I don’t learn about you, however I’ve been overwhelmed by all the online improvement instruments we’ve got today. Whether or not you want Markdown, plain HTML, React, Vue, Svelte, Pug templates, Handlebars, Vibranium — you may in all probability combine it up with some CMS information and get a pleasant static web site cocktail.
I’m not going to inform you which UI improvement instruments to achieve for as a result of they’re all nice — relying on the wants of your undertaking. This publish is about discovering the right static web site generator for any event; one thing that lets us use JS-less templates like markdown to start out, and usher in “islands” of component-driven interactivity as wanted.
I’m distilling a yr’s value of learnings right into a single publish right here. Not solely are we gonna discuss code (aka duct-taping 11ty and Vite collectively), however we’re additionally going to discover why this strategy is so common to Jamstackian issues. We’ll contact on:
Two approaches to static web site era, and why we should always bridge the hole;
The place templating languages like Pug and Nunjucks nonetheless show helpful;
When element frameworks like React or Svelte ought to come into play;
How the brand new, hot-reloading world of Vite helps us deliver JS interactivity to our HTML with virtually zero configs;
How this enhances 11ty’s information cascade, bringing CMS information to any element framework or HTML template you may need.
So with out additional ado, right here’s my story of horrible construct scripts, bundler breakthroughs, and spaghetti-code-duct-tape that (finally) gave me the SSG I all the time wished: an 11ty, Vite and Jam sandwich referred to as Slinkity!
A Nice Divide In Static Website Technology
Earlier than diving in, I need to focus on what I’ll name two “camps” in static web site era.
Within the first camp, we’ve got the “easy” static web site generator. These instruments don’t deliver JavaScript bundles, single-page apps, and every other buzzwords we’ve come to anticipate. They simply nail the Jamstack fundamentals: pull in information from whichever JSON blob of CMS you favor, and slide that information into plain HTML templates + CSS. Instruments like Jekyll, Hugo, and 11ty dominate this camp, letting you flip a listing of markdown and liquid information right into a fully-functional web site. Key advantages:
Shallow studying curve
If you understand HTML, you’re good to go!
Quick construct instances
We’re not processing something advanced, so every route builds in a snap.
Instantaneous time to interactive
There’s no (or little or no) JavaScript to parse on the shopper.
Now within the second camp, we’ve got the “dynamic” static web site generator. These introduce element frameworks like React, Vue, and Svelte to deliver interactivity to your Jamstack. These fulfill the identical core promise of mixing CMS information together with your web site’s routes at construct time. Key advantages:
Constructed for interactivity
Want an animated picture carousel? Multi-step type? Simply add a componentized nugget of HTML, CSS, and JS.
State administration
One thing like React Context of Svelte shops permit seamless information sharing between routes. For example, the cart in your e-commerce web site.
There are distinct execs to both strategy. However what in the event you select an SSG from the primary camp like Jekyll, solely to comprehend six months into your undertaking that you simply want some component-y interactivity? Otherwise you select one thing like NextJS for these highly effective elements, solely to battle with the training curve of React, or useless KB of JavaScript on a static weblog publish?
Few initiatives squarely match into one camp or the opposite for my part. They exist on a spectrum, continuously favoring new function units as a undertaking’s want evolve. So how will we discover a answer that lets us begin with the straightforward instruments of the primary camp, and step by step add options from the second after we want them?
Nicely, let’s stroll via my studying journey for a bit.
Be aware: In case you’re already offered on static templating with 11ty to construct your static websites, be at liberty to hop all the way down to the juicy code walkthrough. 😉
Going From Elements To Templates And Net APIs
Again in January 2020, I got down to do what nearly each internet developer does annually: rebuild my private web site. However this time was gonna be totally different. I challenged myself to construct a web site with my palms tied behind my again, no frameworks or construct pipelines allowed!
This was no easy activity as a React devotee. However with my head held excessive, I got down to construct my very own construct pipeline from absolute floor zero. There’s a whole lot of poorly-written code I may share from v1 of my private web site… however I’ll allow you to click on this README in the event you’re so courageous. 😉 As a substitute, I need to concentrate on the higher-level takeaways I discovered ravenous myself of my JS responsible pleasures.
Templates Go A Lot Additional Than You May Assume
I got here at this undertaking a recovering JavaScript junky. There are a couple of static-site-related wants I cherished utilizing component-based frameworks to fill:
We need to break down my web site into reusable UI elements that may settle for JS objects as parameters (aka “props”).
We have to fetch some data at construct time to slap right into a manufacturing web site.
We have to generate a bunch of URL routes from both a listing of information or a fats JSON object of content material.
Listing taken from this publish on my private weblog.
However you’ll have observed… none of those actually want clientside JavaScript. Element frameworks like React are primarily constructed to deal with state administration issues, just like the Fb internet app inspiring React within the first place. In case you’re simply breaking down your web site into bite-sized elements or design system parts, templates like Pug work fairly nicely too!
Take this navigation bar as an example. In Pug, we will outline a “mixin” that receives information as props:
// nav-mixins.pug
mixin NavBar(hyperlinks)
// pug’s model of a for loop
every hyperlink in hyperlinks
a(href=hyperlink.href) hyperlink.textual content
Then, we will apply that mixin wherever on our web site.
// index.pug
// kinda like an ESM “import”
embody nav-mixins.pug
html
physique
+NavBar(navLinksPassedByJS)
most important
h1 Welcome to my pug playground 🐶
If we “render” this file with some information, we’ll get an attractive index.html to serve as much as our customers.
const html = pug.render(‘/index.pug’, { navLinksPassedByJS: [
{ href: ‘/’, text: ‘Home’ },
{ href: ‘/adopt’, text: ‘Adopt a Pug’ }
] })
// use the NodeJS filesystem helpers to write down a file to our construct
await writeFile(‘construct/index.html’, html)
Positive, this doesn’t give niceties like scoped CSS to your mixins, or stateful JavaScript the place you need it. However it has some very highly effective advantages over one thing like React:
We don’t want fancy bundlers we don’t perceive.
We simply wrote that pug.render name by hand, and we have already got the primary route of a web site ready-to-deploy.
We don’t ship any JavaScript to the end-user.
Utilizing React usually means sending a giant ole runtime for individuals’s browsers to run. By calling a perform like pug.render at construct time, we hold all of the JS on our aspect whereas sending a clear .html file on the finish.
This is the reason I believe templates are an awesome “base” for static websites. Nonetheless, with the ability to attain for element frameworks the place we actually profit from them can be good. Extra on that later. 🙃
You Don’t Want A Framework To Construct Single Web page Apps
Whereas I used to be at it, I additionally wished some attractive web page transitions on my web site. However how will we pull off one thing like this with no framework?
Crossfade with vertical wipe transition. (Giant preview)
Nicely, we will’t do that if each web page is its personal .html file. The entire browser refreshes after we leap from one HTML file to the opposite, so we will’t have that good cross-fade impact (since we’d briefly present each pages on high of one another).
We’d like a approach to “fetch” the HTML and CSS for wherever we’re navigating to, and animate it into view utilizing JavaScript. This appears like a job for single-page apps!
I used a easy browser API medley for this:
Intercept all of your hyperlink clicks utilizing an occasion listener.
fetch API: Fetch all of the assets for no matter web page you need to go to, and seize the bit I need to animate into view: the content material exterior the navbar (which I need to stay stationary in the course of the animation).
internet animations API: Animate the brand new content material into view as a keyframe.
historical past API: Change the route displaying in your browser’s URL bar utilizing window.historical past.pushState({}, ‘new-route’). In any other case, it seems to be such as you by no means left the earlier web page!
For readability, right here’s a visible illustration of that single web page app idea utilizing a easy find-and-replace:
Step-by-step clientside routing course of: 1. Medium uncommon hamburger is returned, 2. We request a nicely accomplished burger utilizing the fetch API, 3. We therapeutic massage the response, 4. We pluck out the ‘patty’ aspect and apply it to our present web page. (Giant preview)
You may go to the supply code from my private web site as nicely!
Positive, some pairing of React et al and your animation library of alternative can do that. However for a use case so simple as a fade transition… internet APIs are fairly dang highly effective on their very own. And if you would like extra sturdy web page transitions on static templates like Pug or plain HTML, libraries like Swup will serve you nicely.
What 11ty Introduced To The Desk
I used to be feeling fairly good about my little SSG at this level. Positive it couldn’t fetch any CMS information at build-time, and didn’t assist totally different layouts by web page or by listing, and didn’t optimize my photographs, and didn’t have incremental builds.
Okay, I would want some assist.
Given all my learnings from v1, I believed I earned my proper to drop the “no third-party construct pipelines” rule and attain for present instruments. Seems, 11ty has a treasure trove of options I want!
Information fetching at buildtime utilizing .11ydata.js information;
International information out there to all my templates from a _data folder;
Scorching reloading throughout improvement utilizing browsersync;
Assist for fancy HTML transforms;
…and numerous different goodies.
In case you’ve tried out bare-bones SSGs like Jekyll or Hugo, it’s best to have a fairly good thought of how 11ty works. Solely distinction? 11ty makes use of JavaScript through-and-through.
11ty helps mainly each template library on the market, so it was comfortable to render all my Pug pages to .html routes. It’s format chaining possibility helped with my foe-single-page-app setup too. I simply wanted a single script for all my routes, and a “international” format to import that script:
// _includes/base-layout.html
<html>
<physique>
<!–load each web page’s content material between some physique tags–>
{{ content material }}
<!–and apply the script tag slightly below this–>
<script src=”most important.js”></script>
</physique>
</html>
// random-blog-post.pug
—
format: base-layout
—
article
h2 Welcome to my weblog
p Have you ever heard the story of Darth Plagueis the Sensible?
So long as that most important.js does all that hyperlink intercepting we explored, we’ve got web page transitions!
Oh, And The Information Cascade
So 11ty helped clear up all my spaghetti code from v1. However it introduced one other essential piece: a clear API to load information into my layouts. That is the bread and butter of the Jamstack strategy. As a substitute of fetching information within the browser with JavaScript + DOM manipulation, you may:
Fetch information at build-time utilizing Node. This might be a name to some exterior API, an area JSON or YAML import, and even the content material of different routes in your web site (think about updating a table-of-contents at any time when new routes are added 🙃).
Slot that information into your routes. Recall that .render perform we wrote earlier:
const html = pug.render(‘/index.pug’, { navLinksPassedByJS: [
{ href: ‘/’, text: ‘Home’ },
{ href: ‘/adopt’, text: ‘Adopt a Pug’ }
] })
…however as a substitute of calling pug.render with our information each time, we let 11ty do that behind-the-scenes.
Positive, I didn’t have a whole lot of information for my private web site. However it felt nice to whip up a .yaml file for all my private initiatives:
# _data/works.yaml
– title: Bits of Good Homepage
hash: bog-homepage
hyperlinks:
– href: https://bitsofgood.org
textual content: Discover the reside web site
– href: https://github.com/GTBitsOfGood/bog-web
textual content: Scour the Svelt-ified codebase
timeframe: Might 2019 – current
tags:
– JAMstack
– SvelteJS
– title: Dolphin Audio Visualizer
…
And entry that information throughout any template:
// house.pug
.project-carousel
every work in works
h3 #{title}
p #{timeframe}
every tag in tags
…
Coming from the world of “clientside rendering” with create-react-app, this was a reasonably large revelation. No extra sending API keys or massive JSON blobs to the browser. 😁
I additionally added some goodies for JavaScript fetching and animation enhancements over model 1 of my web site. In case you’re curious, right here’s the place my README stood at this level.
I Was Joyful At This Level However One thing Was Lacking
I went surprisingly far by abandoning JS-based elements and embracing templates (with animated web page transitions besides). However I do know this gained’t fulfill my wants ceaselessly. Do not forget that nice divide I kicked us off with? Nicely, there’s clearly nonetheless that ravine between my construct setup (firmly in camp #1) and the haven of JS-ified interactivity (the Subsequent, SvelteKit, and extra of camp #2). Say I need to add:
a pop-up modal with an open/shut toggle,
a component-based design system like Materials UI, full with scoped styling,
a fancy multi-step type, possibly pushed by a state machine.
In case you’re a plain-JS-purist, you in all probability have framework-less solutions to all these use instances. 😉 However there’s a motive JQuery isn’t the norm anymore! There’s one thing interesting about creating discrete, easy-to-read elements of HTML, scoped types, and items of JavaScript “state” variables. React, Vue, Svelte, and many others. supply so many niceties for debugging and testing that straight DOM manipulation can’t fairly match.
So right here’s my million greenback query: can we use straight HTML templates to start out, and step by step add React / Vue / Svelte elements the place we would like them?
The reply… is sure. Let’s strive it.
11ty + Vite: A Match Made In Heaven ❤️
Here is the dream that I’m imagining right here. Wherever I need to insert one thing interactive, I need to go away just a little flag in my template to “put X React element right here.” This might be the shortcode syntax that 11ty helps:
# Tremendous attention-grabbing programming tutorial
Writing paragraphs has been enjoyable, however that is no approach to study. Time for an interactive code instance!
{% react ‘./elements/FancyLiveDemo.jsx’ %}
However bear in mind, the one-piece 11ty (purposely) avoids: a approach to bundle all of your JavaScript. Coming from the OG guild of bundling, your mind in all probability jumps to constructing Webpack, Rollup, or Babel processes right here. Construct a giant ole entry level file, and output some lovely optimized code proper?
Nicely sure, however this could get fairly concerned. If we’re utilizing React elements, as an example, we’ll in all probability want some loaders for JSX, a elaborate Babel course of to remodel every part, an interpreter for SASS and CSS module imports, one thing to assist with reside reloading, and so forth.
If solely there have been a instrument that might simply see our .jsx information and know precisely what to do with them.
Enter: Vite
Vite’s been the discuss of the city as of late. It’s meant to be the all-in-one instrument for constructing absolutely anything in JavaScript. Right here’s an instance so that you can strive at house. Let’s make an empty listing someplace on our machine and set up some dependencies:
npm init -y # Make a brand new bundle.json with defaults set
npm i vite react react-dom # Seize Vite + some dependencies to make use of React
Now, we will make an index.html file to function our app’s “entry level.” We’ll hold it fairly easy:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang=”en”>
<head>
<meta charset=”UTF-8″>
<meta http-equiv=”X-UA-Suitable” content material=”IE=edge”>
<meta identify=”viewport” content material=”width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0″>
<title>Doc</title>
</head>
<physique>
<h1>Howdy Vite! (wait is it pronounced “veet” or “vight”…)</h1>
<div id=”root”></div>
</physique>
</html>
The one attention-grabbing bit is that div id=”root” within the center. This would be the root of our React element in a second!
In order for you, you may hearth up the Vite server to see our plain HTML file in your browser. Simply run vite (or npx vite if the command didn’t get configured in your terminal), and also you’ll see this beneficial output:
vite vX.X.X dev server working at:
> Native: http://localhost:3000/
> Community: use `–host` to show
prepared in Xms.
Very like Browsersync or different common dev servers, the identify of every .html file corresponds to a route on our server. So if we renamed index.html to about.html, we’d go to http://localhost:3000/about/ (sure, you’ll want a trailing slash!)
Now let’s do one thing attention-grabbing. Alongside that index.html file, add a fundamental React element of some kind. We’ll use React’s useState right here to show interactivity:
// TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx
import React from ‘react’
export default perform TimesWeMispronouncedVite() {
const [count, setCount] = React.useState(0)
return (
<div>
<p>I’ve stated Vite incorrect {rely} instances right now</p>
<button onClick={() => setCount(rely + 1)}>Add one</button>
</div>
)
}
Now, let’s load that element onto our web page. That is all we’ve got so as to add to our index.html:
<!DOCTYPE html>
…
<physique>
<h1>Howdy Vite! (wait is it pronounced “veet” or “vight”…)</h1>
<div id=”root”></div>
<!–Remember kind=”module”! This lets us use ES import syntax within the browser–>
<script kind=”module”>
// path to our element. Be aware we nonetheless use .jsx right here!
import Element from ‘./TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx’;
import React from ‘react’;
import ReactDOM from ‘react-dom’;
const componentRoot = doc.getElementById(‘root’);
ReactDOM.render(React.createElement(Element), componentRoot);
</script>
</physique>
</html>
Yep, that’s it. No want to remodel our .jsx file to a browser-ready .js file ourselves! Wherever Vite sees a .jsx import, it’ll auto-convert that file to one thing browsers can perceive. There isn’t even a dist or construct folder when working in improvement; Vite processes every part on the fly — full with sizzling module reloading each time we save our modifications. 🤯
Okay, so we’ve got an extremely succesful construct instrument. How can we deliver this to our 11ty templates?
Working Vite Alongside 11ty
Earlier than we leap into the good things, let’s focus on working 11ty and Vite side-by-side. Go forward and set up 11ty as a dev dependency into the identical undertaking listing from final part:
npm i -D @11ty/eleventy # sure, it truly is 11ty twice
Now let’s do some pre-flight examine to see if 11ty’s working. To keep away from any confusion, I’d recommend you:
Delete that index.html file from earlier;
Transfer that TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx inside a brand new listing. Say, elements/;
Create a src folder for our web site to reside in;
Add a template to that src listing for 11ty to course of.
For instance, a blog-post.md file with the next contents:
# Howdy world! It’s markdown right here
Your undertaking construction ought to look one thing like this:
src/
blog-post.md
elements/
TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx
Now, run 11ty out of your terminal like so:
npx eleventy –input=src
If all goes nicely, it’s best to see an construct output like this:
_site/
blog-post/
index.html
The place _site is our default output listing, and blog-post/index.html is our markdown file superbly transformed for looking.
Usually, we’d run npx eleventy –serve to spin up a dev server and go to that /blog-post web page. However we’re utilizing Vite for our dev server now! The objective right here is to:
Have eleventy construct our markdown, Pug, nunjucks, and extra to the _site listing.
Level Vite at that very same _site listing so it could course of the React elements, fancy type imports, and different issues that 11ty didn’t decide up.
So a two-step construct course of, with 11ty handing off the Vite. Right here’s the CLI command you’ll want to start out 11ty and Vite in “watch” mode concurrently:
(npx eleventy –input=src –watch) & npx vite _site
It’s also possible to run these instructions in two separate terminals for simpler debugging. 😄
With a bit of luck, it’s best to be capable to go to http://localhost:3000/blog-post/ (once more, don’t neglect the trailing slash!) to see that processed Markdown file.
Partial Hydration With Shortcodes
Let’s do a quick rundown on shortcodes. Time to revisit that syntax from earlier:
{% react ‘/elements/TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx’ %}
For these unfamiliar with shortcodes: they’re about the identical as a perform name, the place the perform returns a string of HTML to slip into your web page. The “anatomy” of our shortcode is:
{% … %}
Wrapper denoting the beginning and finish of the shortcode.
react
The identify of our shortcode perform we’ll configure in a second.
‘/elements/TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx’
The primary (and solely) argument to our shortcode perform. You may have as many arguments as you’d like.
Let’s wire up our first shortcode! Add a .eleventy.js file to the bottom of your undertaking, and add this config entry for our react shortcode:
// .eleventy.js, on the base of the undertaking
module.exports = perform(eleventyConfig) {
eleventyConfig.addShortcode(‘react’, perform(componentPath) {
// return any legitimate HTML to insert
return `<div id=”root”>That is the place we’ll import ${componentPath}</div>`
})
return {
dir: {
// so we do not have to write down `–input=src` in our terminal each time!
enter: ‘src’,
}
}
}
Now, let’s boost our blog-post.md with our new shortcode. Paste this content material into our markdown file:
# Tremendous attention-grabbing programming tutorial
Writing paragraphs has been enjoyable, however that is no approach to study. Time for an interactive code instance!
{% react ‘/elements/TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx’ %}
And in the event you run a fast npx eleventy, it’s best to see this output in your _site listing below /blog-post/index.html:
<h1>Tremendous attention-grabbing programming tutorial</h1>
<p>Writing paragraphs has been enjoyable, however that is no approach to study. Time for an interactive code instance!</p>
<div id=”root”>That is the place we’ll import /elements/TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx</div>
Writing Our Element Shortcode
Now let’s do one thing helpful with that shortcode. Do not forget that script tag we wrote whereas attempting out Vite? Nicely, we will do the identical factor in our shortcode! This time we’ll use the componentPath argument to generate the import, however hold the remaining just about the identical:
// .eleventy.js
module.exports = perform(eleventyConfig) {
let idCounter = 0;
// copy all our /elements to the output listing
// so Vite can discover them. Crucial step!
eleventyConfig.addPassthroughCopy(‘elements’)
eleventyConfig.addShortcode(‘react’, perform (componentPath) {
// we’ll use idCounter to generate distinctive IDs for every “root” div
// this lets us use a number of elements / shortcodes on the identical web page 👍
idCounter += 1;
const componentRootId = `component-root-${idCounter}`
return `
<div id=”${componentRootId}”></div>
<script kind=”module”>
// use JSON.stringify to
// 1) wrap our componentPath in quotes
// 2) strip any invalid characters. In all probability a non-issue, however good to be cautious!
import Element from ${JSON.stringify(componentPath)};
import React from ‘react’;
import ReactDOM from ‘react-dom’;
const componentRoot = doc.getElementById(‘${componentRootId}’);
ReactDOM.render(React.createElement(Element), componentRoot);
</script>
`
})
eleventyConfig.on(‘beforeBuild’, perform () {
// reset the counter for every new construct
// in any other case, it will rely up larger and better on each reside reload
idCounter = 0;
})
return {
dir: {
enter: ‘src’,
}
}
}
Now, a name to our shortcode (ex. {% react ‘/elements/TimesWeMispronouncedVite.jsx’ %}) ought to output one thing like this:
<div id=”component-root-1″></div>
<script kind=”module”>
import Element from ‘./elements/FancyLiveDemo.jsx’;
import React from ‘react’;
import ReactDOM from ‘react-dom’;
const componentRoot = doc.getElementById(‘component-root-1’);
ReactDOM.render(React.createElement(Element), componentRoot);
</script>
Visiting our dev server utilizing (npx eleventy –watch) & vite _site, we should always discover a superbly clickable counter aspect. ✨
Buzzword Alert — Partial Hydration And Islands Structure
We simply demonstrated “islands structure” in its easiest type. That is the concept that our interactive element bushes don’t must devour the whole web site. As a substitute, we will spin up mini-trees, or “islands,” all through our app relying on the place we really want that interactivity. Have a fundamental touchdown web page of hyperlinks with none state to handle? Nice! No want for interactive elements. However do you might have a multi-step type that might profit from X React library? No downside. Use methods like that react shortcode to spin up a Type.jsx island.
This goes hand-in-hand with the concept of “partial hydration.” You’ve seemingly heard the time period “hydration” in the event you work with component-y SSGs like NextJS or Gatsby. Briefly, it’s a approach to:
Render your elements to static HTML first.
This offers the person one thing to view once they initially go to your web site.
“Hydrate” this HTML with interactivity.
That is the place we hook up our state hooks and renderers to, nicely, make button clicks really set off one thing.
This 1-2 punch makes JS-driven frameworks viable for static websites. So long as the person has one thing to view earlier than your JavaScript is finished parsing, you’ll get an honest rating on these lighthouse metrics.
Nicely, till you don’t. 😢 It may be costly to “hydrate” a complete web site because you’ll want a JavaScript bundle able to course of each final DOM aspect. However our scrappy shortcode approach doesn’t cowl the whole web page! As a substitute, we “partially” hydrate the content material that’s there, inserting elements solely the place needed.
Don’t Fear, There’s A Plugin For All This — Slinkity
Let’s recap what we found right here:
Vite is an extremely succesful bundler that may course of most file sorts (jsx, vue, and svelte to call a couple of) with out additional config.
Shortcodes are a simple approach to insert chunks of HTML into our templates, component-style.
We are able to use shortcodes to render dynamic, interactive JS bundles wherever we would like utilizing partial hydration.
So what about optimized manufacturing builds? Correctly loading scoped types? Heck, utilizing .jsx to create total pages? Nicely, I’ve bundled all of this (and an entire lot extra!) right into a undertaking referred to as Slinkity. I’m excited to see the heat neighborhood reception to the undertaking, and I’d love for you, pricey reader, to provide it a spin your self!
🚀 Attempt the fast begin information
Astro’s Fairly Nice Too
Readers with their eyes on cutting-edge tech in all probability considered Astro at the very least as soon as by now. 😉 And I can’t blame you! It’s constructed with a fairly comparable objective in thoughts: begin with plain HTML, and insert stateful elements wherever you want them. Heck, they’ll even allow you to begin writing React elements inside Vue or Svelte elements inside HTML template information! It’s like MDX Xtreme version. 🤯
There’s one fairly main value to their strategy although: you’ll want to rewrite your app from scratch. This implies a brand new template format based mostly on JSX (which you may not be comfy with), an entire new information pipeline that’s lacking a few niceties proper now, and normal bugginess as they work out the kinks.
However spinning up an 11ty + Vite cocktail with a instrument like Slinkity? Nicely, if you have already got an 11ty web site, Vite ought to bolt into place with none rewrites, and shortcodes ought to cowl most of the similar use instances as .astro information. I’ll admit it’s far from good proper now. However hey, it’s been helpful up to now, and I believe it’s a fairly sturdy various if you wish to keep away from site-wide rewrites!
Wrapping Up
This Slinkity experiment has served my wants fairly nicely up to now (and a couple of of y’all’s too!). Be at liberty to make use of no matter stack works to your JAM. I’m simply excited to share the outcomes of my yr of construct instrument debauchery, and I’m so pumped to see how we will bridge the good Jamstack divide.
Additional Studying
Wish to dive deeper into partial hydration, or ESM, or SSGs normally? Verify these out:
Islands Structure
This weblog publish from Jason Format actually kicked off a dialogue of “islands” and “partial hydration” in internet improvement. It’s chock-full of helpful diagrams and the philosophy behind the concept.
Simplify your static with a custom-made static web site generator
One other SmashingMag article that walks you thru crafting Node-based web site builders from scratch. It was an enormous inspiration to me!
How ES Modules have redefined internet improvement
A private publish on how ES Modules have modified the online improvement sport. This dives just a little additional into the “then and now” of import syntax on the internet.
An introduction to internet elements
A wonderful walkthrough on what internet elements are, how the shadow DOM works, and the place internet elements show helpful. Used this information to use {custom} elements to my very own framework!
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