March 19, 2003
Static files save lives
Ok, maybe not lives but certainly computing resources. I see a lot of folks using various forms of dynamic code on their websites and have to wonder why?.
I mean, sure, some stuff is cool but does it really need to be driven from a scripted program each and every time someone reads it? Why make the server grind through it over and over again? Just to show your readers some gee-whiz little widget? Please, how about giving them useful content instead?
Not that I'm saying all dynamic pages are bad. No, quite the contrary, some stuff needs to be driven from dynamic pages. It just seems like a lot of folks don't bother to apply the effort to make pages that help avoid overloading their servers. It's not that hard. And even better, static pages won't crash when the server admins decide to upgrade the software. Having suffered from some PHP and MySQL upgrade woes made me very glad to have used static pages for most of my sites.
As you create web pages give some thought to the resource demands you put on your web server. If you can, try doing things in ways that help avoid overworking it. After all, if your site gets popular and you get hit with a ton of readers those dynamic pages will hammer the server pretty hard. And don't think the admins running the server will offer you any sympathy. Nope, they'll just notice it's YOU that's killed the server that the other 300 people that need the server are calling them demanding explanations. They're far more likely to just kill your pages in the face of the onslaught. Your new readers will get annoyed and you'll look like you can't run a decent web server. It's not the case, of course, but static pages don't generally cause nearly the same trouble.
Sure, add cool stuff, but try to conserve resources where you can.
