Introduction
At Betterize, we focus on providing the customer with very fast and modern websites that are also easy to edit and maintain.
The following are the primary challenges that need to be addressed in order to achieve this.
Easy way to edit content on the site
Typically, clients utilize tools like WordPress or Drupal for easy editing and addition of content to their websites. These are CMS (Content Management System) tools, but one of their biggest drawbacks is slow page loads and a relatively complicated user interface.
At Betterize, we wanted our specialists to be able to easily manage the content of the site, which would also be very fast. That's why we decided to use a Headless CMS solution to provide a simple and intuitive content management panel.
This solution also does not have any drawbacks related to a loss of site performance. Separating the site's appearance from the content management part enables the use of static generation for each sub-page, ensuring rapid loading in the user's browser.
Why do we host on a dedicated server instead of using off-the-shelf services?
A very common approach is to use third-party server solutions such as Vercel or Netlify, which greatly simplify the process of hosting and maintaining a site. However, the servers that these tools use are located in different parts of Europe. The greater the distance between the site user and the server, the greater the latency which translates into slower loading of the site. Therefore, we used a server located in the center of Poland to minimize these delays and ensure maximum speed for all users from Poland. In addition, such a solution gives us full control over all server parameters, so we have a 100% guarantee that all site parameters are set in the most efficient way.
Speed through modern technologies
We employ Astro as our website creation tool, which outperforms other tools in optimization. Astro's zero-JS user-side approach increases page loading speed, leading to improved SEO. The accelerated page speed encourages more user interactions on the site, such as signing up for a newsletter or filling out a contact form.
Section with speed check of our website
To highlight the significance of website performance, we have included a section for users to conveniently assess their website's score in the Google Lighthouse test. In 2021, Google introduced updated criteria for evaluating and ranking websites, with performance playing a substantial role in the overall score of a site.
Combining SSG with blog flexibility is a big challenge
When creating websites with a blog function, you can opt for 3 different methods of rendering pages:
- SSG - server site generating
- SSR - server site rendering
- CSR - client site rendering
More than 98% of pages on the Internet are created using CSR or SSR, as it is more convenient and simpler for developers. The disadvantage of these methods compared to SSG is the lower speed at which pages are delivered to the browser. SSG is the most demanding of these solutions, but if implemented correctly, it provides the fastest page loading and usage speed.
Adam Naworski