What’s your JAM? JAMstack vs Monolithic Web Architectures

Understanding JAMstack: A Game-Changing Web Architecture

Introduction

JAMstack is revolutionizing the world of web development, offering a new approach that decouples the front-end from the back-end. In this article, we’ll explore the core concepts of JAMstack and why it’s gaining popularity. We’ll also compare it with the traditional monolithic approach, such as WordPress, and discuss its benefits, including reliability, security, improved developer experience, enhanced performance, and simplified content management. Furthermore, we’ll look at the potential future of JAMstack in web architecture.

The Birth of JAMstack Matt Billmann and Christ Bach, the founders of Netlify, coined the term “JAMstack” to describe modern web development capabilities and workflows. It emerged as a succinct way to explain this innovative approach to web architecture. JAMstack, as an acronym, represents JavaScript, APIs, and markup.

1. JavaScript: The Backbone of JAMstack

   • The “J” in JAMstack stands for JavaScript, the primary language for front-end web applications.
   • JavaScript can manifest as pure code or take the form of popular libraries and frameworks like Vue.js and React.

2. APIs: Empowering Web Developers

   • In the era of API proliferation, developers can leverage third-party components for common functions like search and payments.
   • APIs simplify development by reducing the need to build everything from scratch.

3. Markup: Pre-rendered HTML

   • Markup in JAMstack is pre-rendered HTML, typically generated through a site generator.
   • It represents the content users see when they open an application.

JAMstack vs WordPress: Evolution of Web Architecture

In this section, we’ll compare the traditional WordPress monolithic approach with JAMstack, highlighting the shift from integrated systems to unbundled architecture.

4. The Great Unbundling of Web Architecture
   • JAMstack abstracts the complexity of deployment pipelines, server management, and serverless functions away from developers.
   • Web applications are statically generated and deployed over an edge network, eliminating the need for constant database calls.

Why Developers Are Excited About JAMstack

Here, we’ll delve into the reasons developers are enthusiastic about adopting JAMstack for web development.

5. Benefits of JAMstack
   • Reliability at Scale: JAMstack allows teams to outsource functions, such as authentication, payments, and content management, through APIs. API and CDN providers handle scaling.
   • Security: JAMstack’s architecture reduces the surface area for attacks and simplifies issue identification.
   • Improved Developer Experience: Decoupling the front-end from the back-end frees up developers’ time and enhances code management.
   • Performance: JAMstack offers faster load times, with pre-rendered content cached on CDNs.
   • Content Management Made Easier: JAMstack separates content from presentation, making updates more efficient.

Towards a Distributed Future: JAMstack’s Potential

This section explores the growing adoption of JAMstack in the enterprise and its potential for the future of web architecture.

6. The Evolution of JAMstack
   • JAMstack’s popularity is on the rise, with an increasing number of enterprise-grade websites adopting this approach.
   • Despite its speed and developer appeal, JAMstack is still evolving and might not match WordPress’s scalability.
7. JAMstack: The Next-Gen Web Development
   • JAMstack is an innovative development practice, not a programming language, CMS, or framework.
   • Developers continue to experiment with JAMstack, and its scalability remains a challenge.

Conclusion

In conclusion, JAMstack is a promising architecture that offers a new perspective on web development. It decouples the front-end and back-end, simplifying development, enhancing security, and improving performance. While it may not match the scale of platforms like WordPress, it is a compelling approach with significant potential. The future of web architecture is in the hands of JAMstack developers, and only time will reveal the extent of its impact.

If you’re interested in harnessing the power of JAMstack for your web projects, consider reaching out for a consultation. At Sphere, we’ve successfully built JAMstack sites for large clients and can help you eliminate the bottlenecks associated with traditional CMS platforms. We’d love to discuss how JAMstack can benefit your web development endeavors.