack, book a call with us:

📅 Schedule an online meeting with Cyber Shift →

These specialized features are built by a developer or a team of developers. As a result, static websites can have features such as:

• a comments section
• an online booking system
• an online payments system
• data forms, even with file uploads
• paid articles, shown only behind a subscription
• authentication
• an admin panel
• a search engine
• a product / article recommendation engine
• a real-time chat service
• a newsletter system
• analytics

And the list goes on…

JAMStack advantages

JAMStack can offer several advantages over traditional web development approaches. These can include:

• Greater speed: because page content is generated statically and pre-loaded on the server, users can access the web app or site quickly, without waiting for content to be generated dynamically.
• Better scalability: because the server doesn’t have to process each user’s request to generate page content, JAMStack can deliver better performance under heavy traffic or with a large number of users.
• Better security: because page content is generated statically, there’s no need for databases or other components that can make the web app more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
• Easier development: JAMStack simplifies the web development process through the use of APIs and static markup, letting developers focus more on the app’s functionality instead of configuring and administering the server.
• Lower costs: because JAMStack doesn’t need a server processing user requests in real time, it can be cheaper in terms of infrastructure and administration costs.

JAMStack disadvantages

This article wouldn’t be useful without also covering the less pleasant parts of running websites on JAMStack.

JAMStack can have certain disadvantages compared to traditional web development approaches. These can include:

• Limitations around dynamic content: because page content is generated statically, JAMStack can’t offer the same level of flexibility for displaying content that changes in real time. For example, a website that constantly displays updated news could be harder to build with JAMStack than with a traditional approach that uses server-side rendering. This is where our talented team of developers steps in, building hybrid pages that deliver the dynamic content you need without sacrificing speed.
• Dependence on APIs: to provide dynamic functionality, JAMStack relies on external APIs to supply the necessary data and information. If those APIs are unavailable or don’t work correctly, the web app or site can be affected. We make sure to integrate providers with an SLA of >= 99.99% uptime into the websites we build.
• Complexity: it can make implementing and maintaining a site more difficult than in a traditional web development environment. In JAMStack, sites are built from individual components that are often hosted on different platforms and have to be integrated together to work correctly. This can increase a site’s complexity and make it harder to identify and fix issues when they arise. The Cyber Shift team specializes in maintaining the JAMStack solution and makes it easy to pinpoint problems through the performance monitoring service we use to watch over every website we ship.

Use this link to schedule an online meeting today and discover all the advantages this platform has to offer.