These are the slides of my presentation at WordCamp Nijmegen 2019 on using WordPress as a means to generate static websites.

1. Using WordPress as a
static site generator
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What is a static site

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How WordPress renders…

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Time to First Byte (TTFB)

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Time to First Byte (TTFB)
Database interaction is costly

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How Static Sites render…

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Why use a Static Site

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We really love setting goals

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WordPress vs Static Sites
Pre-generated pages
Doesn’t require much resources
HTML-pages are pretty secure
Changing content requires
a little more effort.
(editing HTML for example)
Generated upon each visit
Require some
(up to much) resources
Needs security tweaks
Really easy to change content

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Unique advantages of
Static Sites
Secure by default
Lower T.C.O.

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Secure by default
No PHP or database means
MUCH LESS ATTACK VECTORS

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Lower Total Cost of
Ownership (TCO)
Doesn’t need high profile hosting
Nearly no maintenance

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Static sites are FAST

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The perceived speed which
your user notices matters.

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User perception

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Metrics are just an
indicating factor

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… and this shows us why …

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WordPress vs Static Site

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Testcase
langsvlaamsewegen.be
Conversion from WP tot static
No further optimizations

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The best of Both Worlds

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Creating a Static Site
from WordPress

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https://wordpress.org/plugins/static-html-output-plugin/

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https://wordpress.org/plugins/simply-static/

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https://wordpress.org/plugins/simply-static/
Caution!

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Conversion from WP tot static
Added further optimizations (GZIP, expire headers, …)

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WordPress version

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Static Site version

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Is this the Perfect Solution?

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Not every site can be Static

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But we can have
Creative Solutions

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Contact Forms

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Comments

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Shopping Cart

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Shopping Cart

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Different Use Cases

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Local vs Hosted
WordPress running in
a subdirectory.
Publishes directly to
the main directory.
Running WordPress locally
on WAMP, MAMP,
Local by Flywheel, …
Publish the rendered files to
the webserver via FTP

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Cool things to do with
Static Sites

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Hosting the site for FREE
Netlify - starter plan
Github
Amazon S3 - free tier

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Hosting the site on
Dropbox
kissr.com - free for prototype site
my.droppages.com - free up to 2
sites/50 MB
pancake.io - paid
site44.com - paid

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Different Use Cases
Generate a Demo Site
And deliver via USB

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Any Questions?
Thank You