How To Generate a Static Site From WordPress Using Staatic

A few years in the past, WPLift revealed an article titled “How to Use a WordPress Static Site Generator to Make WordPress Static.” That article used the WP2Static plugin for example.

WP2Static has since been taken over by Strattic. It’s now not out there within the WordPress plugin listing, though you possibly can nonetheless get it by way of the plugin website.

Nevertheless, whereas Strattic introduced that it will proceed to take care of and assist WP2Static, they’re a competing and industrial WordPress static internet hosting firm. Due to this fact, the plugin’s future seems to be quite haphazard .

Happily, a terrific various is now out there – Staatic – and I will likely be specializing in that at this time. So, let’s bounce straight in.

What’s a Static Web site?

To recap, if you happen to haven’t learn the article talked about above, a static WordPress website makes use of static quite than dynamic content material. That minimizes server useful resource utilization, resulting in blisteringly quick web page loading occasions. Moreover, static web sites are much less susceptible to malicious assaults than their dynamic counterparts.

You should use static websites if you happen to hardly ever make adjustments to your website, and it doesn’t depend on dynamic content material (e.g., WooCommerce shops) the place issues are frequently altering.

Static websites are nice for issues like:

• Fundamental portfolios
• On-line resumés
• Brochure-type web sites as utilized by marriage ceremony websites, small enterprise comparable to consultants, and so forth.
• Fundamental blogs

Websites constructed utilizing WordPress are dynamic, however conversion to static is straightforward utilizing a plugin comparable to Staatic. The transformed website will include HTML belongings, photographs, scripts, and so forth., however with WordPress and PHP stripped away. The result’s pages requested out of your website are served instantly, eliminating the necessity for them to be generated on the fly.

Keep in mind that in case your WordPress website makes use of plugins requiring dynamic server-side capabilities (comparable to types and searches), they received’t work on a static website. A workaround for that is to change the static website to emulate the plugin or improve to a premium Staatic plan which incorporates options to alleviate this drawback.

Key Options of Staatic

Given the unique WPLift article I discussed above centered on the free model of WP2Static, I believe it is just truthful that I persist with the equal model of Staatic for this text.

In its free guise, Staatic offers you the next key options:

• A strong crawler that permits for quick transformation of your dynamic WordPress website to a static one
• A number of deployment strategies – for instance, Netlify, Amazon Net Companies S3, CloudFront, native server (devoted or shared internet hosting), and so forth.
• Further URLs, paths, redirects, and exclude guidelines supported
• HTTP redirects, customized “404 not discovered” web page, and different HTTP headers
• Publish from the command line utilizing the CLI command
• Appropriate with WordPress MultiSite and HTTP primary authentication protected WordPress installations

After all, the premium model of Staatic consists of lots extra performance, and I’ll talk about that later. Nevertheless, the free model is the proper place to begin for newbies to static WordPress website creation.

Putting in and Setting Up Staatic

Firstly, I strongly counsel you learn by way of the plugin documentation, which supplies step-by-step directions on what it is advisable do subsequent to put in, configure, and use Staatic.

Nevertheless, in easy phrases, the method is as follows:

1. Confirm system necessities and allow PHP extensions

To make use of Staatic, your supply website must be operating utilizing WordPress 5.0 or larger. Moreover, the PHP model must be a minimum of 7.0, though 7.4 is preferable because it consists of larger security measures.

Additionally, you will must examine 4 PHP extensions (Mbstring, Json, XML, and Zip) are enabled. The way you do this is dependent upon the admin instruments your website internet hosting firm supplies. For instance, in case your internet hosting supplier makes use of cPanel, you possibly can entry the PHP extensions by clicking on ‘Choose PHP Model’ beneath ‘Software program.’

When you click on on that, you will note all out there extensions and whether or not they’re at the moment enabled.

2. Create a brand new (sub)area and database

As a brand new static web site will exchange your present one, the developer recommends making a clone earlier than continuing with the migration course of. This entails creating a brand new (sub)area and database for the cloned website.

As with the PHP extensions, the way you do this is dependent upon the admin instruments out there to you. Within the case of cPanel, you create a brand new area (or subdomain) utilizing the ‘Domains’ possibility and a corresponding database utilizing ‘MySQL Database Wizard.’

3. Clone your WordPress website

There are a lot of methods of cloning your website. The Staatic documentation suggests utilizing the free Duplicator plugin, out there within the WordPress plugin listing. Set up and activate that as you’d every other plugin. Then, observe the directions within the Staatic documentation to create the clone.

4. Prohibit entry to WordPress

The documentation recommends limiting entry to the WordPress model of your website and suggests utilizing HTTP basic authentication to do this.

Organising HTTP primary authentication is often accomplished on the internet server or internet hosting management panel degree. Apache is the generally used internet server and requires you to create a .htpasswd file and replace the .htaccess file. You could find a step-by-step tutorial on the TransIP web site that leads you thru this course of. Whats extra, it additionally has a .htpasswd generator.

5. Resolve in your static website deployment technique

With Staatic, you possibly can publish your static website to the similar server at the moment internet hosting your WordPress set up (i.e., native listing,) or alternatively, you need to use one of many supported cloud suppliers (comparable to Amazon Net Companies or Netlify.)

Relying in your alternative, you will have to review the documentation relating to each deployment type to see if any extra preparation steps are mandatory earlier than putting in the Staatic plugin.

6. Set up and activate the Staatic plugin

Staatic is added to WordPress and activated in the identical means as every other plugin. As soon as that’s accomplished, a brand new menu merchandise will seem in your WordPress backend, supplying you with entry to the plugin’s options:

7. Configure the plugin’s ‘Construct’ settings

The primary port of name is the ‘Construct’ tab of the Staatic backend menu.

Right here, it is advisable enter the vacation spot URL of the positioning you want to publish, which might both be absolute, relative, or offline. It’s additionally potential to specify extra URLs, paths, and redirects that the static construct should embrace or exclude.

A brief description of every possibility is accessible beneath every subject within the Construct tab, whereas detailed explanations can be found within the ‘Build Settings’ part of the documentation.

8. Configure the ‘Deployment’ settings

Subsequent, you should configure the assorted deployment choices within the ‘Deployment’ tab.

A dropdown field offers the choices for the place to create the static website: your native listing, Amazon Net Companies, Netlifly, or Zip file.

The choices on this panel will range relying on the deployment technique chosen. Once more, the Deployment tab comprises transient explanations of every possibility, with extra detailed explanations out there within the ‘Deployment Settings’ part of the consumer documentation.

9. Configure the ‘Superior’ settings

The ‘Superior’ tab means that you can refine how Staatic works. It consists of choices like logging (for troubleshooting functions,) HTTP timeout and delay settings, and so forth.

On this panel, you will have so as to add the HTTP Authentication particulars, assuming you took the developer’s recommendation and arrange HTTP primary authentication to stop public entry to your WordPress website.

Earlier than doing something with the superior settings, I strongly counsel you learn the ‘Advanced Settings’ part of the consumer documentation

10. Create your new static website

After getting made all of your configurations within the Construct, Deployment, and Superior tabs, all it is advisable do is click on ‘Staatic’ within the very prime bar of your WordPress admin panel and select ‘Publish’ from the dropdown:

After a couple of moments, the brand new static website is created, and a Publication Abstract will seem:

And right here is the static website as revealed:

Staatic Premium Plans

The free model of Staatic consists of loads of nice options that will likely be ample for a lot of customers. Nevertheless, the Premium plans deliver significantly extra versatility to the desk, together with:

• Types integration – removes the necessity to discover exterior type dealing with options
• Search integration – all posts and pages are stored listed and are searchable utilizing a neatly built-in search widget
• Fast publications – Publishes solely the adjustments made, thereby dashing up publication occasions
• Scheduled publications – you possibly can publish your WordPress website mechanically primarily based on a predefined schedule or occasion.
• Intensive API – permits these of you with sufficient coding information so as to add your individual customized options

At the moment, Self-hosted plans value €9 monthly for the Starter bundle, which covers one web site, and €29 monthly for the Enterprise bundle, which covers as much as three websites and consists of a number of group members, precedence assist, and a 99.95% assured uptime service degree settlement (SLA).

Cloud-hosted plans value €19 monthly for Starter and €69 for Enterprise.

When you want limitless websites, self and cloud-hosted Enterprise plans are additionally out there, the value of which requires a dialogue immediately with Staatic’s gross sales group.

A 14-day free trial of the premium plans can also be out there, and refreshingly, you don’t want a bank card to avail of that.

Get Staatic Premium Get Staatic Free

Staatic Professionals and Cons

As with all plugins and software program, Staatic has each good and dangerous factors:

Professionals

• The free model comprises ample options for a lot of purposes
• Premium plans are good worth and embrace many helpful further options
• As soon as configured, you possibly can create blisteringly quick static websites with a single click on
• Complete documentation

Cons

• Whereas the documentation is sweet, it may benefit from the addition of some visible content material, comparable to screenshots
• Complete freshmen might wrestle with a number of the setup, which entails working within the internet server or internet hosting management panel
• Group assist is restricted as Staatic continues to be comparatively new to the market

The Closing Verdict

Following the sudden demise of WP2Static, Staatic’s static website generator has come at exactly the best time to supply a viable various. The provision of a fully-fledged free model is sweet information for folks desirous to dabble with producing static variations of their WordPress websites. On the similar time, the premium plans are perfect for these craving extra performance at a wise value.

So, if you wish to generate a super-fast static model of your WordPress website, the Staatic plugin checks all the best containers.