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Jamstacked Issue 43

JAM all the way to the edge

Published: Nov 11, 2021

Your update on all things Jamstack

#​43 — November 11, 2021
✦ web version

Edge functions (serverless functions run at the CDN level) feel like something that is potentially game changing for Jamstack. They keep the performance that Jamstack is famous for, but allow for some complex dynamic solutions. I've been messing around with Cloudflare Workers and it's definitely triggered a lot of ideas on how I might utilize edge functions to solve a variety of problems, for instance the flash of original content before client-side rendering kicks in for personalized content.

Pretty much all the other deployment providers are headed down this path too, including Vercel and Netlify. It'll be interesting to see if support for these get baked into other tools and how that affects how we build Jamstack sites.

Brian Rinaldi

↘︎ What's Good

Vercel Edge Functions in Beta
Vercel released the beta of their edge functions which work in conjunction with Next.js 12 middleware to allow updates to occur in functions “at the edge” (i.e. on the CDN during the request/response phase).

Vercel

Does the Next Generation of Static Site Generators Make Building Sites Better?
Inspired by the release of îles, a static site generator (SSG) that seems to be Vue’s answer to Astro, Chris explores what makes these new tools (including Slinkity) unique compared to SSGs of the past.

Chris Coyier

How to Internationalize Sites with Country-Based Redirects
A look at best practices that Netlify recommends for creating large, internationalized sites by deploying each localized version as its own site and then route users at the edge to the appropriate version using redirects.

Bhavana Srinivas

Localizing Your Next.js App
Speaking of internationalization, this post explores how to build this into a Next.js and pre-rendering localized content for better performance.

@atilafassina

✂︎ Tools and Resources

❖ Tidbits

Eleventy 1.0 Features: A New Option for Global Data
Ray has been exploring new 1.0 features and in this one he looks at new options for global data. For a look at how global data works with plugins, check his follow up post.

Raymond Camden

Working with LaunchDarkly on Netlify
How do you connect feature flags to a Jamstack site where most of the content is pre-built? I explore ways to tie your build into flag value changes.

Brian Rinaldi

How to Add Authentication to an Eleventy Site
A video walkthrough and demo app that enables authentication with zero client-side JavaScript.

Zach Leatherman

What is Decoupling, Actually?
'Decoupling' is a term that is frequently used when describing the Jamstack you might hear often, but it isn’t always clearly defined. This conversation helps clarify it.

Netlify

Thank you for reading. I'll catch you next time — Brian