Why You Should Use Publii Instead of WordPress
Why You Should Stop Using WordPress For Your Blog and Choose a Static Site Generator Like Publii Instead...
People usually run their blog using a CMS like WordPress
When most people create a blog they immediately choose a WordPress blog -- or something similar which is also a content management system (CMS).
People usually choose a CMS because it is 'easy to change and update'. They are also not aware of the alternative.
A CMS is a dynamic website
A dynamic website is constantly running code to render the website - or in this case blog. Running code for every request has several drawbacks:
- Hackers can potentially inject malware into the site and have it execute.
- Pageloads are slow(er).
- The Website can become unreliable due to incompatible plugins, malfunctioning database, etc... Essentially, multiple parts need to work together.
- Hosting costs are high(er).
It may be a better idea to run a blog using a static website
The rule-of-thumb is the following: If all visitors to your website need to see the same pages with the same content, then you should choose a static website. If, on the other hand, various visitors to your site need to see different content on different pages, then you should opt for a dynamic website.
In the case of a blog, all visitors need to see the same content and the same pages.
Static Websites address the drawbacks of dynamic websites:
- Malware cannot be executed on a static website, simply because no code is running.
- Static sites load super fast. The HTML is already generated, so it can be served to the visitor straight away. No need to render anything.
- Fewer parts, which means that less can go wrong. No incompatible plugins or corrupt databases.
- Free hosting is possible on sites like Github or Netlify.
Static website can easily be created using a Static Site Generator
There is no need to be a coder to build a static website. For several years, so-called Static Site Generators (SSG) have existed. All you need to do is to create blog posts and pages in Markdown and then run the SSG to create the website.
When you want to update your static website, then you simply update your posts and pages using Markdown and then re-run the SSG.
The best-known SSG is Jekyll, but there are plenty of others. What does characterize most SSGs is that they are command-line based. For tech-oriented users, this is not an issue but for non-tech users, this is a major turn-off.
Recently there has been a new development, though...
A good and easy to use Static Site Generator is Publii
Publii is an SSG which has an easy to use GUI backend. This backend runs on your Desktop. No command-line knowledge is needed.
The ease of use makes it attractive for tech-users as well as non-tech users. Hence this a viable alternative to Wordpress and other CMSes.
Further Reading
https://www.themexpert.com/blog/static-site-generator-vs-cms
https://buttercms.com/blog/static-site-generator-vs-cms-which-is-right-for-you