Building with Astro: A Modern Approach to Web Development

When it came time to build my personal website, I had many options to choose from. React, Vue, Next.js, Nuxt, or even plain HTML and CSS. After careful consideration, I chose Astro, and here’s why.

What Makes Astro Special?

Astro is a modern static site generator that brings together the best of both worlds: the developer experience of modern frameworks with the performance of static sites.

Zero JavaScript by Default

One of Astro’s most compelling features is its “zero JavaScript by default” approach. This means:

  • Faster loading times - No unnecessary JavaScript bundles
  • Better SEO - Content is rendered server-side
  • Improved accessibility - Works even with JavaScript disabled

Component Islands Architecture

Astro introduces the concept of “islands” - interactive components that hydrate independently:

---
// This runs on the server
const data = await fetch('https://api.example.com/data');
---

<div>
  <h1>Static Content</h1>
  <InteractiveComponent client:load data={data} />
</div>

Framework Agnostic

You can use components from different frameworks in the same project:

  • React components for complex interactions
  • Vue components for forms
  • Svelte components for animations
  • Or stick with Astro components for everything

Perfect for Content-Heavy Sites

For a personal website and blog like this one, Astro excels because:

Markdown Support

Writing blog posts in Markdown is a joy:

---
title: 'My Blog Post'
pubDate: 2025-01-22
---

# Hello World

This is **markdown** content that gets rendered beautifully.

Content Collections

Astro’s content collections provide type-safe frontmatter:

const blog = defineCollection({
  schema: z.object({
    title: z.string(),
    pubDate: z.date(),
    tags: z.array(z.string())
  })
});

Built-in Optimizations

  • Image optimization with the <Image /> component
  • CSS bundling and minification
  • Automatic sitemap generation
  • RSS feed support

Development Experience

The developer experience with Astro is fantastic:

Fast Hot Reloading

Changes appear instantly during development, making the feedback loop incredibly tight.

TypeScript Support

First-class TypeScript support means better tooling and fewer runtime errors.

Flexible Styling

Use whatever CSS approach you prefer:

  • Plain CSS
  • Sass/SCSS
  • CSS Modules
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Styled Components

Deployment Made Easy

Deploying an Astro site is straightforward:

  1. Build - npm run build generates static files
  2. Deploy - Upload to any static hosting service
  3. Done - Your site is live and fast

For this site, I’m using GitHub Pages with GitHub Actions for automatic deployment.

Performance Results

The results speak for themselves:

  • Lighthouse score: 100/100 across all metrics
  • First Contentful Paint: < 1s
  • Time to Interactive: < 1s
  • Bundle size: Minimal JavaScript

When to Choose Astro

Astro is perfect for:

  • Content-heavy sites (blogs, documentation, marketing sites)
  • Performance-critical applications
  • Sites that don’t need much interactivity
  • Projects where SEO is important

When to Look Elsewhere

Consider other options for:

  • Highly interactive applications (dashboards, SPAs)
  • Real-time applications (chat apps, collaborative tools)
  • Complex state management requirements

Conclusion

Astro has been a joy to work with for this project. It combines the simplicity of static sites with the power of modern development tools, resulting in a fast, maintainable, and enjoyable development experience.

If you’re building a content-focused website and want excellent performance out of the box, I highly recommend giving Astro a try.

Want to see the code for this site? Check out the GitHub repository to explore the implementation details.