Modern Static Site Builder Astro.js Building Faster Websites

Posted on 2025-12-25 by Burak Hamdi TUFAN

Hello everyone, in this article we are going to talk about building faster websites with Astro.js framework which is a modern Static Site Generator to send no Javascript to client.

Lets get started

Modern web applications is continuously evolving and the tools that we use to build performant, scalable and developer-friendly websites are also evolving together. One such tool that has been making waves is Astro.js — a next-generation static site builder designed to deliver lightning-fast websites with minimal JavaScript.

What is Astro?

Astro is an open-source static site generator (SSG) that focuses on performance and simplicity. Unlike traditional frontend frameworks, Astro allows you to build content-heavy websites with zero JavaScript by default, only loading what’s necessary and when it’s necessary.

Astro is especially well-suited for:

Blogs and content sites
Marketing pages
Documentation sites
E-commerce frontends

What key features of Astro Framework?

Partial Hydration: Only hydrate components that need JavaScript, reducing page load time.
Framework Agnostic: Use React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, or even plain HTML components — in the same project.
Content-Focused: Supports Markdown, MDX, and tight CMS integration.
Zero JS by Default: Your HTML pages ship with minimal or no JavaScript unless explicitly needed.
Islands Architecture: Inspired by modern rendering techniques to optimize performance.

How Astro Works?

Astro compiles your site at building time. It basically converting pages into static HTML files with the routes together. For interactivity, it supports client directives (like client:load, client:idle, or client:visible) to hydrate components only when needed.

Here is an Astro component with hydration:


---
// src/components/Counter.astro
import Counter from './Counter.jsx';
---
<counter client:load="">
</counter>

This tells Astro to only load and hydrate the Counter component on the client, not the entire page.

Getting Started with Astro

Installation

You can create a new project using the Astro CLI:


npm create astro@latest

And follow the prompts to select a template and install dependencies.

Let's Look at the Project Structure

Below you will see a typical Astro project:

src/
pages/
components/
layouts/
public/
astro.config.mjs
pages/ contains your route-based .astro or .md files
components/ holds UI components (React, Vue, etc.)
layouts/ for reusable page templates

Writing a Page


---
// src/pages/index.astro
import Layout from '../layouts/BaseLayout.astro';
---

<layout title="Welcome">
  <h1>Hello, world!</h1>
  <p>This is my Astro site.</p>
</layout>

You can use JSX-like syntax with frontmatter for imports and variables. The rendering is server-side at build time.

Astro is considering Performance First approach and it ensures fast page loads by:

Avoiding client-side JavaScript unless requested
Lazy-loading interactive components
Generating optimized HTML/CSS during build
These practices lead to better Core Web Vitals and improved SEO out of the box.

Astro also supports a rich ecosystem of plugins and integrations:

Markdown/MDX: Native support for content-driven sites
CMS: Connect with Sanity, Contentful, Strapi, and more
Tailwind CSS, Image Optimization, Sitemap, RSS — all through official integrations

For example you can add tailwind via:

npx astro add tailwind

While Astro is primarily a static site generator, it also supports Server-Side Rendering (SSR) as experimental for now. This means you can run Astro on serverless platforms.

npm run dev -- --experimental-ssr

This is useful for dynamic use cases like personalization, user authentication, and real-time data fetching.

Astro is excellent for content-heavy and marketing sites, but it might not be ideal for SPA-like applications. However, you can still embed React or Vue components where necessary. If you need full-blown interactivity across your app, you might combine Astro with frameworks like React on specific routes or micro frontends.

Final words

Astro represents a fresh perspective on building for the web pages with static-first approach, islands architecture and framework flexibility. If you’re looking to create a lightning-fast site with modern developer ergonomics, Astro should be on your radar.

Whether you're migrating an existing blog, building a landing page, or creating a scalable documentation site, Astro provides the tools to make it fast, fun, and future-proof.

Burak Hamdi TUFAN