I Encourage WordPress Users To Try Hybrid Static Sites!

One of the smartest things a self-publisher can do is decouple how they write from how they publish. The writing flow is something writers keep guarded once they find something that works, and are very reluctant to change their grooves.

If you use WordPress, de-coupling means taking a hard look at a hybrid setup, where you use your familiar WordPress to write and edit, but export your content and use something like Lume to generate the site.

That's not as hard to do as you might think. I'd like to talk through it, just as a thought exercise. Plus, you could save a ton of money on your hosting, so .. game?

Now that it's easy to export your content in WordPress (even automatically), options to generate lots of markdown are increasing in both stability and number.

There's also an API for interactive stuff that could let you extend comments through proxy middleware.

Your Workflow Is What Matters Most

It's simply not possible for a large number of WordPress authors to use anything but WordPress to create. It's not just a matter of preference, it's an entire workflow and collection of media that's been built up over time.

The headless systems that are popular with static sites are great, but they're not going to help someone used to WordPress want to get out of bed ever again.

Start thinking about WordPress not as something that serves your site, but as something that just organizes your content so static site generators can create each individual page. Think of each post as a physical file, in a tree of others.

Not Breaking Engagement Matters Most, Too

Making sure users can conveniently interact with your site in the manner that they're used to is also really important, or you'll be doing all this neat stuff for your own amusement. I personally like the idea of moving comments to Mastodon or X, or using a third-party service.

Content rating plugins, voting, rating, ect are all straightforward if you use Lume 3, in fact this theme ships with some of that already set up.

But you might want to first help your users manage changing over to third-party comments, and once they're at home with them, changes to the structure of your blog shouldn't disrupt them anymore as long as that third-party loads.

It's Worth The Investment

If you only use the database for interactive stuff and allow the static content to be efficiently cached by the kernel and file system, then you'll find that one web server goes a lot farther than it did previously.

Yes, you're going to spend a solid week getting your WordPress theme into a template your static site generator can use, but you're paying yourself a few hundred bucks a day while doing it in hosting savings, in some cases.

Linux does best with being allowed to manage files as it sees fit. Relational database servers aren't needed to fulfill every request, and it's refreshing to see the world waking up to that.

It's Great For WordPress To Embrace

I've been helping high-traffic WordPress sites keep from toppling over since 2005, when I was working as a kernel hacker and integrator in the hosting industry. Every single time I've seen someone taken advantage of in that ecosystem, it's been through a flunky SEO or Performance plugin, or through overpriced hosting.

If WordPress just naturally embraced the idea of static generation with small islands of interactivity, it would blow the doors off of many of the managed hosts, who are essentially just providing that.

I hope it's at least part of the vision going forward, anyway.

Challenge Yourself To Try Just Part Of The Process?

Export your blog and generate some markdown.

Use this template to bootstrap a very minimal Lume site. Put your generated markdown inside the src/ folder, run deno task serve, and start getting an idea of what it would take.

You'll find that the community is really helpful to people who just want to do things in a better way. Having a successful site without the excess baggage of excessive energy, complexity and cost is always a better option than not.

If you need help, find me in Discord.