Comparing Static and Dynamic Websites
Tags: strapi, headlesscms, javascript, webdev
Published: 2022-08-09 12:57:00

_This article shows the differences between static and dynamic sites and how Strapi works in each of them._

**Author: David Fagbuyiro**

Knowing the kind of website best suits your needs is important. The functionality of your site can influence how you decide to construct one. In this article, we're going to explain the static vs. dynamic dispute. During this process, we'll go over crucial elements to take into account when determining what website is ideal for you.

A website is a collection of interconnected, publicly-accessible web pages with a single domain name. Individuals, groups, businesses, and associations can establish and maintain websites for several objectives.

Although it's sometimes referred to as a "web runner," this term is incorrect because a website is made up of several web pages. A website is often referred to as a " web presence" or a "point."

## What is a Static Website?

A static website, also referred to as a flat or stationary page, is displayed in a web browser exactly as it is stored. It contains web pages with fixed content written in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The files are delivered to the browser from a CDN and stored on a web server. It doesn't change; it stays static for every bystander of the point. 

**Some examples of static websites are:**

- Blogs
- Documentation
- Newsletter content


## What is a Dynamic Website?

A dynamic website updates its content each time a visitor comes to it. Its display changes based on a variety of criteria such as viewer demographics, time of day, location, and language preferences. Real-time page generation is a component of dynamic websites.

**Examples of dynamic websites include:**

- Writing blogs
- E-commerce sites
- Calendar
- To-do sites


## Why You Should Use Strapi in Your Dynamic Website

There are many benefits of using Strapi as the backend tool for your dynamic website. Below are some of them:
- It boosts development time.
- It increases productivity. 
- Effective data management
- Localization of user content
- Improved user authentication 

## Pros and Cons of a Static Website

A static website could be helpful in many ways; here are some of the advantages of a static website:

- Building and deploying static websites takes less time than dynamic websites.
- To keep things identical while distinguishing yourself, you can replicate the fundamental code of your static web pages.
- Static websites are more secure.
- Static websites are easier for search engines to rank since they load faster.
- Complex software is not required to create static web pages.

**However, it has some disadvantages too. Here are some cons of static websites you should know before creating one.**

- Static website upgrades can be difficult and time-consuming, especially if they're enormous.
- It can be difficult to scale a website to add additional material once the fundamental framework has been established.
- Due to the time and work required to maintain static websites, yours may have stagnant material, making your company or brand appear old.
- You can't connect with guests or provide them with unique experiences.


## Pros and Cons of a Dynamic Website

In the last section, we talked about the pros and cons of a static website. Let’s discuss dynamic websites, how they help, and their shortcomings. 

**Here are some advantages of a dynamic website:**

- They increase the functionality of the website and allow for user engagement.
- Dynamic sites allow you to coordinate information requests and storage.
- They show material tailored to the user's needs.
- These websites provide more website flexibility by connecting to a content management system (CMS).
- They let several people change the material.

**However, the disadvantage is this:**
A dynamic website might be more expensive than a static website due to functions like developing the site foundation, generating database connections, and adding additional features. Also, when it comes to presenting material on your dynamic website, there may be design and layout constraints.

# What is Strapi?

[Strapi is an open-source, Node. JS-based, headless CMS](https://strapi.io) that saves the user a variety of time-consuming tasks at the same time as giving them the liberty to apply their preferred equipment and frameworks.

## How to install Strapi

To install Strapi successfully, there are a few basic things to put in place. 

- Strapi does not support Node 15 and above, to have a successful installation you need Node14(LTS) or Node12(LTS) but most preferably Node14 (LTS).

After downloading Node14 (LTS) from the [Node official site](https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v14.17.3/) during your installation, make sure you are connected to the internet during the installation so it can download all the other attachments needed.

### Steps to Follow After the Installation
1. Open your command prompt and type the below command to confirm if it has been installed successfully and what version has been installed.
```bash
#For Node.js, you type: 
node -v 

#For the NPM version, type:
npm -v
```

2. After the version confirmation, you need to enter the below command to create the first Strapi project: 
```bash
npx create-strapi-app@latest my-strapiproject1
```
*Running the above command will prompt you to choose your installation type.* 


3. Navigate to the first option “**Quickstart**” with your navigation keys “up and down", then press the **Enter key** to proceed and follow the instructions to continue.

![Screenshot](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/Dgjqn0Wg4KCqQu6ru7od_Ezh5EJiogPvOq1tegU0KIZbKl1Gs-z5ZwvHJricDXdEVjM-IgFo8RND5uPMT7P1rEWL8vYFvs9dXIWb5eH9jqS2Kj1U-r6enwdaqHOK1oC14mBoQxr1BqNLEPywWQ)

4. The final step is to run your created project by typing the below command in your command prompt after successfully creating your first strapi project and installing the required packages. 

On your terminal, navigate to the folder where strapi is installed and run the command below to start the strapi application. 
```bash
    npm run develop
```
The above command will open the registration page for the application. Once you've registered successfully, you'll be redirected to your dashboard page to manage your application.

![Screenshot](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/HYANaaGn0RcvLDbI0Hr21H-R52pHj44x_0r113trp13x8JOkeqDdtXF_RTlx0Dpw9drPXOjs_Rc9EI_y8x--BRFd2UEPARBFSufDQhMo80PaijCGuR-x614nP9eFbre7-UQkUGExNNSK9ajdjg)



## Benefits of using Strapi in a Static Website
1. **Better Rendering**

 You can now produce pages at deployment time and serve them over a CDN. With Strapi and a site generator, only the most applicable zone of the mound is running when a user makes a request, speeding the entire operation by degrading the series of ways.


2. **Advanced Security**

 You do not have to worry about vulnerability or insecurities while utilizing Strapi with your static websites. You do not have any reason or need for a server-side language to be executed, thereby reducing your attack surface area and the threat of malware code injection.
 

3. **Establishment Features**

 Strapi Enterprise Edition includes developed Role-Based Access Control( RBAC), Single Sign On( SSO), and establishment Support. 
 

4. **Scaling Traffic Over Cost**

Because your files are loaded through the CDN, when your app gets further queries, the CDN effortlessly compensates for improved traffic.


## How to Manage Static Website Content in Strapi

We understand that static websites are websites whose content do not change frequently, but we need to make sure that static websites are maintained effectively to be productive.
 
The following are some of the Strapi tools that can be used to manage the content of your static website effectively. 


- **Creating Content Types in Strapi:** 
To create content-types in Strapi, you have to make use of the content-type builder which is only accessible to create and update content-types when your Strapi application is in a development environment, else it will be in a read-only mode in other environments.
For more information to create a new content-type in strapi please refer to [this](https://docs.strapi.io/user-docs/latest/content-types-builder/creating-new-content-type.html#creating-a-new-content-type)

    
- **Strapi SEO Plugin:**
This plugin is a robust Strapi-based comment moderation solution for users which completely covers the user-moderator process.

- **Internationalization Plugin:**
Strapi users can develop, manage, and distribute localized information in several languages, or "locales," using the internationalization (i18n) plugin.  For more information about internalization plugin installation and concept in Strapi, please refer to the [Internationalization](https://docs.strapi.io/developer-docs/latest/plugins/i18n.html#installation) [P](https://docs.strapi.io/developer-docs/latest/plugins/i18n.html#installation)[lugin](https://docs.strapi.io/developer-docs/latest/plugins/i18n.html#installation).


- **Publisher Plugin:**
It is a Strapi plugin that allows you to quickly schedule the publishing and unpublishing of any type of content.

## How to Manage Dynamic Content in Strapi

The Strapi marketplace is where you can get industry-leading software and customized plugins to best boost your productivity and add special functionalities to your Strapi app and website.
 

- **Uploading Media in Strapi :**
The Media Library found in the admin panel is implemented using the Upload plugin. You can use it to upload any type of file to your server or an external one.

- **Using the Comments plugin** :
With its moderation panel, bad words screening, abuse reporting, and other features, a plugin for Strapi Headless CMS offer end-to-end comments.


- **Email templates** : 
From the Strapi CMS admin panel, you may create your email templates and leverage the magic to send emails programmatically from your controllers or services. For more information on the Strapi email template and designer please [refer to this page](https://www.npmjs.com/package/strapi-plugin-email-designer)


- **Authentication:**
Strapi authenticates users using a token-based authentication method by giving them a JWT token after a successful password login.  For more information regarding strapi authentication please refer to this article on [Strapi authentication with nextjs](https://strapi.io/blog/a-beginners-guide-to-authentication-and-authorization-in-strapi) or Strapi authentication request documentation

 

## Dynamic And Static Building Tools Using Strapi

**Dynamic website tools using Strapi:**

- JavaScript
- React

**Static website tools using Strapi**:

- [**Next.js**](https://strapi.io/integrations/nextjs-cms):
    It is another tactic solution built on top of React. Next.js's general purpose is to ease development with a smoother and less congested experience. It can be used to construct fast web apps, server-rendered apps, and static webpages, among several other features.

- [**Gatsby:**](https://strapi.io/integrations/gatsby-cms) 
    It is built on React and makes use of GraphQL to gather information from various sources. That means it works well with a variety of content management systems, making it easy to set up websites and apps. Gatsby is also recognized for its speed, as it uses pre-fetched information for other sites and only loads the sections of a website that are required at the time. It may also be utilized for progressing single-page websites and has a large [plugin ecosystem](https://www.gatsbyjs.com/plugins).
- [**Hugo**](https://strapi.io/integrations/hugo-cms):
    It is a Go-based static site generator. It features a lightning-fast build process that makes creating static web pages a breeze. It's arguably the quickest static site generator on the market right now. Hugo comes with a theme library with over a hundred themes to choose from when creating a website.

## Examples of Static and Dynamic Websites
**Static website generators**: 
A static website generator is a program that creates a completely static HTML website from a set of templates plus raw data. A static website generator, in essence, automates the process of developing individual HTML pages and making them ready to be delivered to users beforehand.

**Examples of static website generators**:

- [**Jekyll's**](http://jekyllrb.com)
- [**Hugo's**](http://gohugo.io)
- [**Hexo's**](http://hexo.io)
- [**GitBook**](https://gitbook.com) 
- [**Octopress**](http://octopress.org)
- [**Gatsby**](http://github.com/gatsbyjs) 
- [**Pelican**](http://getpelican.com)
- [**Brunch**](http://brunch.io)


## Static Websites vs Dynamic Websites
Let's look at some of the key differences between a static website and a dynamic one.

#### A dynamic website challenges impacting performance

A dynamic website handles more requests than a static website. Dynamic websites are always linked to a database or data repository, and they are constantly pulling data from the database, which takes time to analyze and execute when compared to static websites, which rarely require a database.

In general, static websites load faster than dynamic websites because static websites are cached in the browser and dynamic websites are not. Even though many website development tools are aware of the situation and make it their duty to emphasize efficiency across all pages, it can influence a site's performance.


#### Static Websites Take Less TIme, but Dynamic Websites are More Efficient

One of the significant distinctions between a static and dynamic website is that a static page takes less time to design and upload than a dynamic one.
Building a dynamic website takes time. After all, it requires one or more technological tools, whereas a static website can be built in a day because it is simple to build and does not require any tools. Dynamic websites may require more time to set up at first, but they will be far more efficient in the long run.

#### Maintaning Dynamic Websites Costs Less

If you're wondering which is going to be cheaper in the long run in this dynamic vs. static debate, the answer is dynamic websites. This is because the database or content management system (CMS) will make the required modifications for you.


#### Dynamic Websites are More Interactive and Functional

With more personalization options, dynamic websites prioritize functionality and user involvement. Dynamic websites are always more interactive and functional than static websites. People visit dynamic websites more frequently than static websites because dynamic content is updated more frequently.

#### Static Websites are Easily Replicable

You may replicate the basic code of the static web page, allowing you to make changes to the page whilst also retaining everything stable, rather than having to update the code for the static page anytime you need to send a change to your visitors.

#### Static Websites are More Flexible

Yes, flexibility. Even though it has a static appearance, it is quite versatile. Without being a difficult effort for a designer, each static web page from a website might have a separate layout and design.

#### Static Sites Take Less Time to Build

One significant distinction between a static and dynamic website is that a static page takes less time to design and upload easy operation of its software.

#### Static Sites Load Quickly
Because it is pre-rendered, a static web page loads quickly. A static page doesn't need to go through a database and analyze all of the content when a visitor visits it. The data is directly rendered from the CDN. Because of its quick load time, a static web page is also easier to rank higher in search engines.

## Conclusion
Strapi is an open-source, Node.js-based, Headless CMS that saves developers time while allowing them to use their preferred tools and frameworks. Strapi also allows content editors to optimize the delivery of content (text, photos, video, etc.) across any device.

It's one of the greatest all-in-one solutions for developing and deploying dynamic websites of any scale with static delivery—it's the best of both worlds.