Why So Static?

I made my first website in 1993, and I've made scores more since. I've done it both professionally and privately. I've built statics sites and dynamic ones. I've hand-coded custom frameworks from scratch, piggybacked on open source frameworks, and I've used most of the major "site builder" sites too. But there are only two kinds of sites I've ever built that are still running: the ones that take a pile of my time to maintain; and the static ones.

So when I started thinking about the kind of site CalorieFountain would need, I realized that it was going to be a different fish from my usual. Most websites prioritize things like sex appeal, interactivity, community building, marketing, ease of use, etc. But with PCF, I think the most important functions are things like longevity, maintenance simplicity, server simplicity, installation simplicity, and general future proofing. After all, if somebody ever needs to download and run this site for themselves, they probably really need it. As in, "life or death hanging in the balance" need it.

So that's the use case that is driving my decision here. With a static architecture, anyone can clone the GitHub repo in about 10 seconds and have the entire website right there on their laptop or a thumb drive. They'll be able to browse the entire site, read all the reports, access all the plans, study all the data. Everything. Just open the main page in a browser and it will be indistinguishable from browsing the live site online.

How do I know it will be that easy? Because that's the way I use the site every day. I pull the entire thing from GitHub, view it, add some stuff, check that it still works, and then push the updates back to GitHub. You guys should feel free to continue reading the site online, but be assured that if you ever need to go local, I've put the effort in to make sure that things will Just Work™.

And as a total bonus, this means that the amount of time I have to spend installing platform updates, security updates, untangling user permission problems, moderating comment abuse, and pulling my hair out over database compatibility problems had fallen to zero. Literally 0.0 seconds. Because a static site doesn't have any of that. So all of my time spent on PCF can be devoted to the work of telling people about it (like I'm doing right now) or making the actual calorie fountain itself better, more efficient, cheaper, and easier to maintain.

And that's a win for all of us.