Static Site Generators, PHP and The Cuban Revolution

STATIC SITE GENERATORS, PHP & THE CUBAN REVOLUTION PHP SOUTHWEST

STATIC SITE GENERATORS, PHP & THE CUBAN REVOLUTION PHP SOUTHWEST

WHAT IS A STATIC SITE GENERATOR?

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP WHAT IS A STATIC SITE GENERATOR? ▸ A script or application that runs offline to combine content and templates into a set of finalised, static web pages. ▸ Content is commonly stored in Markdown files under source control. ▸ Often use an established templating library (Twig, Handlebars, Liquid etc) ▸ Deployable output requires no execution or interpreting by the web server.

WHAT ARE STATIC SITES GOOD FOR?

ANY SITE THAT DOESN'T NEED DYNAMIC CONTENT. James Titcumb @asgrim WHAT ARE STATIC SITES GOOD FOR?

I’M A FAN OF THEM WHERE A SITE CONTENT CHANGES RARELY (QUARTERLY / ANNUALLY PERHAPS)… BROCHUREWARE TYPE SITES. Steve Kirtley @stevekirtley WHAT ARE STATIC SITES GOOD FOR?

THE SECURITY ASPECT IS A BIG PLUS FOR ME. WITH NO SERVER-SIDE SCRIPTING LANGUAGE INVOLVED THE ATTACK SURFACE DROPS THROUGH THE FLOOR. Nev Stokes @nevstokes WHAT ARE STATIC SITES GOOD FOR?

THEY'RE HANDY WHEN YOU WANT THE HOSTING SETUP TO BE AS MINIMAL AS POSSIBLE (FROM GITHUB PAGES, OR AN S3 BUCKET, FOR INSTANCE). Tom Hazledine @thomashazledine WHAT ARE STATIC SITES GOOD FOR?

[FOR OUR PROJECT WE WERE] ALSO THINKING ABOUT LONGEVITY. HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT FOREVER! Sally Lait @sallylait WHAT ARE STATIC SITES GOOD FOR?

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP ADVANTAGES OF STATIC SITES ▸ Minimal and inexpensive hosting requirements ▸ Introduces no additional attack surfaces ▸ Fast - low user wait times, so better UX ▸ Simple and therefore long-lasting

WHAT ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ACTUAL FUNCTIONALITY?

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP FUNCTIONAL THINGS THAT REAL WEBSITES ACTUALLY HAVE ▸ Contact forms ▸ Content search ▸ Commenting ▸ Authentication ▸ A/B, multivariate, bucket testing

“SERVERLESS” (SOMEONE ELSE’S SERVER)

JAVASCRIPT APIS MISPLACED SENSE OF 
 NOSTALGIA

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP SERVERLESS YOUR HTML SITE THE CLOUD

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP THE 1990S YOUR HTML SITE CGI-BIN

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP ‘SERVERLESS’ THINGS WE ALREADY DO ▸ Analytics ▸ Mailing list sign-ups ▸ Social interactions, like, share etc ▸ Payment gateway integration (e.g. Stripe.js)

SERVERLESS ARCHITECTURE DANCES TO THE MELODY INSTEAD OF THE BEAT. @drewm STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP ADVANTAGES OF STATIC SITES ▸ Minimal and inexpensive hosting requirements ▸ Introduces no additional attack surfaces ▸ Fast - low user wait times, so better UX ▸ Simple and therefore long-lasting

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP ADVANTAGES OF STATIC SITES ▸ Minimal and inexpensive hosting requirements 
 Proprietary platform and/or third-party APIs (+ cost) ▸ Introduces no additional attack surfaces 
 Multiple additional attack surfaces, out of your control ▸ Fast - low user wait times, so better UX 
 Slow pages chock full of JavaScript ▸ Simple and therefore long-lasting 
 Brittle with multiple potential points of failure

KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GETTING INTO.

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP STATIC SITES ARE GREAT ▸ Be conscious of when you need a genuinely static site ▸ Keep weighing the pros & cons ▸ It’s really easy to fixate on the pros and end up in Con City

HOW CAN I DO THIS IN THE PHP?

SCULPIN sculpin.io Symfony-based 
 Twig templates 
 Composer install

JIGSAW jigsaw.tighten.co Laravel-based 
 Blade templates 
 Composer install

COUSCOUS couscous.io Designed for documentation sites Twig templates 
 Composer install

IN CONCLUSION

STATIC SITE GENERATORS AND PHP IN CONCLUSION ▸ Static sites are good ▸ Serverless is cgi-bin for hipsters ▸ SSGs for PHP are a thing ▸ I’ve been @drewm ▸ You’ve been lovely, thanks!