Amateur Webmaster

Static Rendering of Websites
Page Last Updated: February 17, 2024

Static rendering of websites is the way by which a web page is assembled offline and then published to the website. This approach is the opposite of made-to-order, highly customized, dynamic websites in vogue today. Experts have referred to the two approaches as baking vs. frying. At Kamat's Potpourri, all of the contents are static rendered, except for the search results (full-text, pictures) -- which by their definition are dynamic.

We use a homegrown application (see: a screen capture), which is essentially a search and replace template applying program. This allows for easy changing of look and feel across all of our thousands of pages. By using static rendering technology, we do not need include files (SSI) or complex scripts both of which slow down the website. Not all websites need to be static rendered, but the performance gain is substantial. Many of the high traffic sites on the Internet (like Yahoo!) are produced this way. Listed below are some of the advantages and shortcomings of Static Rendered Websites.

See Also:

• Inside Kamat Blog Engine -- Notes on the implementation of SimplyBlog, a blog engine.