First Astro build
Astro is a framework that caught my eye a while ago.
I discovered it via the Astro + PayloadCMS integration.
And I discovered Payload CMS in it’s early days while looking into better alternatives to headless WordPress.
A lot of the work I’ve done in recent years as been with WordPress, not because I necessarily think it is the best thing there is, but because that has often been an explicit requirement from the client. Sometimes they are familiar with the admin UX. Sometimes they have heard their friends use it. Often they request it.
I typically learn new tools by using them to build my own projects, and then offer them to clients once I am familiar with them, and have had time to explore. So this site is the first project I ship using Astro.
Why Astro appealed to me for this website
- No database
- Markdown-friendly
- Component design
- Fast
- SEO-friendly
First impressions
I like that there is a pretty straightforward way to implement all of the obvious things that I typically need to create a good website:
- Content collections
- Dnamic routes
- Tailwind CSS
All straightforward and simple to setup.
I had a good amount of experience with Markdown, but had not used or heard of .mdx before. I was pleasantly surprised to discover what it can do, for responsive images, and embeding components in the content.
I love how light-weight Astro is. Pages load super fast, building is also fast and easy. And overall the results are pretty smooth. To me, not having all the bells and whistles that come with NextJs / React is a reasonable tradeoff for the simplicity and minimalism.
In terms of workflow, the nice thing about Astro is that, as far as I can tell, most of the initial effort goes into thinking through the structure of the site and content itself. Once that is clear, setting up the config and components is straightforward.
What I’ll be trying next
First, I will continue improving this website, little by little, with a focus on SEO and accessibility.
I’m also excited to build a more advanced site with PayloadCMS for content management & full admin UX.