Web Development Beginner

What is Static Site Generator (SSG)?

A tool that generates a complete static HTML website from templates and content at build time, requiring no server-side processing.

SSGs pre-render all pages at build time, producing plain HTML/CSS/JS files that can be served from any web server or CDN. This provides excellent performance, security (no server-side code), and reliability.

Popular SSGs include Hugo (Go), Jekyll (Ruby), Gatsby (React), Eleventy (JS), and Astro. Content can come from Markdown files, headless CMSs, or APIs. SSGs are ideal for blogs, documentation, marketing sites, and any content that does not change per-request.

Related Terms

The second major version of HTTP that improves performance through multiplexing, header compression, and server push.

WebAssembly (Wasm)

A binary instruction format that enables near-native performance execution of code in web browsers alongside JavaScript.

A mechanism where a server sends real-time HTTP POST notifications to a specified URL when specific events occur.

Progressive Enhancement

A web design strategy that starts with basic functionality for all browsers and progressively adds advanced features for capable ones.

SPA (Single Page Application)

A web application that loads a single HTML page and dynamically updates content without full page reloads.

HTTP headers that control cross-origin resource sharing between different domains, specifying allowed origins, methods, and headers.

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