Modern Web Stack Experiments

What This Is

Continuous experimentation with modern web development approaches, looking for the right tools for different situations.

The Current Stack

Astro My current favourite for most sites. It outputs static HTML by default, only adds JavaScript when you actually need it, and works brilliantly with content stored in markdown or a headless CMS. This site is built with Astro.

Tailwind CSS Utility-first CSS that I resisted for ages and now can’t imagine working without. It’s not for everyone, but for rapid development with consistent design systems, it’s excellent.

Headless CMS Options

• Ghost - Great for blogs and publications, clean editor, good API
• Directus - More flexible, works with existing databases, good for structured content
• Strapi - Self-hosted, customisable, good for complex content models

Infrastructure

• Docker for consistent deployments
• Cloudflare for CDN and edge functions
• Various hosting options depending on needs

Why It Matters

The web doesn’t need to be slow, bloated, or complicated. Modern tools make it possible to build fast, accessible, maintainable sites without the overhead of traditional CMSs or heavy JavaScript frameworks.

But you have to be willing to experiment. The “best” tool depends on the project, the client, and the maintenance situation.

The Learning

Every project teaches something. Different CMS platforms have different trade-offs. Deployment approaches that work at one scale don’t work at another. The goal is building a toolkit of options so you can pick the right one for each situation.