This Framework Made Me Love Building Websites Again

I used to dread building marketing sites. And I build products for a living. Landing pages, blogs, help docs... these are supposed to be the easy part. But even those started to feel bloated and overcomplicated. I wasn’t trying to build an app. I just needed a website. Then I found Astro. I Didn’t Want a Web App. I Just Needed a Website. It’s okay to differentiate between websites and web apps. They serve different purposes, and trying to treat them the same often makes things harder than they need to be. Marketing sites are mostly static. You update them now and then, maybe publish a new blog post or tweak some copy. You don't need server-side logic or dynamic rendering just to display content that barely changes. But tools like Next.js often assume you're building something more complex. Before long, you're wrestling with PPR, ISR, SSR, and all sorts of edge-case rendering logic. And when you try to put it behind a standard CDN, half the features break or don’t behave as expected. For most websites, this is unnecessary overhead. Astro Focuses on Websites — And That’s What Makes It Great What stood out to me about Astro is how focused it is. It’s not trying to be a full-stack app framework. It’s not pretending to be the answer for everything. Astro is built specifically for websites. And it’s proud of that. That kind of clarity is rare. When a tool knows exactly what it’s for, it usually does that one thing incredibly well. Astro is no exception. UserJot’s Landing Page? Built with Astro. For context: I run a product called UserJot, and our entire marketing site is built with Astro. Most of the content is static: homepage, feature pages, blog, docs. But we also have a few dynamic pages rendered on the server. Astro handles this hybrid approach effortlessly. The build process is fast. The performance is great. And it’s easy to deploy anywhere. Built on Standards. Fast by Default. Astro is built on top of Vite, and starts from the basics — HTML, CSS, Markdown. You can use .astro, .html, or .mdx files and just start building. By default, Astro ships zero JavaScript. If you need interactivity, you can selectively opt in by importing a client-side component. Astro will only send JavaScript to the browser for that component. This is known as islands architecture, and it makes so much more sense than going full SPA for a tiny interactive element. When You Need Server Rendering, It’s There Astro may be static-first, but it doesn’t stop there. If you want dynamic server-rendered pages, that’s fully supported. You can keep 95% of your site static, and render just a few routes dynamically. It’s flexible, and more importantly, it doesn’t lock you into a specific platform. You can deploy it anywhere — Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare, or just plain old file hosting. We use this hybrid setup on UserJot, and it’s been seamless. Websites and Apps Deserve Different Stacks Over the years, a lot of developers have started treating websites and apps as the same thing. But they aren’t. Most of the products I work on have a clear divide: the marketing site is one project, the app is another. I usually keep them in the same monorepo, but I build and deploy them separately. Websites are disposable. You’ll redesign a homepage ten times before you rebuild the core product. You A/B test, you rewrite headlines, you create new landing pages for SEO. The needs are different. The tooling should be too. Astro gives you a dedicated way to build fast, flexible sites without dragging in unnecessary complexity. I Actually Enjoy Building Again Astro brought the fun back. Clean templates. Predictable behavior. Fast builds. A dev experience that doesn’t fight you. It made building websites feel simple again — in a good way. If what you need is a fast, modern website, not a full-blown app, this is one of the best tools I’ve worked with. Final Thoughts If you're tired of frameworks trying to do too much, tired of bloated builds, complex rendering rules, and getting stuck reading a spec just to build a landing page, try Astro. It doesn’t try to be everything. And that’s exactly why it works so well. You can check out the UserJot site for yourself and let me know what you think.

Apr 18, 2025 - 19:29

This Framework Made Me Love Building Websites Again

I used to dread building marketing sites. And I build products for a living.

Landing pages, blogs, help docs... these are supposed to be the easy part. But even those started to feel bloated and overcomplicated.

I wasn’t trying to build an app. I just needed a website.

Then I found Astro.

I Didn’t Want a Web App. I Just Needed a Website.

It’s okay to differentiate between websites and web apps. They serve different purposes, and trying to treat them the same often makes things harder than they need to be.

Marketing sites are mostly static. You update them now and then, maybe publish a new blog post or tweak some copy. You don't need server-side logic or dynamic rendering just to display content that barely changes.

But tools like Next.js often assume you're building something more complex. Before long, you're wrestling with PPR, ISR, SSR, and all sorts of edge-case rendering logic. And when you try to put it behind a standard CDN, half the features break or don’t behave as expected.

For most websites, this is unnecessary overhead.

Astro Focuses on Websites — And That’s What Makes It Great

What stood out to me about Astro is how focused it is. It’s not trying to be a full-stack app framework. It’s not pretending to be the answer for everything.

Astro is built specifically for websites. And it’s proud of that.

That kind of clarity is rare. When a tool knows exactly what it’s for, it usually does that one thing incredibly well. Astro is no exception.

UserJot’s Landing Page? Built with Astro.

For context: I run a product called UserJot, and our entire marketing site is built with Astro.

Most of the content is static: homepage, feature pages, blog, docs. But we also have a few dynamic pages rendered on the server. Astro handles this hybrid approach effortlessly.

The build process is fast. The performance is great. And it’s easy to deploy anywhere.

Built on Standards. Fast by Default.

Astro is built on top of Vite, and starts from the basics — HTML, CSS, Markdown. You can use .astro, .html, or .mdx files and just start building.

By default, Astro ships zero JavaScript. If you need interactivity, you can selectively opt in by importing a client-side component. Astro will only send JavaScript to the browser for that component.

This is known as islands architecture, and it makes so much more sense than going full SPA for a tiny interactive element.

When You Need Server Rendering, It’s There

Astro may be static-first, but it doesn’t stop there. If you want dynamic server-rendered pages, that’s fully supported.

You can keep 95% of your site static, and render just a few routes dynamically. It’s flexible, and more importantly, it doesn’t lock you into a specific platform. You can deploy it anywhere — Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare, or just plain old file hosting.

We use this hybrid setup on UserJot, and it’s been seamless.

Websites and Apps Deserve Different Stacks

Over the years, a lot of developers have started treating websites and apps as the same thing. But they aren’t.

Most of the products I work on have a clear divide: the marketing site is one project, the app is another. I usually keep them in the same monorepo, but I build and deploy them separately.

Websites are disposable. You’ll redesign a homepage ten times before you rebuild the core product. You A/B test, you rewrite headlines, you create new landing pages for SEO. The needs are different. The tooling should be too.

Astro gives you a dedicated way to build fast, flexible sites without dragging in unnecessary complexity.

I Actually Enjoy Building Again

Astro brought the fun back. Clean templates. Predictable behavior. Fast builds. A dev experience that doesn’t fight you.

It made building websites feel simple again — in a good way.

If what you need is a fast, modern website, not a full-blown app, this is one of the best tools I’ve worked with.

Final Thoughts

If you're tired of frameworks trying to do too much, tired of bloated builds, complex rendering rules, and getting stuck reading a spec just to build a landing page, try Astro.

It doesn’t try to be everything. And that’s exactly why it works so well. You can check out the UserJot site for yourself and let me know what you think.