The Astro framework is gaining more popularity in the community. One of our teams has used Astro to build content-driven websites like blogs and marketing websites. Astro is a multi-page application framework that renders HTML on the server and minimizes the amount of JavaScript sent over the wire. We like that Astro supports — when appropriate — select active components written in the front-end JavaScript framework of your choice even though it encourages sending only HTML. It does this through its island architecture. Islands are regions of interactivity within a single page where the necessary JavaScript is downloaded only when needed. In this way, most areas of the site are converted to fast, static HTML, and the JavaScript parts are optimized for parallel loading. Our team likes both its page rendering performance as well as its build speed. The Astro component syntax is a simple extension of HTML, and the learning curve is quite gentle.
It's hard to believe, but in 2022, the developer community continues to pump out interesting new frameworks for building web applications. Astro is a recent, open-source, multi-page application framework that renders HTML on the server and minimizes the amount of JavaScript sent over the wire. Astro seems particularly well-suited to content-oriented websites that pull from many different sources. We like the fact that although Astro encourages sending only HTML, it still supports — when appropriate — select active components written in the front-end JavaScript framework of your choice. It does this through its island architecture. Islands are regions of interactivity within a single page where the necessary JavaScript is downloaded only when needed. Astro is relatively new but seems to support a growing ecosystem of developers and code. It's one to watch as it develops.
