Tweet

Static website wizard

Written by: Elchanan Rotstain

Article Overview: Static Site helps you with: Automated Search Engine Optimization Dynamic Site Optimization Static URL generator Convert dynamic pages to static HTML Ranking boosting landing pages Searchability & Accessibility Long ugly URL Internal Links Solves dynamic content problems Dynamic/static publishing Converts JSP, ASP, PHP pages Better than Apache mod_dir/mod rewrite/xqasp/HTACCESS solutions Creates spider friendly pages

Static website wizard

The choice between static and dynamic when building software for the web is a critical one, and one that I think deserves in-depth discussion.

In a dynamic site, pages are assembled "on the fly" as and when they are requested. Most server side languages as PHP, JSP and ASP powered sites do this technology by actively encourages dynamic content creation. Generating pages dynamically allows for all sorts of clever applications, from e-commerce, random quote generators to full on web applications such as Hotmail.

In a static publishing system, HTML pages are pre-generated by the publishing software and stored as flat files on the web server, ready to be served. This approach is less flexible than dynamic generation in many ways and is often ignored as an option as a result, but in fact the vast majority of content sites consist of primarily static pages and could be powered by static content generation without any loss of functionality to the end user.

Benefits of dynamic publishing

At first glance, the benefits of dynamic publishing are obvious. What is frequently ignored are the benefits of static publishing, at least for content-driven sites which don't have any heavy need for dynamic features. The most obvious benefit is performance; serving static files is what web servers such as Apache are optimised to do, and they can do it fast.

The reliability advantage

A big part is that it takes the pressure off of going live. You can be sure before going live that the published website is correct. The actual CMS may explode in flames, but the site will be fine. Going live with a web application is always a stressful process, and anything that reduces the stress of that is a great benefit. As time goes on, static publishing is also a big stress reduction for the system administrator, since a simple Apache configuration is a lot more reliable under different loads and configurations than any dynamic site will be.

Performance issues

Static site will increase the performance of any website or online application. Static pages will have a circular' effect on speed: static pages will take up less load time; less load time will allow for better performance under stress, and better performance will reduce the server stress and give the user faster downloads. Note, though, that accessibility should always have a higher priority than performance.

Static over dynamic - Conclusion

Not everything needs to be dynamically created. If there are pieces of information that have quite a long dynamic cycle, embed them statically, but perhaps allow for new items to be re-embedded easily, through a pseudo-dynamic process.

Static Site helps you with:

Automated Search Engine Optimization
Dynamic Site Optimization
Static URL generator
Convert dynamic pages to static HTML
Ranking boosting landing pages
Searchability & Accessibility
Long ugly URL
Internal Links
Solves dynamic content problems
Dynamic/static publishing
Converts JSP, ASP, PHP pages
Better than Apache mod_dir/mod rewrite/xqasp/HTACCESS solutions
Creates spider friendly pages

Related Articles
  Mail Merge Your Newsletter
  Dorothy, it’s about the shoes!
  Is your marketing focused?
  SEO For Dynamic Websites
  Free versus Registered Websites

Article Tags: dynamic generation, dynamic publishing, dynamic site, dynamic site, publishing, The choice between static and dynamic, web application, web applications



Related Forum Posts
Re: Google Chrome is not faster than firefox 3.1 - Hi bmueller47, to transfer from IE simply click on File (top left) then Import, select the IE radio button and follow the wizard instructions, hope this helps, Carol
Re: how do I get started with Wordpress blog? - bump.. I agree with the comments made by christew. Self-hosted (your domain and a downloaded copy of Wordpress from wordpress.org) is best for the serious business owner looking to build a presence online using a blogging platform. I usually use wordpress to create a blend of Static pages (to look like a traditional website) and have a blog component where new content is posted atleast once a week for my clients. Wordpress is very user friendly and has a very shallow learning curve if you are only adding content to it. If you are looking to add functionality (aka plugins) the learning curve is not bad even for someone starting off but sometimes you may need the functionality to look and behave slightly different than "out-of-the-box" and you may need some knowledge of HTML.
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - [quote:140e27hj]Customers Pick Static Documents over Blog Entries 8 to 1 on Average[/quote:140e27hj] Interesting study. Just as a commenter said on your post... don't call it a blog. I agree.
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - [quote="RussellWebb":34fthubv][quote:34fthubv]Customers Pick Static Documents over Blog Entries 8 to 1 on Average[/quote:34fthubv] Interesting study. Just as a commenter said on your post... don't call it a blog. I agree.[/quote:34fthubv] Yep, I agree with him (and you.) I don't think that the readers really have any problem looking at the blog once they've been sent to it, but it's just the word "blog" that's causing the problem.
Re: Are Business Owners too Old School to be Sold by a blog - [quote="Aaron@SmartDraw":q9f8iklf][quote="RussellWebb":q9f8iklf][quote:q9f8iklf]Customers Pick Static Documents over Blog Entries 8 to 1 on Average[/quote:q9f8iklf] Interesting study. Just as a commenter said on your post... don't call it a blog. I agree.[/quote:q9f8iklf] Yep, I agree with him (and you.) I don't think that the readers really have any problem looking at the blog once they've been sent to it, but it's just the word "blog" that's causing the problem.[/quote:q9f8iklf] Why not call it your "site"? It is an online site, simply different online formats. Shri


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Implementing Internet Business Ideas

Intro to Search Engine Optimization

Why Use an Advertising Agency

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.