Dynamic Websites vs Static Pages vs Single Page Apps (SPAs)

Summary

This video explores the various methods of modern web development beyond single-page applications. It discusses the use of static websites for simple content, dynamic websites for user-generated content like blogs and online shops, and single-page applications for an instant, app-like experience. The video also touches on the pros and cons of each approach, such as SEO challenges with SPAs and the performance benefits of server-side rendering.

Takeaways

• 🌐 The video discusses three main approaches to building modern websites: static websites, dynamic websites, and single-page applications (SPAs).
• 📄 Static websites are the oldest approach, consisting of HTML files served directly from a server without any server-side processing.
• 🔧 Dynamic websites involve server-side rendering where HTML code is generated on-the-fly in response to user requests, often used for user-generated content or frequently changing content.
• 📱 Single-page applications are the most modern approach, inspired by mobile apps, providing an instant and interactive user experience with minimal page reloads.
• 🛠️ For static sites, tools like static site generators can automate the process of generating HTML files from data sources, suitable for content that doesn't change frequently.
• 📚 The video mentions Gatsby as an example of a tool that can turn a React app into a static site, which is then enhanced with SPA features after the initial load.
• 🔎 Dynamic websites are beneficial for SEO as search engine crawlers can easily index the fully rendered pages served by the server.
• 🚀 SPAs offer high reactivity and a seamless user experience but can pose challenges with SEO and performance on slower devices due to the reliance on client-side JavaScript execution.
• ⚙️ Server-side applications are advantageous for distributing the performance load to the server, which is helpful for maintaining good performance on user devices.
• 🏗️ The choice between these approaches depends on the specific needs of the website, such as the frequency of content updates, the need for dynamic content, and SEO considerations.
• 🔄 The video emphasizes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution and that each approach has its own advantages and trade-offs.

Q & A

What are the three main approaches to building websites mentioned in the video?

The three main approaches are building a static website, a dynamic website, and a single page application (SPA).

What is a static website and how does it work?

A static website consists of HTML files that are served directly from a server to the user without any server-side processing. It's the oldest approach and suitable for content that doesn't change frequently.

How does a dynamic website differ from a static website?

A dynamic website generates HTML code on the fly per request on the server, allowing for user-generated content or dynamic content that changes frequently, unlike static websites that serve pre-written HTML files.

What is a single page application and how does it provide a mobile app-like experience?

A single page application (SPA) loads a single HTML file and uses JavaScript to fetch data and build the entire page dynamically in the browser, providing an instant, app-like experience without the need for page reloads.

What are the advantages of using a static site generator for a website with changing content?

Static site generators can pre-generate HTML files from data sources like databases or markdown files, making the site fast and SEO-friendly while reducing the need for server-side processing.

How does a dynamic website handle incoming user requests?

Dynamic websites use server-side languages and frameworks to parse incoming requests, fetch data from a database, and construct HTML pages with templating engines, which are then served to the user.

What challenges might single page applications face regarding search engine optimization?

Single page applications can struggle with search engine optimization because search engine crawlers may not execute JavaScript, which is often used to render content in SPAs.

Why might performance on slower devices be a concern for single page applications?

Performance on slower devices can be a concern for SPAs because they rely on downloading and executing JavaScript code in the browser, which can be resource-intensive.

What is the role of a templating engine in dynamic website development?

A templating engine defines the structure of HTML pages and specifies where dynamic data should be inserted, allowing the server-side code to stitch together data and templates to generate HTML pages.

Can you provide an example of a tool that combines the benefits of static and single page applications?

Gatsby is an example of a tool that builds a React app as a static site, which is then pre-rendered by services like Netlify. This combines the benefits of static sites for SEO and performance with the interactive experience of SPAs.

What are the trade-offs to consider when choosing between these three website building approaches?

The trade-offs include the need for server-side processing, the ability to handle dynamic content and user-generated content, the impact on browser performance, the speed of page loads, and the effectiveness of search engine optimization.

Outlines

00:00

🌐 Exploring Modern Web Development Options

This paragraph introduces the video's focus on the various methods available for building websites in the modern web development landscape. It emphasizes that beyond single-page applications, there are other significant approaches to consider. The speaker intends to discuss these alternatives, providing guidance on when to use each. The video is complemented by an article with additional information, and the speaker encourages viewers to subscribe, like, and share for more content.

05:00

📄 The Evolution of Web Development: Static to Dynamic Sites

The speaker delves into the three primary types of websites: static, dynamic, and single-page applications. Static websites involve serving HTML files directly from a server, which is the most basic method. Dynamic websites, the second approach, generate HTML code on-the-fly in response to user requests, requiring server-side languages and databases. This method was essential for creating user-generated content and dynamic sites like online shops or blogs. The paragraph concludes with an introduction to single-page applications, which provide a seamless, app-like experience without the need for full page reloads, and are driven by JavaScript executing in the browser.

10:02

🛠️ When to Use Static, Dynamic, or Single-Page Applications

This paragraph discusses the appropriate use cases for each web development approach. Static sites are ideal for simple, infrequently updated content, such as personal homepages. Static site generators can automate the creation of static HTML files from data sources for more dynamic content that doesn't require real-time updates. The speaker also mentions tools like Gatsby and Netlify, which can turn React apps into static sites while still providing a single-page application experience after the initial load. Dynamic sites are best for online shops and content that requires frequent updates and SEO optimization, as they generate content server-side, making it easily crawlable by search engines. Single-page applications, while offering a reactive and instantaneous user experience, can pose challenges with SEO and performance on slower devices or networks due to the reliance on client-side JavaScript execution.

🔍 Balancing Performance, SEO, and User Experience in Web Development

The final paragraph wraps up the discussion by summarizing the advantages and disadvantages of each web development approach. Dynamic web pages are praised for their server-side rendering, which is beneficial for SEO and减轻s the performance load on the client's browser. However, they may not provide the instantaneous feel of a mobile app due to the need to load new pages. Single-page applications offer a highly reactive and smooth user experience but can struggle with SEO and performance issues on less capable devices or networks. Static sites provide finished content, are SEO-friendly, and do not impact client-side performance, but they are less suited for rapidly changing content or user-generated content. The speaker concludes by highlighting the importance of choosing the right approach based on specific project needs and the trade-offs inherent in each method.

Keywords

💡Static Website

A static website refers to a collection of web pages that are delivered to the user's browser as-is, without any server-side processing. In the video, it's described as the oldest approach to building websites, where HTML files are simply served from a server without any dynamic content changes. An example from the script is a personal homepage that doesn't change often, which can be served as a static set of HTML files.

💡Dynamic Website

A dynamic website is one where the content is generated on the fly by the server in response to each request. The script explains that this approach was necessary for websites requiring user-generated content or frequent content updates, such as online shops or blogs. The server-side language and templating engine work together to fetch data from a database and construct the HTML pages dynamically.

💡Single Page Application (SPA)

A Single Page Application is a modern web application that loads a single HTML page and dynamically updates that page as the user interacts with the app, without the need to reload the page. The video describes this as being inspired by mobile apps, where user interactions are instantaneous and do not require a full page reload. SPAs are built using JavaScript that runs in the browser, fetching data and building the DOM as needed.

💡Server-Side Rendering

Server-Side Rendering (SSR) is a technique where the server generates the complete HTML content for a web page and sends it to the client. The video mentions that with dynamic websites, the server-side code handles incoming requests, fetches data from a database, and uses a templating engine to create the HTML content before sending it to the user, ensuring that the content is ready to be displayed without further processing by the client's browser.

💡Templating Engine

A templating engine is a tool that allows developers to define templates for HTML pages and specify where dynamic data should be inserted. In the context of the video, templating engines like Blade for Laravel or EJS for Node.js are used to create dynamic spots in the template, which the server-side code then fills with data fetched from a database to generate the final HTML pages.

💡Static Site Generator

A static site generator is a tool that creates static HTML files from a set of templates and data sources, which can be markdown files, databases, or other content stores. The video explains that these generators are useful for sites with frequently changing content, as they can pre-generate HTML files based on the data source and then deploy these static files to a server, combining the benefits of static and dynamic sites.

💡Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website in search engine results. The video discusses how single page applications can face challenges with SEO because search engine crawlers may not execute JavaScript, which is often used to render content in SPAs. In contrast, server-side rendered pages and static sites are more SEO-friendly as they serve finished HTML content that crawlers can easily index.

💡JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language that enables interactive web pages by manipulating the Document Object Model (DOM) in the user's browser. The video mentions JavaScript as a core component of single page applications, where it is responsible for fetching data from the server and dynamically updating the content on the page without requiring a page reload.

💡Performance

In the context of web development, performance refers to how quickly and efficiently a website loads and runs. The video discusses the performance implications of different website types, noting that static sites and server-side rendered pages have the advantage of not impacting the user's browser or device performance, as the content is pre-generated and does not require heavy client-side processing.

💡User-Generated Content

User-Generated Content refers to various forms of content, such as text, videos, or images, that are publicly created by the users of a digital platform. The video explains that dynamic websites are necessary for sites that require user-generated content, as the content changes frequently and cannot be pre-generated like in static sites.

💡Gatsby

Gatsby is a framework for building fast and efficient websites and web applications using React. The video uses Gatsby as an example of a tool that can turn a React application into a static site, which is pre-rendered at build time but then operates as a single page application once loaded, combining the benefits of both static and dynamic rendering for improved performance and SEO.

Highlights

Introduction to the video discussing modern web development and the various methods for building websites.

Overview of static websites served as HTML files on a server.

Explanation of dynamic websites where HTML is rendered on the server per request.

Discussion on the necessity of dynamic websites for user-generated content and online shops.

Introduction of server-side languages and frameworks used in dynamic websites.

Description of how dynamic websites use templates and data to generate HTML.

Introduction to Single Page Applications (SPAs) inspired by mobile apps.

Explanation of SPAs where JavaScript builds the HTML DOM in the browser.

Advantages of SPAs for instant user experience without page reloads.

Comparison between SPAs and traditional web development methods.

Use case for static sites when content does not change frequently.

Introduction to static site generators and their function.

Benefits of using static site generators for content that changes less often.

Discussion on the SEO challenges faced by SPAs and their solutions.

Advantages of dynamic pages for SEO and performance on slower devices.

Exploration of the trade-offs between server-side and client-side rendering.

Summary of the advantages and disadvantages of static, dynamic, and SPA approaches.

Final thoughts on the importance of choosing the right web development method for specific use cases.

Transcripts

hi and welcome to this video in the

modern web development world it's easy

to overlook that we have more ways of

building websites than with just single

page applications and in this video I

want to have a look at all these free

major alternatives we have which they

are and when you might want to use which

alternative for building your website

you'll find an article below the video

where you also read about that and

written form with some additional

information and so on as always if you

liked it would be great if you subscribe

like share and all the usual stuff let's

have a look

so which three different types of

websites do we have how can you build a

modern website the first approach is

deep oldest approach you have a static

website you have an HTML file or maybe a

bunch of HTML files you put these onto a

server and then on that server they are

well served to your users so if you user

enters your cool page calm or your cool

page calm slash about you get the

different HTML files served back and for

this I assume you know how the web

generally works of course if you want to

refresh her on that I do also have a

video an article on that but that is the

oldest approach of building a website

now the second oldest approach would be

that you build a dynamic website and

with that I mean that the HTML code

you're getting back in a response is

rendered on the fly per request on the

server now that is of course required or

that is of course something that was

required in the past because with that

static website approach where you simply

write HTML code and put that onto a

server you couldn't build things like

online shops or blogs so whenever you

needed user generated content or you had

dynamic content that changed a lot where

you want it to display what's in the

shopping cart of a user you can't write

these HTML files in advance right you

won't know what the user puts into his

cart and so so there we needed a

solution where the HTML files are

generated on the server and are then

returned to the users and that means

that you have some server-side language

like nodejs or PHP or Python often all

the way the framework like Express or a

level or Django for Python and the

incoming request would be parsed and

handled by the server side the server

side code would then reach out to a

database fetch some data from there and

then stitch all these pieces together

and build HTML code on the server

of course not from scratch and on its

own but instead you as a developer would

typically define a template and define

where the dynamic spots are in the

template where that dynamic data should

go into typically you would do that

with a templating engine like blade for

laravel or ejs or pug or handlebars for

nodejs and Express and then the server

would do all the heavy lifting and put

all these pieces together to then return

the finished HTML page to the user and

that HTML response then already contains

all the dynamic pieces so it really

allows you to generate different pages

for different requests now the third way

of building websites is then of course

to build a single page application this

is the most modern way and it was

basically inspired by mobile apps the

earth we click around things happen

instantly we never have to wait for a

new page to load

we might see a spinner occasionally

while some data is fetched but in

general we stay in that app experience

and things happen instantly we click

somewhere we instantly get a new page

and we wanted to bring that experience

to browsers as well because with the

dynamic website approach where the

server-side renders all the content of

course every click that loads a new page

results in a new request and then you

response at the page being generated on

a server and although modern engines and

so on are really fast there is of course

a slight delay and we might even need a

new page if no dynamic content changed

if we only went to our about or our

contact page and therefore a single page

applications emerged where are the ideas

that you have one single page an HTML

file that sits on a server and then only

that one file is returned back to the

user but in that one file the core thing

that happens is that a bunch of

JavaScript is loaded and started and

that's JavaScript code then executes

fetches data from a server and builds

the entire HTML page the Dom to be

precise what the user sees on the fly in

the browser so not on a server anymore

but in the browser the huge advantage of

that is of course that since JavaScript

runs in the browser and everything what

we see is rendered in the browser things

do happen instantly there is no

additional request that needs to be sent

to load a new page

occasionally there are requests which

need to be sent to fetch new data but in

the meantime we can show a spinner or

simply delay the navigation by half a

second or anything like that so there

are tricks to then improve the user

experience since everything happens

where the user is in the client so these

are the free approaches and often it

looks like single page applications are

the only way to go nowadays because of

that mobile app like experience for a

lot of applications they are a decent

choice but it turns out that the other

two options are not old and outdated but

have their place as well take static

pages if you have a very simple page

with no dynamic content like your

personal home page where things don't

change that often where you only update

your resume once a year then of course

you can build a bunch of HTML files with

some CSS and maybe a little bit of

JavaScript and deploy that onto a server

and you're done that is all you need so

why wouldn't you use that but even if

you have content that changes more

frequently like for example our website

academy.com where we publish new

articles and we shift things around and

so on then you can use tools called

static site generators where you have

some data source that could be a

database or a bunch of markdown files

and you define how your pages should

generally look like how the frame for

each page looks like and so on and then

this static site generator can be run by

you so you start the generation process

and the generator has a look at all your

data sources fetches the data takes your

predefined

HTML frame so to say inserts the data

and spits out a bunch of pre generated

HTML files not generated on a server but

on your machine or maybe in the cloud

but not as part of an incoming request

but before the page is deployed and then

you deployed that finished static page

onto a server the great thing there is

that there are even solutions like gets

bjs which allows you to build a react

app and then when you build that as a

static site gets me basically visits

every page a user could visit and pre

generates that HTML page by taking a

snapshot but then what you deploy

actually is both the state

Paige but then all's a single-page

application so no matter which page you

load and that's for example the case on

academy.com where we do use gatsby you

load the finished page you load the

finished HTML code but once it is loaded

a single page application takes over and

executes and thereafter you have that

fast mobile app like experience again

now that is the great advantage of

static sites and for a lot of use cases

there are a decent choice now dynamic

pages where the content is generated on

the server also can be great if you're

building an online shop where both

search engine optimization as well as

dynamic content matters or is present

then a dynamic page might be perfect

because single page applications often

have a problem with search engine

optimization because search engine

crawlers don't necessarily wait for the

JavaScript code running in the browser

to complete rendering especially when

you first of all need to fetch some

content from inside your JavaScript code

and their first search engine

optimization can be a problem with

single page applications it's not with

server-side applications where the

content is dynamically generated there

because they are you fetched a finished

page already so the crawler the search

engine crawler sees what the user sees

and that of course is great in addition

to that all the heavy lifting happens on

the server and the advantage of that of

course is that you don't impact the

performance of the app when it runs in

the users browser especially on slower

devices that can be a real thing and

therefore dynamic pages than dynamic

sites where the content is generated on

a per request basis on the server are

not going anywhere they're present

everywhere and they have their their use

case it's not like single page

applications are the only way to go

such server-side applications make a lot

of sense for use cases where you have

data that changes frequently where your

content is highly dynamic whereas search

engine optimization matters and/or where

you want to take performance away from

your users or not take the performance

away but take the performance impact

away from your users and do that on a

server of course you have the downsides

of being a bit less reactive and so on

but there always is a trade-off

for each of these options so to sum it

up we could say a dynamic web page has

the advantage of shipping you the

finished code it also does all the heavy

lifting on the server and therefore your

browser doesn't have to do that

the downside of course is that every new

page has to be loaded and you might need

to wait for that and therefore the

feeling is a bit less mobile app like

and in addition to that from the nent

back-end development is closer connected

because everything happens on the server

and of course you can kind of split the

work but it is definitely close to

connected then if you're building a

single page application where you as the

developer working on that are only

focused on the front-end and people

working on the API you might be talking

to are working on the back-end now a

single page application on the other end

has the advantage of that high

reactivity that great instant feeling

where you have no page reload time times

and where you have a really great user

experience but search engine

optimization can be a real problem a

solvable one but still it can be a

problem and in addition all the heavy

lifting happens in the browser and

especially on slower devices that can be

a problem also on slower networks

because all that javascript code has to

be downloaded to the user first and that

is something you absolutely have to keep

in mind especially when you're targeting

audiences with slower networks or

devices static sites are great because

they also give you the finished content

and therefore they are again great for

search engine optimization you also have

no performance hit because the page

doesn't need to be generated neither on

the server nor in the browser it's just

there already

because you generated it as part of your

development process already and that of

course is great the downside is it's not

really suited for fast change in content

or for a user-generated content because

well everything was pre generated and

you don't want to pre generate your

entire a page every second and setting

up a complete workflow using such a

static site generator can be challenging

if you want to fully automate it

definitely also something you can do and

something you might not need but if you

want to have a process where you publish

a new article and then the whole page is

automatically built and read

Floyd it's all doable but it might

require a little bit more work it's just

something to be aware of now that is my

summary these are the free options and I

hope it became clear when you might want

to use which and what the advantages of

each option are hopefully see you in our

videos to have a great time bye