JAMstack, the future of your websites?

Have you heard of this new development architecture? This mix of technologies was created to optimize your web pages and its advantages are numerous. If WordPress reigns supreme, there are still some very good alternatives. Let’s take a closer look at it!

The classic “WordPress like” method

The classic method is to use a CMS (Content Manager System) on a server that manages and generates all your content. WordPress for example does this very well and takes care of the data management, the generation of HTML pages and sends all this in your favourite web browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox,…).

The trouble with this technology, is that each time a new page is visited on your site, this CMS generates the whole page, and this manoeuvre will be repeated. All of this takes a lot of resources, time and energy as the server is constantly being interrogated to generate the HTML pages. The more complex your pages are, the more energy it takes to display them, and the longer it takes to display them.

This energy consumption and slowness can be avoided by using a “caching” system that avoids regenerating the pages on each visit. We can therefore make this system efficient and easy to use.

But then… why a new JAMstack technology?

In some cases, your site should not only display content coming from your CMS. Your site should potentially display “classic” content but also product information from your ERP, stock information from your logistics, restricted access from your internal identification system, open positions for your company from your HR management,…

And then…your favourite CMS can become your worst enemy. Development can become a real spaghetti dish, very difficult to set up, not to mention maintenance! JAMstack comes into play perfectly in such situations. It’s a set of technologies that is simpler and less energy consuming.

Good to know 💡 : The method is aptly named as J stands for JavaScript, A for API, M for Markup and finally Stack which means “stacking” several technologies.

According to its principles, static HTML, CSS and JS files are served directly, without pre-processing the data and without having to go through a back-end that generates all the data. All the interactive part is done via Javascript.

You process your content on a chosen management tool (WordPress for example). The JAMstack system, if necessary, will connect to the different data sources (CMS, ERP,…), and will generate your site. Once your pages are generated (the HTML, CSS and JS files), they are stored on a “cache” system called CDN (Content Delivery Network) and then duplicated on servers around the world. This means that these files only need to be generated once.

Le workflow Jamstack:

The resources initially created are therefore no longer called, and your site does not constantly need to query the database to display your page, as is the case with a dynamic site, which always consumes energy, and which can sometimes cause slow display.

Let’s not forget that the display speed can have an impact on your search engine optimization. Knowing that you have less than 3 seconds to convince a user to view a page on your website, Google will penalize sites that are too slow. By speeding up the display of your site, you are, in fact, strongly impacting your SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Don’t panic, your content remains in your hands. You always remain 100% autonomous in managing your content, creating new pages, and adding new media. We put tools in place so that you can update your content whenever you want. Publishing your content is a matter of detection and automation, the rules are defined according to your needs.

Let’s sum up: what are the advantages of JAMstack?

JAMstack is ideally suited to complex sites that need to connect to multiple data sources and would be difficult to create or maintain with more traditional technology.

For our developers, it’s another way of working, for your site another way of functioning, but for the end user, nothing changes! It is totally invisible. They will not notice any difference during their experience on your site (except possibly the speed of your site).

The strengths of this new technology :

• Simplified connections to multiple databases
• Fast website display
• SEO optimization 
• Lower hosting costs
• Eco-friendly method, less resources are needed

« A static site is still the most efficient and JAMStack is the perfect technology to manage and generate this site »
Olivier, Head of Technology @ La niche

Want to know more? Interested in this method? Contact us now and let’s meet ☕️