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Jamstacked Issue 14

Replies to Mullenweg and thoughts on the JAM acronym

Published: Sep 17, 2020

 JAMstacked

#14 — September 17, 2020

✦ web version

This week heavily features responses to Matt Mullenweg's comments from notable Jamstack community members. However, I want to talk about something different. As I discussed in a thread short rant on Twitter, I've come to the conclusion that discussion of the JAM acronym has actually started to cause more confusion than it solves.

That's why I've come around on the use of Jamstack versus JAMstack. For instance, JavaScript plays too prominent a role in the acronym, causing people to think Jamstack requires a JS framework, which it doesn't. Meanwhile, the static site generator is entirely missing from the acronym, despite actually being required. In the end, Jamstack is more a methodology or architecture - a way of building sites - than a literal "stack" and we can still jam without JAM.

Brian Rinaldi

↘︎ What's Good

On Mullenweg and the Jamstack - Regression or Future?
Matt Biilmann created the term Jamstack and is a co-founder of Netlify, so it’s not a surprise to hear that he disagrees with Matt Mullenweg’s recent take. However, he makes a strong argument on why Jamstack evolved and why developers are moving to it.

Matt Biilmann

An Open Letter to Matt Mullenweg: What Folks Often Get Wrong About Jamstack
Ohad, one of Stackbit’s founders, discusses the specific criticisms laid out by Mullenweg on a point by point basis.

Ohad Eder-Pressman

Don't Fear The JAMStack
An interesting take on the Mullenweg comments that focuses on developer skills from a WordPress developer who made the transition to Jamstack.

Benjamin Read

Weaved Webs
Chris Coyier gives his perspective on the Mullenweg comments as someone who manages a large Wordpress site but also a number of smaller Jamstack ones. He acknowledges some early days complexity of Jamstack while noting a lot of promise in the concept.

Chris Coyier

✂︎ Tools and Resources

  • Jamstack Handbook - A new guide from Colby Fayock that covers the basics of the Jamstack and then builds some examples using Next.js and Gatsby.
  • 18 Free Hosting Providers for Your Static Website - A useful list that goes beyond the usual providers and offers details on the free plans where relevant.
  • Webflow to Netlify - A new service (paid subscription required) to convert Webflow templates to static files pushed to GitHub and deployed on Netlify.
  • Headless Commerce Summit Videos - If you missed the this virtual event from Netlify, you can catch up on all the session recordings.

❖ Tidbits

Why Is Next.js My Ultimate Choice over Gatsby, Gridsome, & Nuxt?
This is actually more detailed in its look at the various popular framework based options and much more balanced in its comparisons than the title may imply.

Ondrej Polesny

Advanced GraphQL Usage In Gatsby Websites
What GraphQL query constructs are and how they can be used to interact with the data access layer of a Gatsby site.

Aleem Isiaka

How to Use JAMstack with The Server Side / Enterprise Apps
A look at when you need dynamic content for your Jamstack application that goes beyond the usual list of third-party services and looks at when you need a custom backend.

Tapas Adhikary

A High-Performance Blog Template for 11ty
An Eleventy template that implements all sorts of best practices to get a 100 score on all the Lighthouse categories.

Malte Ubl

See the Agenda for Jamstack Conf Virtual - October 6-7, 2020
The speakers for keynotes, talks, lightning talks and workshops at Jamstack Conf are set. The main conference day is free and workshops are paid.

Netlify

As always, I welcome feedback or link suggestion via Twitter. Stay safe and healthy! — Brian