What Is JAMStack?
What is the JAMStack?
The JAM in JAMStack stands for Javascript, API’s, and Markup. It isn’t necessarily referring to a specific set of tools, but rather to a way of building both apps and websites. In the past, developers would turn to CMS (Wordpress/Drupal) but these platforms were clunky and tedious at best. And as user friendly as CMS platforms attempted to be, developers quickly came to the conclusion that they weren’t as efficient as they aimed to be.
So what are the standard practices of a JAMStack website?
- Entire site/app on CDN
- Atomatic Deploys
- Instant Cache Invalidation
- Everything has a home on GIT
- Automated Builds
These JAMStack websites can be built so that they don’t have to depend on traditional web servers. They can be built on top of technologies like Hugo, Jekyll, Gatsby, or other static site generators.
Why is it an important tool in web development?
JAMStack brings speed. You are able to create more and bring it to the client faster using this technology stack. Dynamic websites are beneficial for some scenarios, but can present a myriad of potential issues and often run slower than thier static counterparts. Keeping your website on a CDN can increase the speed and load time for your pages. Another bonus of using JAMStack and running your website on a CDN is the scalability features that it has to offer. It can also reduce costs by speeding up the development stage. The delegation of server-side and database operations removes a lot of points of failures & security exploits.
How can a web developer use the JAMStack?
- Decide what you’re going to use to build your website/app based on your needs and what these technologies have to offer.
- Choose a deployment website
Of course the better you understand basic JavaScript and how and what it does, the better you will be at stacking technologies.
What tools did you use to bring up your blog?
I personally used Jekyll and Netlify to create my blog.
Why did you choose those tools?
Quite honestly, I was a bit intimidated and felt that Jekyll was the most approachable out of the list of technologies from the first impressions. I used Netlify because I am familiar with it.