Today I was reminded of the humble static website. You know, the kind that existed before we all got carried away with “modern web development,” otherwise known as convincing ourselves that building a website requires 37 dependencies, three build tools, and at least one mild panic attack.
Back in the day (and really, not that long ago), a website was a few .html files, a dash of CSS, and maybe, if you were feeling wild, a GIF of a cat chasing a laser pointer. And, shockingly, it worked. You clicked a link, it opened instantly. No spinning wheels, no console errors that read like ancient curses, no eight-second loading times where you could brew a cup of tea and contemplate your life choices.
These days, people look at a plain static page as if it’s some quaint relic, like a rotary phone or a top hat at a football match. “Why wouldn’t you use React?” they gasp, as if clicking a button to reveal a paragraph is an existential triumph. But here’s the thing: for most websites, you don’t need React. You don’t need a GraphQL API. You don’t need a cloud-based system that costs more than your weekly groceries. You just need a page that says who you are, what you do, and maybe whether you like cats.
Static sites are like that dependable friend who never cancels plans. They load instantly, never break mysteriously at 2 a.m., and can survive hosting on a pocket-sized server that costs less than a pint of lager. They’re lean, simple, and entirely unbothered by fashion trends, unlike the rest of us who feel inadequate because our npm folders are larger than some countries.
So, yes, the modern web has grown up and put on a lot of fancy hats. But sometimes, all you need is a single, sturdy, static page. Quick, reliable, and charmingly stubborn. And really, isn’t that exactly what most of us are looking for, in both websites and life?