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Jamstacked Issue 37

The 'Functional web apps' concept and Jamstack

Published: Aug 19, 2021

Your update on all things Jamstack

#​37 — August 19, 2021
✦ web version

At last week's Moar Serverless event, Brian Leroux discussed a concept he called Functional Web Apps and how it differs from the Jamstack. The key difference, as I understand it, was in how it handles content that cannot be prerendered during the build.

In a typical Jamstack application, an API/serverless function would be called that would send back data and then the client would update, with JavaScript updating the DOM (often using a framework like React). Functional Web Apps would render the HTML on the server (also via a serverless function) and then hydrate the client using techniques like those built into Astro to do this without layering on a heavy JavaScript framework. It's an interesting concept that I am interested in exploring more and a sign of the continuing and rapid evolution in and around the Jamstack.

— Brian Rinaldi

↘︎ What's Good

Static vs. Dynamic vs. Jamstack: Where's The Line?
A really useful attempt to define the distinction between what is just a static site, what is a Jamstack site, and what is a dynamic site. I disagree with where he draws some of the lines (example on DPR) but I do agree with him that there’s no point in being dogmatic about it.

Mike Neumegen

Astro Recipe Collection - Part 1 Setup Collections
A five part series that walks you through every step of building an example site for cooking recipes using Astro. See also Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Chris Bongers

How to Convert Static HTML into Powerful Templates
A very detailed walkthrough showing how to turn different types of static HTML pages into reusable templates in Eleventy using Nunjucks.

Sean C Davis

✂︎ Tools and Resources

  • Architecting with Next.js – A free event from Netlify next week (August 25th) showcasing teams using Next.js in production, including architecture deep dives, best practices and challenges.
  • Headless Creator – Free, live and recorded lessons for those interested in or working with headless CMSs.
  • Tina is in Beta – Tina Cloud is a backend solution for TinaCMS that offers an inline content editing experience for Next.js sites.
  • Introducing Deploy Hooks for Cloudflare Pages – This allows you to trigger a build based upon things like an update to a headless CMS.

❖ Tidbits

Adding Machine Learning to Your Jamstack Site
Exploring a number of different options for machine learning including client-side libraries, integration into serverless functions, or using machine-learning APIs.

Charlie Gerard

New Nuxt Features Past v2.10
Sarah covers newer features like Nuxt Content, Nuxt Components and Nuxt Image that were added in recent releases.

Sarah Drasner

Modular Code with Nunjucks and Eleventy
Exploring some of the features offered by Nunjucks and Eleventy to modularize your code including template inheritance, filters, includes, macros and shortcodes.

Jérôme Coupé

Native Search vs. Jetpack Instant Search in Headless WordPress With Gatsby
A look at how to implement search on a Gatsby site connected to headless Wordpress. The first option uses the built-in Wordpress search via the API. The second works to improve search using Jetpack Instant Search.

Paulina Hetman

Thank you for reading. I'll catch you next time — Brian